• geoff@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 days ago

      I’m aware of GrapheneOS, but I don’t know how their tracking works, so I also don’t know if GrapheneOS can offer enough protection.

    • HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      Alternative OSes surely do have better privacy than Android, but that’s probably not sufficient. On Smartphones, there runs not a single CPU like on a laptop, but more like 5 computers and only one of them is controlled by the OS. For example, there is a baseband processor and a radio modem. And the SIM card is a computer. And part of these can be controlled remotely (have you ever wondered how your phone automatically re-programs it parameters when you change providers?).

      And then there are gaps in authentication in the radio prozocol: Your phone / SIM card authenticates against a radio tower so that the right phone user pays the bill. But the phone has no way to detect a rogue mobile tower…