Welp, everyone buy a Google Pixel 3a from eBay and install Ubuntu Touch I guess
Does Ubuntu Touch work on the 3a? That was my last phone, but after it was no longer supported by Graphene I bought a 7a. I don’t really like Ubuntu but would like to experiment with a Linux phone.
It works, but its not really usable as a daily driver. None of the browsers render sites correctly and I couldnt make phone calls, but that might be a carrier thing on my end.
The Pixel 3a apparently can run any Linux Mobile distro or custom ROM, or at least most of them. At the very least, Ubuntu Touch says it’s officially supported
This is just ID verification in another guise. The second I see one of these, I’ll stop using the website I see it on.
AnDrOiD iS oPeN sOuRcE
Ok?
Android is open source in the same way that Minio is open source.
I know in what way it’s open source. I just don’t understand what person this idiot thinks they’re mocking when they wrote that. It’s as if they think there are really people out there claiming that android/Google respects privacy (lol) and that it’s proven by part of the OS being open source. People make up fake scenarios to get mad about and they’re often rather ridiculous.
Oh, that’s what you mean. Ok, so every time I mention I have an iPhone because a. I value my privacy and b. I try not to support companies that actively harm the internet, someone says “but Android is open source”, as if merely having a few open source components means that Android is better in any way than any other OS.
In this instance, Google is not only making the internet worse, they’re doing it in a way that requires their own closed source libraries to even access a huge portion of the internet. This further makes any functional Android OS closed source.
The most ridiculous thing is that iOS is almost as open source as Android is. There are very few components of an Android based OS that are open source where the equivalent in iOS is not open source.
Also, hey, thanks for calling me an idiot. ;)
Yeah I don’t have experience with people really simping for android let alone claiming it’s meaningfully open source. The most I’ve seen is saying it’s not nearly as closed off as iOS which is just a fact. And I will say that as well because it’s a fact. But that has almost nothing to do with the OSS aspect. Or privacy. So yeah I still don’t quite get your point of inserting this here.
AOSP is. Android is not.
Please remind me what the “A” in “AOSP” stands for…
well, I guess i will stop using those websites from my /e/os fairphone
And nothing of value was lost. I’m over social media, over commercial apps, and maybe I’m over having a mobile phone, too.
What they are doing is way worse tban what you understood.
These QR codes will show on your Desktop PC and you will need an Android phone or an iOS device with a logged in Google QR code app to get past it.
so they are not only tracking you, but they are trying to reconnect your records across multiple devices.
And through the VPN
Ayup that has been the holy grail of big tech.
They are most of the way there today. Make Identity Resolution inescapable. Bing bang boom.
It is more than just phones and lappys too. It’s everything. That smart TV. That fitness watch. That automobile. That streaming music service. The ebook reader you got as a birthday gift.
Your behavior across every single device is data gold. This is today’s reality.
Yep, data gold to sell to data brokers and investors so they can sell you shit that you don’t need and can’t even afford.
Guess I’m not going to Youtube, then.
I see a future where we have our mandated government ID shitphone for banking, corpo and government suchn’shit, and the laptop we access Anna’s, Yggdrasil and TOR with.
and the days go by!
Not exactly same as it ever was, but seems kinda 2007 to me. I doubt any Lemmy instance or i2p site will enforce Google’s QRcode spy-proxy.
My current GraphineOS phone will probably be my last smartphone. I’ll be moving to a dumb phone and a data hotspot connected to some type of cyberdeck. Will have that thing locked down, blocking known abusive companies like Google. Honestly could care less about using any service that touches them.
It’s not 2007. Devices are everywhere now, smartphones, TV’s etc. The social dimension (social pressure) and implications are very different now. Their power increases, amount of people caught in the loop is immense now. 2007 was all still fun and games.
Undoubtedly, and more still will be as corporate greed turns the internet into pay-per-view TV. We can’t help that.
Make your decision for yourself for what to do with your connections and your own devices. You are in control of at least that, if nothing else.
I wouldn’t scan shit from a website. Random QR codes are a security risk. Just won’t visit that website.
That’s why you have to use the special google app that will protect you from all these dangers*
*and also collect all your data, sell it to advertisers and forward it to US surveillance agencies (for your own protection of course).
Sad thing is, that argument works against so many ppl. “I can trust this app. It’s from Google!”
We(*) are tearing down personal computing. Brick by brick. The very idea of controling our own devs is getting lost. Replacing with Big Tech Feudalism.
(*) Not most of us here. But in the whole pop.
Is it bad I use this for steam login? I thought that was secure …
I am in no way condoning Google’s behavior, nor am I trying to normalize it. With that out of the way: maybe running Android Studio with an AVD might be a decent workaround. For now…
That would make the two of us. My Fairphone 3+ is still kicking well with /e/OS.
That would only make me install Graphene even harder if I wasn’t already writing from a phone with it
Hopefully this will push Linux Mobile development so that we are no longer completely bound to Android or iOS
This. Time to stand up to Google and completely boycott the surveillance tech that the US is deploying.
Can we trust that isn’t a campaign to promote Google? What are these websites? Why aren’t they blocking an iPhone? Can any of that be replicated or is this just a Google campaign to create fear and doubt
Because the iPhone has their own spyware to prove you’re a
productuser.
https://support.google.com/recaptcha/answer/16609652?hl=en
https://blog.cloudflare.com/how-to-enable-private-access-tokens-in-ios-16-and-stop-seeing-captchas/Interesting. Definitely turning that off. (As if it actually turns off)
If you turn it off, you’ll have to do the captchas manually.
I just do them wrong, after a few tries it lets me through
Yeah I’m okay with that.
GrapheneOS user here! Not sure about websites but there are certain apps that don’t work properly without Google Play Services, but Graphene’s app store has a sandboxed version of it, so I just installed that and revoked all it’s permissions. Then if an app needs it, I just turn on the relevant permission, do the thing and then turn permissions off again. It’s a bit of a pain at first but I’m used to it now.
I’m a grapheneOS user and I don’t have any google services installed. I havecyetvto hit any major issues with any apps or websites I use. Lucky, maybe?
The main ones for me are the RBC app, Skip the Dishes and Communauto. But I think those might all be Canadian?
Note that some apps will say that they won’t work without GPS, but actually will if you give it a try.
some of them are now straight up refusing to run without the play store.
Then they don’t deserve your business
Man, I want a phone with physical kill switches for things like Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, because a lot of things seem to detect when these things are turned ‘off’ by software. Wonder how they’d react if in software, GPS is enabled, but the actual hardware is not powered at all
They most likely won’t work. Just speculation, but I would imagine most software that “needs” information like GPS don’t care that its on or off, they care that they try to pull data and there is none.
pine phone
I’d say making a 2nd user for the apps that need Play Services (like banking and Uber/Lyft) is the move. This only allows Play Services to run when the 2nd user is on and also fully seperates it from the main user!
Oh yeah that’s something I’ve been meaning to look into!
Yeah exactly. Millions of websites? Which ones? Though I don’t see how this would benefit google
Good point, this would have to work on iPhones too and people without a phone would just not be able to use those websites at all.
I just loaded a bunch of recaptcha on my GrapheneOS phone. So, I dunno what this is all about.
Its basically forced by Google. I mean who wouldn’t force it after someone deliberately removes your government sanctioned spyware. See if people stopped calling it google or Apple and just USA spyware with backdoor to your lives it would be better at getting to the privacy issues. I mean the NSA already proved this is a fact.
Haven’t encountered this yet, has it been let loose in the wild?
Not noticed it and fuck those websites. Happy to boycott.
I really wish Jolla got their crap together honestly
When my current iPhone dies, I’m never having a smartphone ever again.
What do you plan to do? Dumbphone? No phone? Break glass in case of emergency phone in a faraday pouch?
I’m considering a break-glass dumbphone in a faraday pouch. I REALLY fucking hate location tracking. I’d keep it seperate from my IRL ID. Prob is, it’s hard. Screw up once, big data pounces. One call tied to your name in any way. One friend puts it in their contacts. One time to forget the pouch and there’s a location ping at your residence. Not to mention the difficulty of even buying it and setting up a plan. Ugh :(
I’m a teams app for dumb phones away from getting off smart phones. I’m fiddy and have to use my readers to even see my phone, so I’ve slowly stopped using it for much outside of random apps for appliances. I can get an ipad for that, though. I’m also a privacy advocate, but I’ve made peace with the fact that ship has pretty much sailed
Need to break up these monopolies. Really the root of all bad about capitalism.
Break up the billionaires while you’re at it. Their sickness will boil the seas away to nothing
The “root of bad” is capitalism itself, the logic of the system tends to create monopolies over time, as demonstrated in the game ‘Monopoly’
It’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil, according to Jesus, but yeah, that’s the driving force behind capitalism.
It’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil
Thank you for getting this quote right. Often, it’s shortened to “money is the root of all evil”, which hits different, and removes the element of personal responsibility. The “love of money” bit is important.
Exactly. Money as a tool is fine. You need a way to pay for stuff. It’s the love of money, money as a goal in itself, far beyond what you’ll ever need to live, that’s the problem.
Regulations used to exist to break that that behavior. But they were either removed over time or not enforced. It can be done. It used to be. It wasn’t flawless but it wasn’t what we have today either.
Everything is possible. Some things just highly unlikely in the current political climate. I think the mamdani method of doing a shitload of door to door campaigning has been really successful in other parts of the world as well.
It can give a huge boost to leftist parties which then will be able to affect positive change but also change the political landscape. Overton window and all that.
What I’m saying is get the fuck out with your local leftist party/candidate or whatever if you can.
Unless we get better candidates it will only go so far.
I mean yes, but waiting for the world to change isn’t healthy I believe. Either arrange yourself with how it is now or try to be the change. I bet it’s best to do both.
voting for incremental change within a captured isn’t the change we (or anybody) needs, it’s only being forced to chose between options predetermined by the capitalists.
Who said voting? Voting is cool if you’re allowed to do it though.
Capitalism is fine small scale, most systems are. Humans are just wired for efficiency and so with every player on the same board the most ruthless player wins.
Capitalism does not work because companies will always seek to grow more and more and more. It’s the core of capitalism. You need anti-capitalist policies to keep companies small.
Ah yes, the mythical small business capitalism we all hear about. I will agree it sounds good on paper and also seems to distribute money in a somewhat efficient manner.
Unfortunately there has never been a government able to regulate and keep capitalism this way. Other people have said it is simply not possible due to the nature of capitalism.
I think there is a worthwhile debate here around systems and culture. Perhaps capitalism could work if people were not inherently so greedy. I tend to believe that culture is the deciding factor which is a little disheartening honestly.
It’s not just culture. Most people value community and the well-being of others above amassing wealth (provided their needs are met). The problem is that capitalism indoctrinates us against those values, and even more that it rewards and empowers those who don’t share them at all.
Unfortunately there has never been a government able to regulate and keep capitalism this way. Other people have said it is simply not possible due to the nature of capitalism.
the primary “authoritarian” government of the world has proven that it is possible and that keeping them under a tight leash is the only way to prevent them from indoctrinating the masses; that’s why the number of billions and the wealth of the its millionaires have been steadily declining for the last decade or so, while simultaneously continuing to improve the quality of life for its citizens; meanwhile while the united states is poised to get its first trillionaire class very soon.
I sure hope you are not talking about China as they have produced more billionaires than the US for the last two years dramatically increasing their income gap. If you think they have capitalism in check I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
you’re not wrong – china’s billionaire count is up. but here’s the cycle that people in the west miss: a new crop of billionaires come along (eg. tech, evs, ai) and they replace the old crop (eg. real estate & manufacturing) that the chinese gov’t already short-leashed, and boom, numbers jumped.
that new crop will experience their own slowdown too once they get their own short-leashes like the previous crop did. it happened around 2018-2024, and it’ll happen again and again. china’s churn is fast, but the pattern’s the same every time: rise, stall, replace; no permanent footing/beachhead for a billionaire class from which to capture the system or spread misinformation like it is in the united states.
There’s no small scale capitalism as the Capital needs to expand more and more. Political Economy 101.
Google reducing traffic for websites worldwide.
Last bit of traffic they still get from humans instead of AI
I am going to kill myself
Noooo, don’t look at the bad, look at the good. We have this place and Gemini (the good one) to express ourselves.
And besides, the title in this repost is a bit sensational. That specific captcha needs a phone with the Google app. You can just delete data + refresh until you get a different one. Nothing about specifically degoogled phones, people without phones are affected just as much. I am sure MicroG would work just as well (if not now, at least later). Also, ideally you should click the fuck away from recaptcha sites either way. Paradoxically, Google’s own sites don’t have it usually except the search but nobody needs that (at least anyone you would ask on here), DuckDuckGo + StartPage (OR SearXNG) is good enough.
First, don’t.
Second, at least you won’t get bombarded by auto mods spamming suicide hot line number.
Don’t worry, I won’t.
It’s just… everything kinda sucks hard these days. Internet and computer stuff in general is my getaway from all the depressing IRL stuff. But internet is also becoming shitty now. Personal computing is barely a thing nowadays; everything is turning into walled surveillance nightmares. Can’t even call them “walled gardens”, because gardens are actually supposed to be, like, nice things
I hear you. Centralization without regulation comes with a huge cost. I’m trying to use more decentralized services and self host replacement for all google services gradually. And eventually replace phone with a lora msg and gps device that only has phone capabilities when on wifi.
Simultaneously I’m trying to “Return to monke”. interact less with technology and more with people and nature.
Go into nature please. Try walking or hiking. Just chill somewhere. Read a book.
Scribble something, it will be ugly but yours. Listen and smell what it’s like outside. Or just go for a walk without any podcast or music.
Many things are actually amazing. Used enterprise hardware is faster and more affordable than ever. Desktop Linux is so much fun to use, we never have to interact with windows or mac. There’s people out there working on mostly free or entirely free hard- and software.
Things weren’t so good in the past either.
The good news is that there are enough people feeling this that refuges from the enshittification are growing. We’re in one right now.
Also, while online personal computing has definitely been getting worse, offline personal computing is better than it’s ever been. Growing that is sort of like making your own walled garden.
That all said, only keep to technology as much as it improves your life. The other people saying to go into nature more have it right.
And you couldn’t use your current phone for that? That is in cases where you have no choice left, and where your identity is known regardless. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good: just because this anti-feature may not work, doesn’t mean you can’t have better standards overall (assuming you’re coming from a regular OS).
Not everyone had a Pixel, or even a phone that could be degoogled fully
That’s my point. If your non-Pixel or Googled phone is able to support the new Play Services, you could use that device for the verification, instead of using the GrapheneOS device.
That’s a raid!
Stand your ground.
You can still go graphene and isolate play services in a secondary profile.
For a better future: Organisations and services that structure themselves to require third party services need to take contractual responsibility for the actions in their fulfillment supply chain, just as an online retailer takes responsibility for delivery agents. Google play services harvesting needs to be reflected in the privacy policy of every company that doesn’t provide alternative access.
Wonder what will happen if we all start making data protection complaints about enforced non contractual third party data harvesting?
You can still go graphene and isolate play services in a secondary profile.
How does that help? Google gets your IP and location. Then they can use the IP to identify the connections in the other profile.
I installed graphene a month or two ago and reluctantly had to install google play for a thing or two. How do the prophiles work?
Under system you can add secondary profiles. You can deni them access to text…not sure if the profile can see your phone number.

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/9253-how-do-you-set-up-your-profiles

























