Because of a post by nonconformist I have become emboldened to share what I’m doing to protect my anonymity and replace my digital online presence. Hopefully others will join in on their solutions as well. I’ll include desktop and open-source solutions and it seems that nonconformist has a lot to add.
I’m sure almost everyone here knows the smart phone is a device to market you, much like the famous Yakov Smirnoff, In America, you use your smart phone but in Soviet Russia the phone uses you. Its sad that we are now Soviet Russia… Most people I ask if they have noticed items in which they spoke about but never search for online being marketed to you, most will say yes. I found a solution and I’ve been using this solution for about 6 months and I’m very happy with the results.
I switched from an Android based phone to Graphene OS based phone and I’m never looking back. I have almost everything I had before but without the spyware, bloat, forced software that can’t be uninstalled and with incredibly useful security features, baked in out of the box. Since I switched, I have stopped being the product and now I’m the owner of my phone.
The process is incredibly easy to set up, just a few steps. You purchase an unlocked Google Pixel phone and connect it to your PC, then start here, with the web installer documentation: https://grapheneos.org/install/web
It comes with nothing installed… You must set up everything but that is a positive. You install Google Play and set up an anonymous account for Google Play, or you can use an account you own, it’s up to you.
Graphene OS takes a different approach to security, everything on the phone runs in its own isolated space called a sandbox, even the Google Play runs in its own sandbox. Full details on sandboxed Google Play: https://grapheneos.org/features#sandb...
Android auto will not work on Graphene OS, Android auto is the only application I have found not to work, it requires too many privates to the OS and is incapable of working without destroying the security features of Graphene OS. I haven’t missed it as it really didn’t function all the well to begin with.
Graphene OS has the ability to shutdown phone features when not in use, the microphone, camera and location services can be turned off as needed.
The OS can have multiple profiles with different software installed for different occasions, these are isolated from each other.
By removing our ability to be controlled and monitored by the big tech companies, we are regaining our freedom.
