4 ms·

Considering their data collection capabilities, I d say they are sustainable...

by Iolaum 5y ago

_huayra_ 5y ago
Exactly. Considering how Samsung is coming out with cheaper phones these days due to competition, I don't think it's worth completely yeeting one's privacy out the window, even if the Xiaomi models have better specs. I know Android phones are still big Google spying devices, but given the state of the tech world, I'd prefer to have Google spy on me than a shadowy Chinese company. Does it really matter if it has 4x the cameras of a cheap Samsung if it sends all the photos to some server in China on the sneak?
- yorwba 5y ago
  Just install LineageOS on it and have nobody spy on you: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#xiaomi https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#xiaomi
  - gadf 5y ago
    Just install ANOM or Telegram Or Signal And have nobody spy on you "Trust me, I'm Italian."
  - jcynix 5y ago
    How does LineageOS stop the "little black box" which handles GSM/UTMS/etc traffic from spying on you? Or your telecom provider from tracking you? Don't get me wrong, I like these free OS versions, but while I could teach my wife, my mother in law etc to manage Netguard, I couldn't teach them to handle Lineage, f-Droid all by themselves.
    - lmm 5y ago
      > How does LineageOS stop the "little black box" which handles GSM/UTMS/etc traffic from spying on you? Is that part even made by Xiaomi?
      - swiley 5y ago
        Usually its made by Qualcomm.
- stelonix 5y ago
  It's interesting, because coming from a country that's been targeted by US interventionism in the past, I'm pretty ok with Xiaomi spying on me, not so much when it comes to Google.
  - fauigerzigerk 5y ago
    I'm not too happy about anyone spying on me, and I'm also unhappy about corporations vetoing software I want to install. Besides, one person's "targeted by interventionism" is another person's "liberated by democratic forces".
    - sdoering 5y ago
      > Besides, one person's "targeted by interventionism" is another person's "liberated by democratic forces". Does newspeaking it make it better? And if one would look at the examples of "liberation by democratic forces" over the last decades I feel that it is somewhat difficult to find an instance that wasn't a prime example of securing natural ressources or ensuring of keeping the global power structure intact. I might be naive (or even contrarian to the US policy) bbut wwere aare tthe purely humanistic examples of Uncle Sam mingling in foreign affairs? Imho the US should keep their fingers out of others' proverbial cookie jars.
      - fauigerzigerk 5y ago
        >Does newspeaking it make it better? The difference in language is often just political rhetoric. The difference in substance became very clear to me talking to my grandfather who was liberated by democratic forces and would have been insulted by having that called "targeted by US interventionism". There are good reasons for both sentiments based on actual, sometimes painful, experience. We should respect that. It's a very complex and off-topic subject. That's why I'm not going into the details of the various conflicts in recent decades.
        sdoering 5y ago
        I am not denying that there are examples of democratic liberation. Especially from history. Take the Yugoslavia conflict. Intervention by an international force there was at the time probably the lesser evil. It stopped genocide (a great plus in my book) while at the same time generating hatred that created terrorism (a big minus). There are no easy answers. But most current interventions as well as many historic ones were not motivated by ulterior motives but by economic ones and questions of power. Coming from Germany and having studied history I must ask myself when did liberation turn to intervention because of political or economical gains? While keeping the rhetoric more or less the same. There is imho a difference between WW II or Yugoslavia and Kuwait. Or Irak. Or even Afghanistan. Or Serbia. Or different South American states were intervention is often less militaristic. I feel we need to have a way to differentiate and look closer to be able to discuss without falling back to ideology or "party lines".
- AniseAbyss 5y ago
  Just slap Blokada on it. Personally I don't give a shit about privacy since I never see any advertising. What use is it if a company knows everything about me when they can't use that information to sell me things?
jcynix 5y ago
I'm running Netguard (app) as a firewall on them, set to block all traffic and then allow traffic only for solid apps where I need/want traffic to happen. Works like a charm, can even log in pcap format to analyze traffic.
- RamRodification 5y ago
  Wouldn't the hardware vendor of the device be able to bypass that?
  - gnfargbl 5y ago
    From a quick look, yes they would and the NetGuard FAQ on GitHub explicitly acknowledges that: https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/blob/master/FAQ.md#user-content-faq1 https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/blob/master/FAQ.md#user-con... That doesn't mean this is a worthless thing to run. Unless you are being specifically targeted, security measures that simply put you outside the main herd can still be effective.
  - jcynix 5y ago
    Both the hardware vendor and the vendor of the mobile phone's "black box" talking to your telecom could, of course. Potentially some chips inside could do nasty things, even if you'd install LineageOS for example.
matsemann 5y ago
Why are the Nexus phones so expensive then? Edit: Pixels
- grishka 5y ago
  Uh, the last Nexus phone came out in 2015? If you mean Pixels, they're targeting other market with them, they're competing with Apple. There's a cheaper "A" line (4a, 3a).

Considering their data collection capabilities, I d say they are sustainable...

by Iolaum 5y ago

Considering their data collection capabilities, I d say they are sustainable...

Exactly. Considering how Samsung is coming out with cheaper phones these days due to competition, I don't think it's worth completely yeeting one's privacy out the window, even if the Xiaomi models have better specs. I know Android phones are still big Google spying devices, but given the state of the tech world, I'd prefer to have Google spy on me than a shadowy Chinese company. Does it really matter if it has 4x the cameras of a cheap Samsung if it sends all the photos to some server in China on the sneak?

yorwba 5y ago
Just install LineageOS on it and have nobody spy on you: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#xiaomi https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#xiaomi
- gadf 5y ago
  Just install ANOM or Telegram Or Signal And have nobody spy on you "Trust me, I'm Italian."
- jcynix 5y ago
  How does LineageOS stop the "little black box" which handles GSM/UTMS/etc traffic from spying on you? Or your telecom provider from tracking you? Don't get me wrong, I like these free OS versions, but while I could teach my wife, my mother in law etc to manage Netguard, I couldn't teach them to handle Lineage, f-Droid all by themselves.
  - lmm 5y ago
    > How does LineageOS stop the "little black box" which handles GSM/UTMS/etc traffic from spying on you? Is that part even made by Xiaomi?
    - swiley 5y ago
      Usually its made by Qualcomm.
stelonix 5y ago
It's interesting, because coming from a country that's been targeted by US interventionism in the past, I'm pretty ok with Xiaomi spying on me, not so much when it comes to Google.
- fauigerzigerk 5y ago
  I'm not too happy about anyone spying on me, and I'm also unhappy about corporations vetoing software I want to install. Besides, one person's "targeted by interventionism" is another person's "liberated by democratic forces".
  - sdoering 5y ago
    > Besides, one person's "targeted by interventionism" is another person's "liberated by democratic forces". Does newspeaking it make it better? And if one would look at the examples of "liberation by democratic forces" over the last decades I feel that it is somewhat difficult to find an instance that wasn't a prime example of securing natural ressources or ensuring of keeping the global power structure intact. I might be naive (or even contrarian to the US policy) bbut wwere aare tthe purely humanistic examples of Uncle Sam mingling in foreign affairs? Imho the US should keep their fingers out of others' proverbial cookie jars.
    - fauigerzigerk 5y ago
      >Does newspeaking it make it better? The difference in language is often just political rhetoric. The difference in substance became very clear to me talking to my grandfather who was liberated by democratic forces and would have been insulted by having that called "targeted by US interventionism". There are good reasons for both sentiments based on actual, sometimes painful, experience. We should respect that. It's a very complex and off-topic subject. That's why I'm not going into the details of the various conflicts in recent decades.
      - sdoering 5y ago
        I am not denying that there are examples of democratic liberation. Especially from history. Take the Yugoslavia conflict. Intervention by an international force there was at the time probably the lesser evil. It stopped genocide (a great plus in my book) while at the same time generating hatred that created terrorism (a big minus). There are no easy answers. But most current interventions as well as many historic ones were not motivated by ulterior motives but by economic ones and questions of power. Coming from Germany and having studied history I must ask myself when did liberation turn to intervention because of political or economical gains? While keeping the rhetoric more or less the same. There is imho a difference between WW II or Yugoslavia and Kuwait. Or Irak. Or even Afghanistan. Or Serbia. Or different South American states were intervention is often less militaristic. I feel we need to have a way to differentiate and look closer to be able to discuss without falling back to ideology or "party lines".
AniseAbyss 5y ago
Just slap Blokada on it. Personally I don't give a shit about privacy since I never see any advertising. What use is it if a company knows everything about me when they can't use that information to sell me things?

jcynix 5y ago

I'm running Netguard (app) as a firewall on them, set to block all traffic and then allow traffic only for solid apps where I need/want traffic to happen. Works like a charm, can even log in pcap format to analyze traffic.

RamRodification 5y ago
Wouldn't the hardware vendor of the device be able to bypass that?
- gnfargbl 5y ago
  From a quick look, yes they would and the NetGuard FAQ on GitHub explicitly acknowledges that: https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/blob/master/FAQ.md#user-content-faq1 https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/blob/master/FAQ.md#user-con... That doesn't mean this is a worthless thing to run. Unless you are being specifically targeted, security measures that simply put you outside the main herd can still be effective.
- jcynix 5y ago
  Both the hardware vendor and the vendor of the mobile phone's "black box" talking to your telecom could, of course. Potentially some chips inside could do nasty things, even if you'd install LineageOS for example.

matsemann 5y ago

Why are the Nexus phones so expensive then? Edit: Pixels

grishka 5y ago
Uh, the last Nexus phone came out in 2015? If you mean Pixels, they're targeting other market with them, they're competing with Apple. There's a cheaper "A" line (4a, 3a).