Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday November 13 2017, @03:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-off-your-hat dept.

It's time to upgrade my phone. I'm paying $80 a year on Page Plus (Verizon) with a Window 6.x phone (before tiles, has a start menu). I'm trying to find a phone which will keep my data safe and that seems far more difficult and expensive than it should, so I'm asking you, my fellow purple people eaters Soylentils, to aid me in my mundane quest. My primary use will be GPS/navigation, listening to podcasts, and making phone calls. A secondary use is managing email from multiple accounts. I do require the Google Voice app as I have a couple phone numbers from two side businesses. I'd like to be able to toggle between a VPN connection and a normal connection, but that's not a requirement. I prefer longer battery life. My Win phone can go over a week without charging if I all I do on it is make phone calls. I'm going to be living on a college campus so WiFi will normally be available. I don't want to be buying a new phone every couple years. I've had the Win phone for perhaps 6 years.

IPhones have been in the news for being difficult for state-actors to hack into, but app permissions and data can't be faked nor do I know of any OSS movement on the iOS platform. I assume Androids can be instantly cracked by state-actors, but they have some end-user programs to help prevent apps from spying on you. I'd like it if my address book, location, and media was secure from data mining apps. Do I really need to make the choice between data privacy and state privacy? Though since companies have no issue selling data to the state, is my only choice data privacy?

My ideal choice would be a pocket sized piece of hardware that runs Debian, makes phone calls, lets me install standard Linux programs, and doesn't cost more than a laptop. Though if I can connect a screen and keyboard to it and do Python/Java/C++ development then perhaps I'll pay high-end laptop prices. I've seen failed attempts at creating such a device but no successful ones.

Help me dear readers, you're not my only hope.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 13 2017, @04:23PM (8 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday November 13 2017, @04:23PM (#596255) Homepage Journal

    I go with none of the above and assume a phone is not secure and they never will be. I never put sensitive information on or across it.

    That said, I go through all the steps I can find or think up to secure it anyway. No sense in making it easy on them.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Monday November 13 2017, @04:27PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday November 13 2017, @04:27PM (#596261) Journal
    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 13 2017, @04:36PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday November 13 2017, @04:36PM (#596276) Homepage Journal

      Probably but I can damned sure make them earn it on a desktop.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @05:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @05:07PM (#596306)

      That is true in the same sense that it is true that the only secure computer is one that is never switched on, locked away in a safe where you destroyed the key.

      Absolute security does not exist. The question is whether you can achieve reasonable security. With laptops, apart from the hardware issues (firmware, IME, etc.) which are unfortunately not avoidable in modern hardware, you can get them pretty secure. Of course that means not using Windows, and putting a bit of thought into your setup. And of course it also depends on who you are and what you do; the same setup that is pretty secure for a typical user will be hopelessly insecure for people dealing with classified data.

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @04:33PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @04:33PM (#596273)

    So you carry around a pocket address book? I must admit I have started carrying around a pocket calendar as it's too difficult to sync work and home events and I can't reference a phone based calendar while talking on the cell trying to schedule something for next month.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 13 2017, @04:41PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday November 13 2017, @04:41PM (#596282) Homepage Journal

      I don't use a calendar; I just remember. And I don't consider my address book any more sensitive than a phone book. The most sensitive thing on my phone are the texting records and the phone company has a copy of those that they're all too willing to hand over anyway.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 1) by pTamok on Monday November 13 2017, @04:49PM (1 child)

      by pTamok (3042) on Monday November 13 2017, @04:49PM (#596288)

      Funnily enough, I thought we would end up with separate personal organisers and phones for precisely this reason. My expectation was a personal organiser with a phonebook, and once I'd found who I wanted to talk to, I hit a button, and the organiser would, through the magic of Bluetooth, initiate a call on the phone, leaving the organiser free for me to look at emails, calendars etc. Instead, phones have become 'smart', with no keyboards, poor multitasking, and even worse security.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @12:38PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @12:38PM (#596765)

        My thoughts exactly! Give me a simple phone/internet access point/router/gateway, and a separate smart device with the rest of the features, an open protocol between the two, so that I can upgrade communication part separately from UI and advanced higher layers' applications. Instantly, the big device becomes more affordable because it has less certifications to pass, and small device becomes easier to be made compliant. Let me decide what information is allowed to pass the interface between the two, and when NO information is allowed to be sent out actively.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @07:57PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2017, @07:57PM (#596411)

    This is the sad truth. You certainly are not in charge on "your" smartphone.

    https://www.replicant.us/freedom-privacy-security-issues.php [replicant.us]