[djrogers]

I'm having a hard time understanding how "de-googling" and Android phone fixes this issue:

> Privacy - smartphones and their apps reporting where you are at, what you are doing, what you are looking for to third parties like Google and it’s advertising network.

Specifically the second part - their apps. Does e-os do something to prevent 3rd party apps from requiring extraneous permissions, or using those permissions to track/profile you?

I get that now the base OS itself isn't tracking/profiling you for adtech purposes, but frankly neither was your iPhone Xr. All of the creepy stuff has always been in the apps, and I don't see how this changes that.

[johnbrodie]

Doing something is better than doing nothing, you're leaking less data overall even if you install all the same apps. In general though, yes, with a deGoogled phone you have to watch out for what apps you're installing and try to stick to FDroid for the most part.

There's also Warden [0], which does a decent job of stubbing out built-in trackers for your "must have" apps that are otherwise privacy-invading.

[0] https://www.xda-developers.com/warden-open-source-app-aurora...

[techrat]

Since this requires root, what benefit does it have over having a HOSTS file that also blocks the trackers directly by holing the hostnames?

[hansel_der]

hosts file is only usefull to blackhole domain NAMES not endpoints. also you have to keep it updated.

[mindslight]

An OS that represents the user should have the option to "allow" extraneous permissions (perhaps even by default), but return junk data - mock location, fake contacts, arbitrary device identifiers, etc. And to transparently proxy network traffic as well. The point of sandboxing is that an app should not be able to know whether it has been given access to private information, plausible garbage, or a mix of both.

I have no idea if this particular OS can do this. But it's a possible difference between proprietary and Free land, and where the Free world needs to head to fight back against nonconsensual permission demands.

[searchableguy]

> An OS that represents the user should have the option to "allow" extraneous permissions (perhaps even by default), but return junk data - mock location, fake contacts, arbitrary device identifiers, etc.

Many Chinese roms have started to do this. They have option to provide fake or blank data when an app asks to access sensitive information.

I expect this to be available in stock android soon too.

[jqpabc123]

All of the creepy stuff has always been in the apps, and I don't see how this changes that.

Not all of it. Google embeds a lot of creepy into Android itself, including AOSP.

But apps are a legitimate concern with an easy, sensible solution --- don't install creepy apps.

eOS offers an alternative app store with non-creepy apps.

FDroid is another popular alternative store with only open source apps.

Some things are not available on these alternative stores. For these, I use Aurora store (load the client from FDroid) which lets me install just about anything from the Google Play store without a Google login and I can see how creepy an app is before I install it. They scan apps for trackers and show the results.

Finally, if all else fails, I can't find a suitable alternative and I really, really want a particular creepy app, I use an old phone (Moto G4 Play running eOS) with no personal info stored in it. About the only thing I have found that falls into this category is some banking and payment apps.

Bottom line: Non-creepy apps are available if you take the time to look for them. One of my personal favorites is TwinMe --- peer to peer video and messaging with no personal info required. Actually works better than the creepy stuff and my iOS friends like it too .