Off-Topic: Smart phones
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Hi all,
Sorry for the off-topic, but I have taken a job where I will likely be essentially required to get a smartphone. I have two concerns about this:
1) Don't know of any good libre OS options
2) Don't know of any good options that respect my privacy
I suspect that if I could solve #1, then #2 would take care of itself. Do you have any suggestions? Surely I'm not the only one wrestling with this?
Thanks!
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Replicant is the best solution I can think of. It won't solve the problem of the cell company being able to track you, as they will do this via triangulation, but at least it will remove the "universal backdoor", and make it significantly harder for the powers that be to turn the phone into a "remote listening device".
If this is soely for work purposes, then I suggest only taking it out with you when you're working, and removing the battery on all other occasions. Your work movements are unlikely to be secret, anyway, so does it really matter if the cell company know where you work?
Of course, Replicant isn't perfect (non-free firmware) but it's better than just running stock Android, or (gasp) iOS!
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There is Replicant which is free software and runs on some phones. I think that it still depends on some non-free components such as the wifi driver. I think it is the only libre phone OS at this time.
> I think that it still depends on some non-free components such as the wifi driver.
According to this[1] it sounds like it requires non-free firmware. I haven't heard anything on drivers yet, but I believe that's where a lot of their work is.
Apparently the Galaxy Nexus has a better design so no RAM is shared with the modem. And the GTA04 is a hacker's dream (the good type of hacker, that is). [2]
1: http://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/ReplicantStatus
2: http://replicant.us/2012/11/replicant-4-0-0001-images-release/comment-page-1/#comment-87789
> I have taken a job where I will likely be essentially required to get a smartphone.
I'm required to have a mobile phone, so I just leave the battery out almost all of the time (for privacy reasons). I check for messages every few days while I'm at home.
But maybe my "solution" isn't good for everyone. ;-)
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There isn't a good solution. I like to refer to cell phones as trackers. I think I might have picked this up from RMS (can't remember now). In any case the biggest problem with phones is not the software they run. Its the tracking. Your not going to fix that by running a free OS.
I like andrews idea of getting a smart phone, installing replicant (not a perfect solution), and then leaving the battery out and checking your voice mail.
In fact if this works you could probably just set the phone up to forward to a landline. It's pretty easy to do. Of course if they actually expect you to pick it up... and be able to reach you its not going to work. Although it is more likely to work than turning it off and checking voice mail every few days.
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