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I dont understand why people like a journalist working on things they dont want seized would carry this kind of data on their device at a situation like this (b
by msh 2mo ago
I dont understand why people like a journalist working on things they dont want seized would carry this kind of data on their device at a situation like this (border crossing), I see it as more useful to remove that kind of data from the device first.
- choo-t 2mo agoBecause you may need the data in the data during/after your travel and lack clean way to access safely, securely and anonymously remotely.
- kotaKat 2mo agoThis is where we need "cloud phones as a service" / "selfhosting a cellphone at home with some kind of remote access system". Not even kidding here, it's time to bring out thin client computing to cellphones. Let the spicy stuff sit somewhere else. I could bootstrap a Tailscale or Netbird signin remotely, install the access client, and remote back into the 'normal phone'. Would be then funny to map that to lockscreen PINs - enter a PIN to unlock the device, be remoted into "phone A", enter another pin and be remoted into "phone B", enter another PIN and you're on the 'local device' session. (Or duress-PIN kill "phone A" if someone attempts to bruteforce PINs, etc, etc...)
- mystifyingpoi 2mo ago> "selfhosting a cellphone at home with some kind of remote access system You can use TeamViewer for that. Or maybe scrcpy could be coerced into working in a similar way.
- prmoustache 2mo agoGood luck making it work again remotely after a long power outage.
- mystifyingpoi 2mo agoNot sure what do you mean? If that is a concern, there are solutions for this. Like UPSes and backup cellular connections.
- prmoustache 2mo agoThat may not even be a power outage, a simple bug or anything that may hang or reset the smartphone and the scrcpy session can't be started again. Unless you have a trustable person who has keys to your home and is available to power on and make sure a kvm setup is on you can't self host and just assume that what is running at home will be up all the time when you are abroad compared to a managed datacenter with redundancy, remote access and personel available.
- drnick1 2mo agoYou can already do most of that with GrapheneOS or even an iPhone. My contacts, files, photos, etc. are on my home server, accessed through a VPN. My GrapheneOS phone only runs a handful of open source apps. If I were to lose the phone, I would simply revoke the Wireguard key and there wouldn't be anything valuable left on it.
- daneel_w 2mo agoNo one is stopped from backing up important data. It is, in fact, kind of boneheaded to keep all "valuables" on a single device. I don't understand the scenario of not trusting a device to safely access the Internet or the telephony grid while also insisting that they need a PHONE to keep all their stuff on where they're going, and at the same time somehow trust that both themselves and their possessions are perfectly safe from seizure and extortion in the very same location.
- inigyou 2mo agoPersonally I just got grapheneos to replace my normal phone. It's nice, it works for the user instead of the advertiser, and its security features help block antiuser features in apps
- daneel_w 2mo agoI personally run iOS but have given GrapheneOS an extended run on a development phone I use for work, and I have to say it really is a much tidier, less distracting, smoother and more responsive experience than any other Android setup I've used before.
- dugite-code 2mo agoProbably because everything seems to be an "app" these days. Even when it has no business being one.
- inigyou 2mo agoExactly. Everything must be switched to Service as a Software Substitute. It's for your own safety, you see.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- xnickb 2mo agoSo delete messengers, email apps and other comms? Delete the contact book? Clear calendars? Where exactly should one stop?
- daneel_w 2mo agoYou're misinterpreting. They mean that there are additional options next to only keeping these things on your phone.
- xnickb 2mo agoWhat am I misinterpreting? OP literally said they don't understand why a journalist would carry these data with them. As if the data is a file on your phone. Data can be a contact book on your phone, or a messenger with E2E encrypted messages. What would the alternative to that be? Sending pigeons?
- iamnothere 2mo agoRestoring from remote backup when you reach your destination, then wiping again before you cross borders. Or shipping the (encrypted) data separately and picking it up after safe arrival.
- inigyou 2mo agoThe government can easily get your remote backup, of course. It's just that border control won't know you have one.
- iamnothere 2mo agoNot if it’s encrypted and self-hosted. Your doomerism is silly. “The government” is not all-powerful, or they wouldn’t need to pester people for PINs at the border.
- xnickb 2mo ago
- like_any_other 2mo agoRemove and securely overwrite, otherwise the data can still be recovered from the disk image. We have not made privacy easy.