I feel that most OS (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android) have continued to improve security but at the same time reduced privacy.
If that's true, is there a TailsOS equivalent for phones?
If that's true, is there a TailsOS equivalent for phones?
For me improved security was more synonym to degraded performance.
--most drivers and hardware specifications are proprietary, and probably secret under NDA
--most bootloaders are cryptographically locked and controlled by vendor
--necessary wifi and cellular modem hardware is the same, and are also patent minefields even in the foundational platonic ideals of design, as is mobile graphics hardware
--the modems are subject to regulatory requirements that they be secured from modification by the user/owner of the device
Secure in this context means secure from the user and device owner, which can arguably be for good reason -- think of an ATM kiosk, for example.
So no "tails for phones" yet, but people are trying. Check out postmarketOS, lineageOS, replicant, sailfish. Last I tried things were still kind of science project, like 90's style linux.
To be clear, I see some measure of compromise as totally reasonable if one's goal is to get on an open os...
That being said, privacy factors are primarily user-choice in that it is the optional apps and programs that compromise privacy, even if the privacy breaches are less-than-voluntary, as seen in the recent clipboard skimming scandal. Making an OS more secure by limiting unauthorized access to information like the clipboard is both more secure and more private.
A wi-fi only Android tablet that doesn't require proprietary blobs to run vanilla Linux might do.