4 ms·

I lived in china and put effort into de-googling my phone. Now I’m back in the open world and seems need do all over again. Must be a biz opp to run a proxy th

I lived in china and put effort into de-googling my phone. Now I’m back in the open world and seems need do all over again. Must be a biz opp to run a proxy that strips everything google from pages and web communications. I would pay a few $/month to not be farmed without consent.

komali2 3y ago
No need to proxy, you can just use https://brave.com/ https://brave.com/. Add a pihole to strip it from other devices and non-browser web traffic.
- robin_reala 3y ago
  Using a browser powered by Google’s technology stack is hardly deGoogling.
  - Timwi 3y ago
    I don't really know much about how Brave is made, but you make it sound like they're using proprietary Google libraries, whereas I was under the impression that it was built from open-source software. If I'm right, the fact that this software originally came from Google is immaterial. If it's open source, Brave have full control over what it does and Google has zero.
    - robin_reala 3y ago
      Brave uses Chromium: an open source project controlled by Google. They can submit patches back to Google, but if Google don’t want to take them they don’t have to integrate them. So that leaves Brave with three options: they can take Google’s Chromium as is and focus on the browser interface potentially flipping a few config switches, they can maintain their own set of patches and update over time, or they can fork and go it alone. So far they’re hovering between options one and two. The closer they get to three the less influence Google has but the more it costs Brave. At the moment they’re not being particularly courageous with reducing their Google alignment.
      - rejectfinite 3y ago
        Still better then running straight Google Chrome. Yes there is Firefox But Brave still faster + own search engine
  - komali2 3y ago
    You can view the brave browser repository yourself and see how they strip out a bunch of google crap: https://github.com/brave/brave-browser https://github.com/brave/brave-browser If you don't trust them, you can compile it on your own.
- youngtaff 3y ago
  That would be the same Brave that was replacing ads on sites with their own ones?
  - WithinReason 3y ago
    Nope, that never happened. You must be thinking of a different Brave browser.
stjohnswarts 3y ago
Options are Linux, and half broken "phone" or Apple, the hardware is their profit center, as well as getting you to buy their software product, but your info isn't sold to 3rd parties (yet?) or Google (circumvent some of it with firefox+adblock origin) or just don't participate at all and get a flip burner.
- Lev1a 3y ago
  > ~~adblock~~ origin FTFY: uBlock Origin
- barrotes 3y ago
  Why 'half broken "phone"'? I used GrapheneOS for a while now, it works pretty well imho, the only problem I encountered till now is with maps. Finding a good and no-play-services maps app is a major issue. I use OsmAnd and it's quite mediocre compared to Play Services based options. With that (important) exception, I love the de-googled experience. The funny part is that to be de-googled the best choice is buying... a Google Pixel phone.
  - nicoco 3y ago
    Try organic maps.
ftaghn 3y ago
The problem with degoogling your phone in the west is that you may hit something that requires a non-rooted, pristine manufacturer provided rom to work. In my case, my bank won't allow me to do online payments unless I validate the payments through a smartphone app as the 2fa. They do not do texting/sms based 2fa anymore. The app will refuse to launch on a rooted phone or a custom rom. To me, this means a degoogled phone is absolutely unusable. I can't do without being able to use my credit card online. This is in fact the sort of thing that will happen soon to the web if browser attestation becomes a thing. I can already see it coming, my bank rejecting logins from browsers that are not untempered, Google-provided.
rc_mob 3y ago
Authoritarianism is always creeping in. Its a force or evil that just never stops.

komali2 3y ago

No need to proxy, you can just use https://brave.com/ https://brave.com/. Add a pihole to strip it from other devices and non-browser web traffic.

robin_reala 3y ago
Using a browser powered by Google’s technology stack is hardly deGoogling.
- Timwi 3y ago
  I don't really know much about how Brave is made, but you make it sound like they're using proprietary Google libraries, whereas I was under the impression that it was built from open-source software. If I'm right, the fact that this software originally came from Google is immaterial. If it's open source, Brave have full control over what it does and Google has zero.
  - robin_reala 3y ago
    Brave uses Chromium: an open source project controlled by Google. They can submit patches back to Google, but if Google don’t want to take them they don’t have to integrate them. So that leaves Brave with three options: they can take Google’s Chromium as is and focus on the browser interface potentially flipping a few config switches, they can maintain their own set of patches and update over time, or they can fork and go it alone. So far they’re hovering between options one and two. The closer they get to three the less influence Google has but the more it costs Brave. At the moment they’re not being particularly courageous with reducing their Google alignment.
    - rejectfinite 3y ago
      Still better then running straight Google Chrome. Yes there is Firefox But Brave still faster + own search engine
- komali2 3y ago
  You can view the brave browser repository yourself and see how they strip out a bunch of google crap: https://github.com/brave/brave-browser https://github.com/brave/brave-browser If you don't trust them, you can compile it on your own.
youngtaff 3y ago
That would be the same Brave that was replacing ads on sites with their own ones?
- WithinReason 3y ago
  Nope, that never happened. You must be thinking of a different Brave browser.

stjohnswarts 3y ago

Options are Linux, and half broken "phone" or Apple, the hardware is their profit center, as well as getting you to buy their software product, but your info isn't sold to 3rd parties (yet?) or Google (circumvent some of it with firefox+adblock origin) or just don't participate at all and get a flip burner.

Lev1a 3y ago
> ~~adblock~~ origin FTFY: uBlock Origin
barrotes 3y ago
Why 'half broken "phone"'? I used GrapheneOS for a while now, it works pretty well imho, the only problem I encountered till now is with maps. Finding a good and no-play-services maps app is a major issue. I use OsmAnd and it's quite mediocre compared to Play Services based options. With that (important) exception, I love the de-googled experience. The funny part is that to be de-googled the best choice is buying... a Google Pixel phone.
- nicoco 3y ago
  Try organic maps.

ftaghn 3y ago

The problem with degoogling your phone in the west is that you may hit something that requires a non-rooted, pristine manufacturer provided rom to work. In my case, my bank won't allow me to do online payments unless I validate the payments through a smartphone app as the 2fa. They do not do texting/sms based 2fa anymore. The app will refuse to launch on a rooted phone or a custom rom. To me, this means a degoogled phone is absolutely unusable. I can't do without being able to use my credit card online. This is in fact the sort of thing that will happen soon to the web if browser attestation becomes a thing. I can already see it coming, my bank rejecting logins from browsers that are not untempered, Google-provided.

rc_mob 3y ago

Authoritarianism is always creeping in. Its a force or evil that just never stops.