TLDR: Drug dealers in Catalonia have started to adopt GrapheneOS en masse leading to Catalan police suspecting anyone with a Google Pixel is a drug dealer

top 99 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 309 points 1 year ago

Basically, if you don't have a phone the cops can easily backdoor, you must be a criminal.

"What do you have to hide?" taken to it's logical conclusion.

  • source
  • [–] 18 points 1 year ago (-1 children)

    Humans are apes desiring power, there's no excuse under which you can give it to them. They'll invent authority giving them right to judge you and think they are in the right.

    Also why I absolutely despise the Silicon Valley - it's many such people who think they are the elite now. I want that place detroited as soon as possible. Zuckerberg prosecuted for all the murders he's committed (I'm certain there are plenty, a person with ASPD with such power just can't be anything else) which are now unknown, Brin and other jerks playing "cooperating with legal elected authorities" while giving them something with no mandate whatsoever feeling themselves powerful - prosecuted for high treason, all these playing censorship and recommendation - prosecuted for scams on the scale of billions, yadda-yadda.

    Cops saying this should be immediately sued for inciting hate or defamation or whatever against people who don't want to be backdoored.

    I have a right to not be surveilled, they don't have a right to surveil me.

    Anyway, I might all the time fly a weird trajectory between various ideologies, but they are all anarchist and Silicon Valley bosses are all thieves.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow -1 child comments
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 188 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    This is the best recommendation for a phone I've seen yet.

    Thanks catalonian police

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Be wary since as of Android 16, Google no longer provides device source for Pixel phones.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    The grapheneOS team still got an android 16 release out relatively quickly

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    Because no new Pixel has come out yet, so they were likely able to adapt the A15 code. Once the Pixel 10 series comes out, it will be more difficult.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Google is still required to publish kernel sources, some of the higher level android code might be tricky but I'm not sure if the GOS team have said anything yet.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 142 points 1 year ago (18 children)

    This is a weird advertisement, but I kind of want grapheneOS now.

  • source
  • hideshow 18 child comments
  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago (14 children)

    Been on it for ~2 years and never going back, fuck Google, fuck the government.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 14 child comments
  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    I've also been using it for like 2 years but I really want the hardware of something like the Fairphone. A fairphone or something similar with Graphene would be amazing

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    The Graphene OS people have always been talking about how they eventually intend to develop their own hardware. So, possibly they will make something good eventually.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    Well you still bought a Google phone

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    True, with the intention of installing Graphene OS on it. No other options.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Strange that google is the only option for the only "secure" operating system.
    Hey, do you know what is Ring Level minus One ?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Strange that google is the only option for the only "secure" operating system.

    The have their reasons: https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices

    Hey, do you know what is Ring Level minus One ?

    I know you're only trolling here and I'm feeding into it, but you nerd sniped me just right to explain why your question is stupid on multiple fronts.

    First of all, "Ring -1" is the hypervisor, at least on virtualization-capable devices (which modern Pixels are), and the hypervisor will be Linux's KVM in this case, which is open source and compiled by the Graphene team as part of the kernel from source.

    Secondly, Arm (which is the architecture basically all phone chips use, including Pixels) has a slightly different model of security, where apps are Exception Level 0, the OS is EL1, the hypervisor is EL2, and the "secure monitor" (or management firmware) is EL3 (and is probably what you were trying to refer to).

    So yeah, I don't think you know what "Ring -1" is. At least not enough to warrant a snarky comment.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    "-1" is not just hypervisors, things like Intel Management and AMD Platform Security Processor can peer into system memory. I have no doubt similar system exist on ARM, I suspect the radio transceiver can also read system memory and read secrets out of the security devices.

    I don't think modern phones are trustable devices. They are opaque blackboxes, pretending to have high security but this security only really protects the spyware operators from being notices.

    I don't think it's coincidence that the most "secure" and "private" operating system only operates on a very narrow model selection of phones from just one manufacturer. Probably because they have the best technology to keep the inherent backdoor invisible and implausible. A backdoor to a system nobody trusts wouldn't be very useful.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The original post is about how it's so secure the piggies can't get in. Unless the super secret backdoor is only for the shadow government to disappear dissidents with no trace, thus keeping their super secret backdoor secret.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 99 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Sounds like a good recommendation.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 85 points 1 year ago (24 children)

    They're mad they can't use cellbrite to snoop on properly configured GOS phones and that they actually have to do real police work to catch drug dealers

  • source
  • hideshow 24 child comments
  • [–] 42 points 1 year ago (23 children)

    Yes. They (cellebrite) don't mention GrapheneOS support very loudly because it's poor. They can't decrypt one that's BFU (Before First Unlock), not even by brute force if it's a 6 digit passcode apparently. Don't know if they can get data from an AFU GOS pixel. A year ago when their internal docs leaked, they also had no support for latest iOS at the time, but had brute force support for older versions as long as phone itself wasn't too new and had AFU access without brute force for even older versions.

    Moral of the story: if there's a chance police might take your phone to investigate for a crime you hopefully didn't even commit, shut down your phone completely - the 5x power button trick on iOS disables biometric unlock, but the device itself stays decrypted and thus more vulnerable. Also keep your OS up to date.

    If you've got a phone that's neither iOS nor GrapheneOS, it's probably pretty much Swiss cheese anyway. IOS isn't as good as GrapheneOS either, but it offers some protection against Cellebrite if up to date and BFU. But if they keep your phone for long enough (months, years), they'll get it unlocked because you can't install updates that would patch any newly discovered vulnerabilities and one day they'll find a BFU unlock for it, probably.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 23 child comments
  • [–] 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Grapheneos also has options to just disable data over the USB port when its locked. Or disable it outright.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Graphene OS in particular comes with a default feature enabled called Auto Reboot to protect against this. I think it's set to 18 hours by default because that's what mine is, but you can go as low as 4 hours.

    If you have it set to four hours, I'd wager your phone would reset way before the pigs had enough time to try and get their way in.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (15 children)

    Does a full shutdown encrypt all contents on iOS? This is something that everyone entering the USA as I have to do annually needs to think about.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 15 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    It's all encrypted in storage. The decryption key is in the secure element / TPM chip, additionally protected by your PIN / password. Shutting it down unloads all encryption keys from memory.

    Beware that US customs / immigration / border control can seize your phone and refuse entry.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)

    What happens if I turn it back on but don't unlock it? Are the encryption keys in memory?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    They're not in memory until the first unlock, that's why there's the AFU vs BFU distinction for cellebrite unlocking devices incl iPhones.

    But as the other person said, they can seize your phone and refuse entry. If you need to travel to the USA annually and you don't want them to see your shit, you may want to have a decoy phone that's not logged into your real accounts or have many photos on it. Just enough to make it believable it's your real phone, but not enough to help them forge anything on you.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    I am a non-resident US citizen so I believe it would be more difficult for them to search and hold me without trial or legal representation. But these days anything is possible.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (8 children)

    Yes, but customs can still compel you to unlock your phone as we have recently seen with the Norweigan tourist who was denied entry due to having a JD Vance meme on his phone.

    I would recommend having a separate phone with non-important data on it to take with you to the US, or have a self hosted cloud service that you can backup your data to before wiping your device.

    You essentially don't have rights at the border (or in general with the current US government).

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (7 children)
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    You either unlock it or we send you back.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Threatening to detain you indefinitely (your rights aren't the same at the border/customs as they are after entering the country), or just outright deny you entry.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 44 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Reminds me of getting a notice in Middle School, decades ago, about how a pager was considered "drug paraphernalia"

    There was also a big Bloomberg-Era push by the NYPD to arrest any woman carrying condoms on her person, on the grounds that a woman carrying a condom must be a sex worker.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 44 points 1 year ago (18 children)

    Doesn't a Google Pixel device come with its own OS image by default, independent of Graphene OS? Is there some kind of step that we're missing here?

  • source
  • hideshow 18 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    It does, but a lot of people but the pixels specifically to put graphene on it because graphene they're compatible and graphene offers better privacy and security. What I'm getting here is drug dealers are using graphene to dodge digital narcs and it's becoming common enough that the Venn diagram skews heavily to drug dealing.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [+] -13 points 1 year ago (12 children)

    You can buy them with either stock Android, or Graphene. Meaning you don't need to re flash the device or anything.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • [–] 52 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You cant buy grapheneos preloaded on anything and doing so would be pretty foolish since it could be backdoored. GraphenOS is aimed at people who value security and privacy, you dont let some rando flash your phone if you value those things.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago* (9 children)

    I think this is incorrect but I could be wrong.

    You can not buy a Pixel device preloaded with GrapheneOS. They only come from Google with their standard Android and it's up to the end user to install GrapheneOS. Unless you buy a used Pixel device with GrapheneOS already installed.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    If friends asked I would flash their pixel with Graphene, then set it up basically as they would use it for them.

    Getting started was complex, your average user won't have a good experience getting their apps added without a power user helping.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I would like to install it someday but I'm afraid of this process

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Its really not too complicated. Id recommend doing it using a other phone as the installer rather than a PC though, just goes smoother IMO. Very straightforward web installer, just push buttons alongside the instructions.

    https://grapheneos.org/install/

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago

    Yeah I'd consider that as a used phone. I'd only get the hardware from the OEM and install GrapheneOS myself. Less chance of man in the middle. It's super easy to install using the web installer.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 77 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

    The police: 'We've encountered a difficulty with our paid spying software. Welp it must be just the criminals.'

    Edit: Missed the R and hit the T on our.

  • source
  • hideshow 10 child comments
  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    pretty much. The original article says that if they have a pixel they have to ask for a warrant

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    This implies searching other phones don't require warrants?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Yes. Yes it does.

    Or more accurately, they can't search your phone without you knowing with GrapheneOS, so they have to get a judge to force you to willing unlock it.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    So they follow the laws only on GrapheneOS users. Iirc other up to date phones are also hard to crack especially if it's on first unlock

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I don't really know. I operate under the assumption that my phone is always a piece of spyware and minimize what's actually on it or what it can hear.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Without? Even with paid spying software is hard, as far as data forensics go. Going with Pegasus and the likes, you never know, just reboot every 2 hours if you don't mind the hassle.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] 60 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    It's supposed to be kind of sort of federal(ish) (federalish enough, in theory, to keep Catalonia and Euskadi happy enough that we won't want to leave). "States" are called autonomías (autonomies) and have their own government, laws, and institutions, though they still have to obey the Spanish government and most of its laws. It isn't really working.

    The article is still wrong when it uses "feds", though, because the cops doing this are the mossos d'esquadra, the Catalan autonomic police, not the "federal(ish)" policía nacional (the Spanish police proper) or guardia civil (despite the name, the military Spanish police, a relic from Franco's dictatorship, like most of the country and its institutions).

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
    [–] 28 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Glances at my new Pixel, Welp, I guess I ain't ever goin' to Catalonia. Not that I was planning to go there anyway.

    ***Tinfoil conspiracy: Maybe this a scare tactic to keep the British out of Spain.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [+] 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago

    Police are not the brightest in any society.

    It's a literal job requirement. If you're smart, you're not going to blindly follow orders. Police cognitive testing literally discards candidates that perform well in intellectual tasks. This is not a conspiracy or a joke, it's how police works.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments
    view more: next ›
    14 comments in c/privacy@lemmy.ml view that post
    3 comments in c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com view that post