Happy that i own/drive a 32 year old Fiat Uno…I can talk what I want:face_with_hand_over_mouth:
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I’ve just recently received from a family member, a ‘smart phone’ handset which I intend to use with 4G Volte in Australia until Mudita Kompakt is available. After 3 days of short periods of time ‘disconnecting’ apps, turning off bits and making it as disconnected from internet as possible, I’m about 1/2 way through it and seriously overwhelmed with the number of apps and seriously disturbed by the access permissions which are set as default.
I have taped stuff over the three cameras and fingerprint sensor on the back so it cannot see anything…
This strain of conversation on the forum is so interesting about purposeful data breaches etc. I wonder how many users are unaware of the default permission being turned on on their devices? I wonder how many more like me are overwhelmed by the sheer number of things to turn off on such devices?
I’ve also noticed that some things auto turn on when the handset is turned off and turned back on again, regardless of me having turned them off previously.
This is one of the things I enjoy most about Pure - it doesn’t do that! There are NO APPS! It’s aas if devices like ‘smart phones’ are purposefully designed to DISEMPOWER THE USER. I’m looking forward to my experience going from Pure to the ‘smart phone’ then to the Kompakt, though I do hope the ‘smart phone’ experience is of VERY short duration. I’m also seriously ramping up my EMF protection to use the ‘smart phone’ which has an SAR of almost 9 times the Pure.
Choosing to use the ‘smart phone’ handset I understand some of my privacy may be compromised, perhaps given up - I wonder how many processes are running on such a device which are not even known about by the user? I.E. not listed in the running apps section etc.? Does anyone know?
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@galtions: I started watching Rob Braxman’s videos on Rumble more than a year ago and have learned much about Internet privacy from him.
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You can have privacy, but it comes with a price… €€$$ But the crux is that no one want to pay, everything has to be for free. 
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I would suggest and highly recommend checking out Privacy Guides and their forum - discuss.privacyguides .net and Techlore - techlore.tech and their forum - discuss.techlore.tech.
They are awesome and are the absolute gold standard for privacy recommendations and advice IMO.
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Thanks for sharing 
What would you say are the most important things you’ve learned from them?
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One of the most important things that I have learned is to use a Google-apps-free cellphone.
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I’ve spent some time reading the posts in this thread and yes, it’s fair to say that privacy is increasingly under threat. I don’t think it’s dead yet, but the boundaries of privacy are being constantly tested and redefined by advances in technology, government policies, and corporate practices.
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Also by banks I feel. I recently was contacted by a bank I have a 30+ year old account with, they wanted to check my personal details to, using their words ‘confirm your identity’ to ‘keep you safe’.
Reflecting on it after the call, I wondered if what they were actually checking was if the account holder was human or AI. To me, 2FA does the same thing, meanwhile making it more and more difficult for humans to access their own monetary property…
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How about using Google services without signing in?
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A Google-apps-free cellphone is a simpler approach, although I once met a woman who bought a Google Android cellphone and used it without ever creating a Google ID (e.g., a Gmail address). My approach – in my case with CalyxOS – was more robust than was her approach.
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I believe so. The woman I described was doing this about six months ago.
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I have used lineageOS quite a bit, since my employer requires eID signing once a month.
I’ve used it as is, without GSF. Most apps works anyway. BUT its scary how many security and bank apps that loudly whines at startup when GSF not is present. They have put all their eggs in one basket really.
Also tried to install LineageOS with mGapps; a GSF fix that gives GSF access without having a google account.
I dont expect it to work infinitely though, google will surely end any attempts to avoid their data gathering.
Its optimal to use LineageOS with only open source apps, it works fine as long as you dont need GSF dependent apps.
(GSF = Google Services Framework)
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This article made me go WTF…
TL:DR
It basically highlights a serious privacy concern involving Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. Two Harvard students developed a proof-of-concept system called I-XRAY, which uses facial recognition to identify individuals and retrieve personal information, such as names, addresses, and even parts of social security numbers, in real-time. OMG…OMG
Obviously this raises concerns about potential misuse for doxxing and personal safety, especially since the glasses look like ordinary eyewear.
What did Meta do? It merely responded by urging users to follow privacy laws when using the device. Sure. Sure Meta- I’m sure people will take that under advisement.
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I heard about this on two recent podcasts, Kaspersky and Waveform. Absolutely terrifying, for those people who post too much of themselves online. I assume the information was gathered by scraping the web or just facebook?
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It’s more likely scraping the web- cuz social security numbers are rarely on Facebook, unless someone post it.
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