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Comment by toasterlovin | Hacker News Reader

And go where exactly? Self compiled Android without Google services? Welcome to the world. It's a messy place of conflicting values.

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The world isn't the way it is inexorably, nor do we (especially highly technical people in a technical discussion venue) lack the power to change it.

Whats genuinely harmful is shoulder shrugging "not my problem" attitudes.

Being able to install whatever one wants on their phone is a notable starting point. Any Android phone allows that out of the factory; no need for self compiling. Google services don't even get in the way.

Self-compiled Android without Google services is not a bad place to start.

That said, these single-vendor proprietary mobile platforms are all dumpster fires so it may be time to start developing a free software alternative.

We need free hardware before we can build free software.

No one produces an LTE modem with open source firmware.

You absolutely do not need free hardware to build free software.

It was decades before the PC's we used to build FreeBSD, GNU, Linux etc. had even a free software BIOS available.

Historically, free hardware availability has followed in the wake of free software.

No need to self compile. Use a normal Android phone, even one from Google. If you don't want to use Google services, don't log into a Google account.

I don't think that just refraining from logging in could be even remotely sufficient to prevent your data from being sent to Google.

It is for privacy purposes. Obviously, there are other services that communicate with Google without an account, like AGPS and (on Google phones) OS update checks, but unlike on iOS, those can be disabled — no recompile necessary.

Why do you think that refraining from logging in protects your privacy? Does Google only track users who have logged in to a Google account?

They don't track you any more than they track you on iOS, which is the point. Sure, if you use Google Maps, your location will be sent to Google even if you aren't logged in, but on Android, it is possible to use an offline maps app and set that as the default (and never use Google Maps), which is not even possible on iOS. Even if you are an iOS user who is fine using an offline maps app that isn't the default, every time you get your GPS location to show where you are on the map, that GPS location is sent to Apple. On Android (even Google devices) there is a checkbox to disable sending it to Google shown during the setup process.

What are you off about? The claim is that "refraining from logging in could be even remotely sufficient to prevent your data from being sent to Google."

google.com has 90% marketshare. Google Analytics is on 55.9% of websites (according to Google!) They track every user on more than half of websites on the entire Internet.

Why are you rambling about the default settings for the built-in maps app?

Because the erroneous claim is that Google tracks users more on Android than on iOS and that you need to compile your own Android to stop it. Why are you rambling about websites? Compiling your own Android won't help you with that.

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