General > General Technical Chat
Ah, here we go again with the “eco” phone nonsense.
NiHaoMike:
--- Quote from: thinkfat on October 22, 2021, 11:48:28 am ---What difference does it make whether I download the APKs manually or use an equally sketchy tool to do it? :palm:
--- End quote ---
Open source lets you inspect what it's doing.
--- Quote ---Sigh. The whole scheme gets more impratical with each of your responses. Now I need a "good" phone that is de-googled and does nothing and a throw-away phone that is allowed to deliver ads. How is that supposed to make a No-Google Android device attractive to a "normal" person.
I'm not saying that a device purely based on AOSP isn't a nice thing - for a nerd. It's just not a nice thing _to_have_ if your needs don't primarily revolve around privacy or you just like to tinker.
--- End quote ---
That cheap device could cost as little as $5. Can you name a cheaper way to watch Youtube without ads and still support the creators? (There might be a Youtube viewer app out there that hides the ads instead of blocking them, haven't looked for one.)
thinkfat:
I could also jump through hoops. My point still stands: A de-Googled Android phone is not a practical device, no more than any of the existing Open Source options out there. None of them managed to take off. Everything you brought to the table just adds another layer of hurt.
PlainName:
--- Quote ---Open source lets you inspect what it's doing
--- End quote ---
It potentially lets some of us inspect it if we could be arsed and had the time, but no-one is going to. For the vast majority of people it's just not even been through the cursory inspection that Google gives them.
tooki:
--- Quote from: dunkemhigh on October 22, 2021, 03:59:46 pm ---
--- Quote ---Open source lets you inspect what it's doing
--- End quote ---
It potentially lets some of us inspect it if we could be arsed and had the time, but no-one is going to. For the vast majority of people it's just not even been through the cursory inspection that Google gives them.
--- End quote ---
Yep. The whole “you can inspect and modify the code yourself” thing forgets that most people aren’t programmers, and that even those that are don’t normally have the time to acquaint themselves with an existing code base.
james_s:
--- Quote from: tooki on October 22, 2021, 09:57:12 pm ---Yep. The whole “you can inspect and modify the code yourself” thing forgets that most people aren’t programmers, and that even those that are don’t normally have the time to acquaint themselves with an existing code base.
--- End quote ---
That's absolutely true, however just like the potted electronic devices, it only takes one person curious enough to inspect the code and raise the alarm if there is something nefarious there. Then that draws attention to it and scores of other technological minded people can go take a look and verify these claims. It is not necessary for every individual to inspect the code they're using, the code is out there and can be inspected, if there is something there, somebody will probably find it sooner or later. I have actually modified a few trivial command line utilities in Linux and I was glad to have the ability to do so.
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