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If you're this worried about leakage from signals, cameras, etc. what about the tradeoff of security where now you need to patch and monitor for any attacks on

If you're this worried about leakage from signals, cameras, etc. what about the tradeoff of security where now you need to patch and monitor for any attacks on your device, now that you're off of any normal OEM's support? What's the risk of that being done poorly by you, versus having better control over these physical switches?

renw0rp 6y ago
That's only assuming that OEMs and their employees are competent
Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
> any normal OEM's support? What "normal OEM support" (like which company, for example?) has been good at regularly releasing security patches and keeping on top of various vulnerabilities? Especially past the 1-2 years after the release date of the device? Especially if you consider those companies that without any real consent from you install dozens of their own adware and spyware on each update that you can't even remove (like you can't remove system apps in android, only "disable" them, to make the phone nag you all the time to re-enable them). Not having to rely on the joke of the "OEM support" from the big companies is the very reason to use these open phones.
- kec 6y ago
  Apple’s average full support for iPhone is trending to around 4-5 years since launch. Several times they’ve issued critical security updates years after ending official support.
  - labawi 6y ago
    To be fair, they are an outlier, so not really normal in that sense.
    - fsflover 6y ago
      Not even mentioning that after 4-5 years iphones turn into a brick with no possibility to install or update anything.
  - def_true_false 6y ago
    For someone who needs to run Android apps (read everyone not bought into Apple's walled garden), that's as useful as a brick. Do they even have a browser other than Safari?
- nickspacek 6y ago
  I was surprised that my company issued Samsung S7 only stopped receiving updates earlier this year. It was released in 2016.
encom 6y ago
It's a valid point, and should not be downvoted. Personally, I consider any code produced by Google to be hostile malware. Meanwhile, I'm quite competent with managing a Linux machine. For me personally, the choice is easy. The current crop of Freedom Phones are targeted at people like myself who can break things and fix them ourselves. My hope is, in the future, you will be able to install vanilla Debian for example on your phone, which I think even the more paranoid of us would consider safe.
kop316 6y ago
I would argue they are doing what I wish any normal OEM would do: upstream their patches to make it much easier to maintain. "normal OEM Support" for phones means you are stuck on whatever LTS kernel the OEM used, then good luck trying to upgrade past that. For reference, I am typing this on a laptop from 2008. I am not worried about OEM support because all of the hardware support was upstreamed long ago.

renw0rp 6y ago

That's only assuming that OEMs and their employees are competent

Erlich_Bachman 6y ago

> any normal OEM's support? What "normal OEM support" (like which company, for example?) has been good at regularly releasing security patches and keeping on top of various vulnerabilities? Especially past the 1-2 years after the release date of the device? Especially if you consider those companies that without any real consent from you install dozens of their own adware and spyware on each update that you can't even remove (like you can't remove system apps in android, only "disable" them, to make the phone nag you all the time to re-enable them). Not having to rely on the joke of the "OEM support" from the big companies is the very reason to use these open phones.

kec 6y ago
Apple’s average full support for iPhone is trending to around 4-5 years since launch. Several times they’ve issued critical security updates years after ending official support.
- labawi 6y ago
  To be fair, they are an outlier, so not really normal in that sense.
  - fsflover 6y ago
    Not even mentioning that after 4-5 years iphones turn into a brick with no possibility to install or update anything.
- def_true_false 6y ago
  For someone who needs to run Android apps (read everyone not bought into Apple's walled garden), that's as useful as a brick. Do they even have a browser other than Safari?
nickspacek 6y ago
I was surprised that my company issued Samsung S7 only stopped receiving updates earlier this year. It was released in 2016.

encom 6y ago

It's a valid point, and should not be downvoted. Personally, I consider any code produced by Google to be hostile malware. Meanwhile, I'm quite competent with managing a Linux machine. For me personally, the choice is easy. The current crop of Freedom Phones are targeted at people like myself who can break things and fix them ourselves. My hope is, in the future, you will be able to install vanilla Debian for example on your phone, which I think even the more paranoid of us would consider safe.

kop316 6y ago

I would argue they are doing what I wish any normal OEM would do: upstream their patches to make it much easier to maintain. "normal OEM Support" for phones means you are stuck on whatever LTS kernel the OEM used, then good luck trying to upgrade past that. For reference, I am typing this on a laptop from 2008. I am not worried about OEM support because all of the hardware support was upstreamed long ago.