Comment by wegs | Hacker News Reader

Comment by wegs | Hacker News Reader

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350MB is clearly excessive, and so is 175MB. Neither helps make a point about the other, though. It's about what's transferred, and about permission.

What I want now is an open source Android device where I have controls.

The #1 things I want to control is app permissions. I should be able to shut them down. If an app "needs" my location, it should get a random spot in the world. If it "needs" my contacts, it should get an empty list. If an app "needs" my network, it should see that it's offline.

The #2 thing I want to control is data going out.

#3 is having security updates forever, rather than sudden EOL with no notice.

I think someone should fork Android and do that. Ironically, I think several Chinese companies are well-positioned to do that, from a market perspective, but not from a cultural perspective.

> #1 things I want to control is app permissions.

Android AppManager [0] (if you're willing to spend the time configuring it via the command line) might help here.

> If an app "needs" my location, it should get a random spot in the world. If it "needs" my contacts, it should get an empty list.

Some Chinese OEMs do have these features. I know ColorOS (Oppo and Realme) does.

> If an app "needs" my network, it should see that it's offline.

Android 11 natively exposes ability to firewall apps individually. All major Chinese OEMs (Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme, OnePlus, Vivo) have supported this for a long time.

> The #2 thing I want to control is data going out.

There are two or three no-root firewall solutions on the PlayStore (disclaimer: I built one, too).

> #3 is having security updates forever, rather than sudden EOL with no notice.

Legacy devices may have other problems than what an Android distribution can address: https://grapheneos.org/faq#legacy-devices

[0] https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager

I use glasswire which kinda some some of this. In addition to your list I would also be interested in setting up my homelab to monitor and detect rogue traffic that would have caught my phone doing what was described in the article.

Does anyone have any open-source suggestions for DIY deep-packet analysis?

> Does anyone have any open-source suggestions for DIY deep-packet analysis?

https://github.com/aouinizied/nfstream

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