Thank you for your helpful comments. I’ll look into Canoeboot more, but will probably still flash GNU Boot.
I took into consideration what you said about security, and overall, I believe you’re right.
In conclusion, I appreciate your advise and will look further into canoeboot, security, and the framework Risc V motherboard in addition to Risc V in general.
I tried searching up what hardware they run, but I got nothing. Do you know what hardware they run?
Lots to cover so let’s start one by one: Firstly, even trying to put my GNU biase aside, canoeboot is just libreboot with the non free stuff removed. The problem with that is it has been shown to allow some non-free firmware in a recent version, and so, I feel like using a more independent free bios would be better atleast for me. I understand the fact about the chip itself being non-free, but as for a laptop, that’s just the most free you can get right now (do correct me if I’m wrong), so it’s better to use the most free option rather than using a less free option because the most free option isn’t fully free. I completely agree and can’t emphasise that enough: The FSF and GNU are not made for security. A lot of people especially the ones complaining how not allowing microcode updates allows for security risks don’t understand that the FSF’s and GNU’s goals are to protect user freedom. I don’t believe in a society without phones, it’s just if those phones exist, they should be free, transparent, and respect user privacy. Finally, I did know about riscv, but as you mention, I also knew that there were no 100% free boards. By designs, they still need the proper tools and need to be done by a proper computer engineer right? The framework board isn’t 100% free right?
The spyware was reported in 2022 according to the article by a person asking how to delete the spyware confusing it for bloatware. It’s extremely hard to tell if it was present before the initial post on the forum, or not. Though, it’s important to keep in mind that your phone, even if it doesn’t have aura / appcloud spyware, is still spyware until a fully free phone is developed.
I’m simply providing an alternative. We all know ultra-processed food is bad, but that alone doesn’t help anyone be healthy. They need to know what to eat (in this case) use instead. Yeah I carry it by putting it in the same light and small backpack I put my other stuff in when going out. I do not use WhatsApp and do not have a phone number. Counterintuitive to go through all the troubles of being as free and as private as possible and then use WhatsApp spyware and a phone number
Whenever I go to Germany it’s the same thing! What is it with european bakeries and wasps? Wait a second… the europeans must be undercover wasps and they let and don’t mind the wasps eating their food because they’re their kind! It all makes sence now!
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I personally don’t own a phone. My solution to messaging, recording, and navigation is my Thinkpad X200T running parabola GNU+Linux-libre as the os and GNU boot as the bios. It’s as anti-surveillance pro-piracy pro-freedom you can get. For protests, just turning off bluetooth and wifi on it pretty much gets you off the radar. The only problem is that it’s camera really sucks. Photos are doable, but videos might not. Also, for protests, physical privacy is important too, so I hope you are wearing bandana to protect you from being identified in addition to protection (helmet, knee pads, and maybe a gas mask depending on how big the protest is)
Suckles DWM is amazing. No bloat at all. There is only 1 config file, and you edit it with pure C like a gigachad. Like all suckles software, it strictly obeys the Unix philosophy, and it has been the cause of the most lightweight set ups that are also cool hacker-looking
Nice, if you need any tips on switching to GNU+Linux don’t hesitate to DM me. Also, if you are on a newer mac the hardware doesn’t allow for you to switch to another os due to apple’s locked down nature
No there is spyware down to the hardware and bios level, but it does limit the data collection. Also if you’re going to switch to GNU+Linux and sill use the same non-free software it wouldn’t really make difference.
You make amazing points, and I completely agree with you. I will continue to use Jami since it’s good enough for me to talk with my friends. I mean now the only replacement which is not a replacement just another thing I use to chat is GNU Emacs. I hope the development speed and motivation increases and please do inform me if you found an alternative
If it’s not fully free, I don’t trust it. I don’t understand how someone in a privacy community doesn’t understand how much a few lines of code can track someone so easily no matter how much of the program is free software.
Yeah, this is just the reality of unpaid free software developers, they don’t have the recourses to work on every single bug as quick as a paid developer, but that doesn’t justify not reporting bugs and working with the developers to fix them. Like you said, Jami is grest ethically so why not make it great function? Also, don’t you have a computer and a phone? Test on those. I don’t own a phone, so I can’t test the phone, but I do gladly test on my laptop.
Great, but it relies on signal’s servers, so it’s centralised. Also, Moly merely removes proprietary parts from Signal, but that’s a workaround (same thing for linux-libre kernel, it’s free software, but just a workaround which is why I’m looking to help with HyprbolaBSD). I’m not coming here to say Molly isn’t an improvement, but being centralised and relying on a non-tully-free program’s servers is a huge red flag for me :)
That’s not the full picture. That’s exactly the problem I was highlighting. The issue isn’t whether some of the code is “FOSS”, it’s about whether all of it is. If even small parts remain proprietary (as you mentioned), then we can’t verify what those parts are doing. And those parts could theoretically significantly affect the data collection. Also, I didn’t make up a lot of stuff. The Signal Foundation themselves have confirmed that certain UI and build components are not fully libre. As the GNU project puts it, if part of your system is closed, then you’re trusting a black box, no matter how well-lit the rest of it is.
To begin with, yes, you could flash it with a custom rom and that’d get rid of os based spyware. Not being able to flash custom rom on a phone is not about the country you get it from, but the phone itself.
TRA ID, or Telecommunications Regulatory Authority ID, is a unique identifier found on devices, particularly Samsung phones sold in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It serves as a confirmation that the phone unit is genuine and appropriately imported. The TRA ID is used to ensure that devices meet the regulatory standards set by the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) in the UAE.
TA, which stands for Type Approval, refers to the type of approval granted to devices. It indicates that the device has met the necessary technical and regulatory requirements to be sold in the UAE market. The TA RTTE, specifically, stands for the type of approval, and it is part of the certification process that ensures devices comply with local regulations.
Sources:https://www.cms.gov/tra/References/TRA_Acronyms.htmhttps://r2.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S/What-is-TRA-TA-ID-in-s21-fe-UAE-official/td-p/15448933https://tra.go.ke/https://www.tra.go.tz/https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/tra.asphttps://www.tra.gov.om/En/https://r2.community.samsung.com/t5/Others/TRA-UAE-Privacy/td-p/5540365https://www.reddit.com/r/dubai/comments/t08i9y/tra_id_telecom_regulatory_authority_on_phones/https://xdaforums.com/t/how-to-remove-tra-id-from-samsung-s8.3752030/