3 ms·

This is great. A real alternative to surveillance tainted iOS and Android. In addition to this, there's a new Firefox OS phone coming soon (I hope). http://ww

by znowi 13y ago

This is great. A real alternative to surveillance tainted iOS and Android. In addition to this, there's a new Firefox OS phone coming soon (I hope). http://www.geeksphone.com/revolution/ http://www.geeksphone.com/revolution/

rescripting 13y ago
Just curious, why isn't BlackBerry a real alternative to surveillance tainted iOS and Android phones?
- josh2600 13y ago
  Blackberry used to provide hardware-based PIN messaging services. Once the world decided that software was king and that apps trump security it no longer made sense to invest in Blackberry. Ergo, Blackberry is not a real alternative not from a security perspective but from a usability perspective. I'm not saying this is correct, only trying to codify the public perception for your benefit.
- MehdiEG 13y ago
  At that point, I think that Blackberry is suffering a lot from their now disastrous brand image. It's not that Blackberry isn't a real alternative. It's that most people aren't even considering Blackberry at all anymore. The feeling I get is that it occurs to very few people that Blackberry could even be an alternative. I doubt that many people would notice if they went under tomorrow.
- SwellJoe 13y ago
  http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/how-the-nsa-spies-on-smartphones-including-the-blackberry-a-921161.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/how-the-nsa-spies-...
- mrweasel 13y ago
  I think their issues with the United Arab Emirates, India and Saudia Arabia regarding BlackBerry either moving servers or handing over encryption keys, tainted their reputation in that regard. The whole thing got very confusing, the customers data might still be safe and secure, but it's not really an area where doubt and stories about the opposite are easily brushed over.
ferongr 13y ago
Isn't the Jolla UI and parts of the userland closed-source? If that's the case how can one be use the OS is free from "surveillance"? This also doesn't take in account the privacy issues about what the baseband firmware contains.
programminggeek 13y ago
Yes, because clearly if a bunch of people start using Jolla or Firefox OS surveillance will magically stop happening on the shared public wireless networks we are all communicating over via an open and largely unencrypted internet connection. Open source is nice, but it doesn't solve anything in terms of government or corporate spy groups snooping. The cat is out of the bag on that one and I don't think they're going to magically stop spending billion or trillions snooping anytime soon. Google/facebook/twitter/microsoft make billions off of spying on customer behavior and serving them ads. Governments have a vested interest in either citizen safety or maintaining power by trying to control the population. In either case, there is just too much money and power for spying to ever go away or become less sophisticated.
- pessimizer 13y ago
  >Yes, because clearly if a bunch of people start using Jolla or Firefox OS surveillance will magically stop happening on the shared public wireless networks we are all communicating over via an open and largely unencrypted internet connection. That's internet and wireless surveillance. That's a lot less than the direct access to the phone that closed source OSs may provide.
- juhanima 13y ago
  > via an open and largely unencrypted internet connection. Doesn't have to be that way, you know. You can use VPN, SSH, OTR or any other way to secure your communications, if the endpoints can be trusted at least to some extent.

by znowi 13y ago

rescripting 13y ago

Just curious, why isn't BlackBerry a real alternative to surveillance tainted iOS and Android phones?

josh2600 13y ago
Blackberry used to provide hardware-based PIN messaging services. Once the world decided that software was king and that apps trump security it no longer made sense to invest in Blackberry. Ergo, Blackberry is not a real alternative not from a security perspective but from a usability perspective. I'm not saying this is correct, only trying to codify the public perception for your benefit.
MehdiEG 13y ago
At that point, I think that Blackberry is suffering a lot from their now disastrous brand image. It's not that Blackberry isn't a real alternative. It's that most people aren't even considering Blackberry at all anymore. The feeling I get is that it occurs to very few people that Blackberry could even be an alternative. I doubt that many people would notice if they went under tomorrow.
SwellJoe 13y ago
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/how-the-nsa-spies-on-smartphones-including-the-blackberry-a-921161.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/how-the-nsa-spies-...
mrweasel 13y ago
I think their issues with the United Arab Emirates, India and Saudia Arabia regarding BlackBerry either moving servers or handing over encryption keys, tainted their reputation in that regard. The whole thing got very confusing, the customers data might still be safe and secure, but it's not really an area where doubt and stories about the opposite are easily brushed over.

ferongr 13y ago

Isn't the Jolla UI and parts of the userland closed-source? If that's the case how can one be use the OS is free from "surveillance"? This also doesn't take in account the privacy issues about what the baseband firmware contains.

programminggeek 13y ago

Yes, because clearly if a bunch of people start using Jolla or Firefox OS surveillance will magically stop happening on the shared public wireless networks we are all communicating over via an open and largely unencrypted internet connection. Open source is nice, but it doesn't solve anything in terms of government or corporate spy groups snooping. The cat is out of the bag on that one and I don't think they're going to magically stop spending billion or trillions snooping anytime soon. Google/facebook/twitter/microsoft make billions off of spying on customer behavior and serving them ads. Governments have a vested interest in either citizen safety or maintaining power by trying to control the population. In either case, there is just too much money and power for spying to ever go away or become less sophisticated.

pessimizer 13y ago
>Yes, because clearly if a bunch of people start using Jolla or Firefox OS surveillance will magically stop happening on the shared public wireless networks we are all communicating over via an open and largely unencrypted internet connection. That's internet and wireless surveillance. That's a lot less than the direct access to the phone that closed source OSs may provide.
juhanima 13y ago
> via an open and largely unencrypted internet connection. Doesn't have to be that way, you know. You can use VPN, SSH, OTR or any other way to secure your communications, if the endpoints can be trusted at least to some extent.