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I've been running Lineage with microg for a couple years now, and for the same reasons as the author. I don't consider myself a tin-foiler, either. I think the

I've been running Lineage with microg for a couple years now, and for the same reasons as the author. I don't consider myself a tin-foiler, either. I think the concerns he expresses are perfectly valid. Anyway, FWIW, I have noticed a night and day difference in the targeted advertising. It's a little amusing, because my wife has an iPhone, and she'll get nearly instant targeted ads based on conversations we have, while I don't. Anecdotal, sure, but there seems to be something to it.

throwaway48540 2y ago
Interesting, I replaced my android (with Lineage and without even microg) with iPhone and all the hyper-targeted ads stopped.
- kmeisthax 2y ago
  Apple's long-term play with iOS is to shut all competing ad networks out of the data flow that iPhones generate. This is not solely for privacy reasons. We know Apple runs their own ads in the App Store, and they do collect data on those ads, which they conveniently do not consider to be "tracking" because it doesn't cross an organizational boundary. And to be clear, every other big tech company operates on this same logic. "Tracking" to both Apple and Google is this really specific technical definition rooted in the same-origin policy of web browsers, in the same way that "malware" to Apple is "anything we didn't sign, including useful developer tools, third-party JIT compilers, and games that won't pay us 30% of their microtransaction sales". In fact, this sort of "we'll protect you from the competition's - and ONLY the competition's - malfeasance" bullshit is why Google isn't allowed to block third-party cookies. The UK CMA is legally enshrining third-party cookies - at least in Google browsers - because all of Google's own privacy posturing with that was just to shut off the data flow in Chrome.
  - throwaway48540 2y ago
    Tracking how many times someone requested an API endpoint while using the App Store seems acceptable to me. Very comparable to server side logging which I also don't have any problem with. I don't do it much anyways, I have installed the apps I use when I got the phone and never opened the App Store again.
tiahura 2y ago
So you go through all that effort just so you can see more irrelevant ads?
- deng 2y ago
  LineageOS with MicroG is really not much effort nowadays as long as you - get an officially supported phone with easily unlocked bootloader (which usually means: Pixel or OnePlus) - get the LineageOS&MicroG bundle from https://download.lineage.microg.org https://download.lineage.microg.org, which should really be more advertised - don't root your phone, because that'll definitely require more effort fuzzing around with Magisk and Zygote deny lists etc. There are of course apps that won't work with MicroG, period. Anything requiring hard DRM (Netflix EDIT: according to below list, it's actually working now, but I cannot test), games (Pokemon Go for instance), also quite a few banking apps, so if you can't live without some of those, check beforehand for instance on https://community.e.foundation/t/list-apps-that-work-or-do-not-work-with-microg/21151 https://community.e.foundation/t/list-apps-that-work-or-do-n...
  - fragmede 2y ago
    just so you can see more irrelevant ads?
    - flotzam 2y ago
      It can be looked at as cognitive defense. I don't want a hostile ad/surveillance system to charm me with relevance.
    - deng 2y ago
      No, just because I find the default Google experience in Android annoying, and I don't see why they should know everything about me. Thanks to ublock, adaway and pi.hole I don't see ads anyway.
    - gljiva 2y ago
      What a disingenous question, yuck. No, whether ads are relevant or not was never the core issue, so that alone wasn't the cause of his actions (btw, doesn't sound like much effort tbh). The relevance of ads is just a symptom of underlying cause.
rapnie 2y ago
Anecdotal, I use adblockers, and for many years I think "Huh, ads?"
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
medstrom 2y ago
What you describe sounds like the data on both of you gets stored due to your choice of messaging app, and you just don't get shown ads due to your choice of OS. Data may still be there.

throwaway48540 2y ago

Interesting, I replaced my android (with Lineage and without even microg) with iPhone and all the hyper-targeted ads stopped.

kmeisthax 2y ago
Apple's long-term play with iOS is to shut all competing ad networks out of the data flow that iPhones generate. This is not solely for privacy reasons. We know Apple runs their own ads in the App Store, and they do collect data on those ads, which they conveniently do not consider to be "tracking" because it doesn't cross an organizational boundary. And to be clear, every other big tech company operates on this same logic. "Tracking" to both Apple and Google is this really specific technical definition rooted in the same-origin policy of web browsers, in the same way that "malware" to Apple is "anything we didn't sign, including useful developer tools, third-party JIT compilers, and games that won't pay us 30% of their microtransaction sales". In fact, this sort of "we'll protect you from the competition's - and ONLY the competition's - malfeasance" bullshit is why Google isn't allowed to block third-party cookies. The UK CMA is legally enshrining third-party cookies - at least in Google browsers - because all of Google's own privacy posturing with that was just to shut off the data flow in Chrome.
- throwaway48540 2y ago
  Tracking how many times someone requested an API endpoint while using the App Store seems acceptable to me. Very comparable to server side logging which I also don't have any problem with. I don't do it much anyways, I have installed the apps I use when I got the phone and never opened the App Store again.

tiahura 2y ago

So you go through all that effort just so you can see more irrelevant ads?

deng 2y ago
LineageOS with MicroG is really not much effort nowadays as long as you - get an officially supported phone with easily unlocked bootloader (which usually means: Pixel or OnePlus) - get the LineageOS&MicroG bundle from https://download.lineage.microg.org https://download.lineage.microg.org, which should really be more advertised - don't root your phone, because that'll definitely require more effort fuzzing around with Magisk and Zygote deny lists etc. There are of course apps that won't work with MicroG, period. Anything requiring hard DRM (Netflix EDIT: according to below list, it's actually working now, but I cannot test), games (Pokemon Go for instance), also quite a few banking apps, so if you can't live without some of those, check beforehand for instance on https://community.e.foundation/t/list-apps-that-work-or-do-not-work-with-microg/21151 https://community.e.foundation/t/list-apps-that-work-or-do-n...
- fragmede 2y ago
  just so you can see more irrelevant ads?
  - flotzam 2y ago
    It can be looked at as cognitive defense. I don't want a hostile ad/surveillance system to charm me with relevance.
  - deng 2y ago
    No, just because I find the default Google experience in Android annoying, and I don't see why they should know everything about me. Thanks to ublock, adaway and pi.hole I don't see ads anyway.
  - gljiva 2y ago
    What a disingenous question, yuck. No, whether ads are relevant or not was never the core issue, so that alone wasn't the cause of his actions (btw, doesn't sound like much effort tbh). The relevance of ads is just a symptom of underlying cause.

rapnie 2y ago

Anecdotal, I use adblockers, and for many years I think "Huh, ads?"

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

medstrom 2y ago

What you describe sounds like the data on both of you gets stored due to your choice of messaging app, and you just don't get shown ads due to your choice of OS. Data may still be there.