Elena Rossini ⁂
“if we give our data to companies, the wealthy will rule.
If we give our data to governments, we will end up with some form of authoritarianism.
Only if the people keep their data will society be free.
#Privacy matters because it gives power to the people.”
— Carissa Véliz, “Privacy is Power”
Franz Graf
@_elena
I just wanted to write "fully agree", but always beware of the extremes. Germany has learned the "don't give too much data to a central government" and has separated institutions and states.
The price is that we as citizens often have to give similar information to different institutions - and that can suck! "can't they just get the info from xyz". But that's the other side of the coin.
Everything comes by a price.
(this is not a "we must centralise" - just a "everything has a price")
Mensch, Marina
@_elena Privacy is also a necessary pillar for all democracies.
Graeme 🏴
@_elena I start to wonder if this is backwards. Big companies will always find a way to get the data if they want it. But it only has value if we allow it to. After all - what do they do with it? Advertise, badly? ... Which we can simply ignore, and let them waste their time and money.
Beverly
@_elena That horse may have left the barn, but we should make an effort.
Franz Graf
@_elena
Haha, when I wrote it, I thought about China as well. That's the problem: all is fine as long as the government is great. But within a few presidents, this can change dramatically.
mastoto
Phoenix Gee
@_elena Oh NOW they're coming up with this? Took them only... i dunno... 30 years?!
Keith 🇦🇺
@_elena thanks for all your posts Elena! I love all you stand for in tech. Brilliant blog too!
ScienceCommunicator
Technology is both our friend & foe in this regards__because there are humans that are either our friend or foe. In other words, people that are just getting on with their lives in a generally honest way, or people whose agendas mean they seek to exploit others (inc. their data)
The latter is cronyism
It's in our own personal interests for, e.g., health professionals to access our personal health data (medical records). But, cronies use our personal data against us.
Elena Rossini ⁂
File under: Privacy is a basic human right, on constant assault by #BigTech.
Today I learned that several #Android apps have decided to ban the use of "non-Google" approved OSes.
Post by @Sunny on #Lemmy: "Revolut, McDonald's, and Authy have banned the use of GrapheneOS" https://lemmy.ca/post/34609283
I find this really troubling. I don't care about McDonalds or Authy. But banking! I'm a Revolut customer and I was considering switching to a Pixel 9 with #GrapheneOS. This is chilling.
Chris 🦑
@_elena do it anyway. It's worth it.
Georgeee🏳️🌈 (dual core CPU)
@_elena @Sunny do it anyway. buy a low end samsung phone (not xiaomi as they track like a lot more and the interface is annoying), put a firewall and use revolut in there. don't forget to put it to a vpn and dns and yeah, that's all. modern burner phone
privacy_guru
@_elena @Sunny One option to get around that is to use your browser to sign into your bank. It's not as convenient but it works well enough. Have you considered that option?
privacy_guru
@_elena @belljeff @Sunny I should have read the whole comment thread before commenting. Sorry the web browser isn't an option for you.
Darkmm
@_elena @Sunny Unfortunately, I am also a Revolut bank user, I sent them a complaint that I do not want Google on my phone, so that they should respect my decision and allow me to continue using the app, even though I have pure Android. I gave them a rating of 1 on Google Play because it takes away my right to use the app.
#privacy #grapheneos #myrights #degoogle
Captain Dan
soaproot
@_elena @Sunny From a privacy point of view you are often best off with a web site rather than an app (using, say, a browser like Mull). Not trying to oversimplify a somewhat complicated situation, but it is something I am trying to figure out as I try to map out a future which is more based on F-Droid and the like than the more closed alternatives.
eswillwalker
@soaproot @_elena @Sunny Agreed. I use almost no apps. Everything via browser. The companies are always pushing their apps, but I just say NO!
crepererum
@ben @thatfatguy_bg @_elena so either that burner phone is your old phone and may not get security updates anymore. Mine for example got it's last patch 2+y ago. Not really a good way to run banking apps, even when Google's attestation system the OS is OK.
Or you buy a second newish phone. But money also doesn't grow on trees, so that seems like a somewhat unpractical option for many as well.
Ben Tasker
@thatfatguy_bg @_elena Yup, I've also seen an increasing number of people on things like /r/(?UK)PersonalFinance who have a stay-at-home phone which has most most of their banking apps on.
That way, if they do get mugged, they can only give access to one app which doesn't have any savings etc in.
It's not a bad habit to have, even before all these other changes
Rob298
@_elena @Sunny You should have one device for your personal. (aka one with Graphene os) and then another separate for apps giving you a hard time on Graphene os. This is so you can get the best of both, and ot lose any access.
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