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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.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday November 13 2017, @06:19PM (1 child)
> I assume Androids can be instantly cracked by state-actors
Yes, and even Fort Knox can be taken over with enough tanks.
Start by setting your requirements based on actual realistic threats. Unless you're in the drugs, smuggling, slavery or political businesses, the effort of protecting yourself from the infinite resources of state actors is not worth it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday November 13 2017, @08:14PM
The cops arrested a suspected heroin dealer. Afterwards, two of his customers texted requests for delivery. That convicted him.
But they didn't have a warrant to search the phone.
Washington's constitution has stronger protections for privacy than the US constitutions. The state supreme court threw out the evidence, ruling that viewing private text messages was just like opening a suspect's mail.
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