I give up… Privacy is a fool’s game and it’s a losing one at that. We are slowly entering a world where more and more requirements are made on people to own a regular non-hipster cell phone. There are places you can’t even buy parking or look at a restaurant menu without having a proper cell phone.
Maybe the answer is not to flash some obscure on life support operating system on your Google pixel but rather… maybe the answer is to work within the system and simply adjust privacy controls as allotted?
Both ends need working on. I think creating and supporting new movements require change, it starts with individuals fighting for more rights on a microscopic level. Shifting to GrapheneOS will accelerate Google to make changes for the good of all of us.
Be wise and patient. I think our older politicians don’t accept these concepts, but as our young grow into old then we’ve got a platform to fight for.
that’s because you are trying an individual solution to a collective problem.
going for the roots of it involves going for the corporations and oligarchs taking control of our electronics, not simply installing a private rom.
The simplest thing you can do is to just use your phone as little as you can.
I use a regular phone because my model doesn’t support GrapheneOS or other custom OSs. So I just use my phone as little as possible: calls, whatsapp/LINE/telegram almost only for info about meeting people, not to discuss deep stuff. Proprietary backup deactivated. No games, no superfluous stuff if not a hardened Firefox as browser and my Bank app (sigh). All other few apps I have are FOSS and/or privacy oriented. I use syncthing with encryption enabled so I can backup all data on my desktop with little hassle and regularly delete photos/chats on my phone.
If I have to use a privacy invading app on my phone to buy a parking ticket or something similar: I download the app, block all permissions, use it, delete cache/datas and then delete it.
If I lose my phone tomorrow it would not even be a big deal because I have almost no data in it. I know it’s not a perfect model since a few apps and the phone itself do have telemetry, but it’s better than going around with a device filled with sensitive data. It reduces a lot of stress and it’s very manageable for me.
Maybe the answer is not to flash some obscure on life support operating system on your Google pixel but rather… maybe the answer is to work within the system and simply adjust privacy controls as allotted?
And when those controls are removed because most people went along with it and they were determined as a waste of development time by a corporate or government entity because people also give up on that then what? This is not an answer to anything, it’s complacency that will just erode privacy more and make the problem worse.
Why even post this? do you really need outside validation every time you decide to give up?
No, thank you. I’d rather be without a phone than bowing down to these corporations.
The trick is not to go too extreme too quickly. It has to be a gradual transition to using privacy-respecting products, or else you’ll burn out.
I started by switching from Windows 10 to Linux, then using ProtonMail instead of Gmail, then Lemmy instead of Reddit. I’m slowly transitioning to other services and software that respect my privacy.
Look at it as a journey.
I needed to hear that. Getting off Amazon, Facebook, Instgram, and no Paypal was probably the easiest part.
Too stubborn to give up 🏴🏴🏴
The cypherpunk manifesto, 9th March 1993
32 years ago we faced the same nightmare. I was 37 years old back then.
We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any.
We must come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions to take place.
People have been defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers, darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and couriers.
The technologies of the past did not allow for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do.
Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age.
Privacy is not secrecy.
A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn’t want anybody to know.
Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world.
Picking your battles is not giving up.
There’s no such thing as total privacy. When you walk in the streets, people can see you and that is no problem. Same goes online. You have to reach YOUR balance between privacy and convenience. I have reached mine with two excellent tools that are GrapheneOS and AdGuardHome. Of course I have also excluded privacy-invading apps such as WhatsApp or Google search. I suppose I evade 80% Big Tech usual tracking and I’m happy that way.
Eh privacy isint cheap, you gotta have multiple devices so it doesnt get too complicated
I get the feeling. My wife and I keep wondering how long we can refuse to use smartphones. I like polluting the data pool. There is a developer app to set a faux location for the phone. anything I can do to send wrong data is a bigger thing to me than not sending the data.
Any place asking me to scan a QR for a menu, or need an app for parking probably wasnt worth it to begin with. Yes practicing privacy is not going to “feel” good thats exactly what they want. Just keep fighting back where you can, Make it as unlikely as possible for them to get what they want.
Every person In this comment section has leaks in their system. Unless they are some data security expert, theres simply no way to get by without being “exposed” at some point.
Keep up the good fight. Its worth it. Your eyes and your data are the new currency. Keep their hands off it.
Edit: there is alot of good info in this comment section people should upvote & downvote this post to balance it into being “contraversial” to get more eyes on it. Simply downvoting someone with a “bad take” Is imo unproductive.
Avoiding apps if you can and focusing on using the web and/or PWAs as a good direction too. Lot of the stuff out there for apps really should not be an app to start with. Then there is F-Droid which has most of the actual apps you need.
The ones not in fdroid and where you can’t use a web app, and must have, these are not so many. For me this is some health devices, some transit and travel apps, my local library, a hearing test app, Google Maps, my bank app (for check cashing). All of these also run just fine on GrapheneOS. Lot of those don’t have to be on my phone though if you only have one android device maybe they do. Really transit and travel apps, maybe my local library, and Google Maps are the only ones I use out and about.
Almost every one of these places (that’s truly worth it) will have a way to pay without tech. They still want your money. Hell, ask the guy behind you on line, they’d probably take the credit card points.
@WaffleWarrior@lemmy.zip, what specific problems are you running up against? I’m confident that my fellow lemmings and I can help you figure out how to minimize or at least reduce whatever privacy related tech issues you’re having.
My mortgage broker or lender clearly sold my phone number to spammers.
I use a cheap VoIP and have a number specifically to give out to businesses. It offers way more control over call handling than a typical phone service, and I can change it whenever I want without having to give family & friends a new number.
