[gman99]

> a bit of black tape over the front-facing camera for a while since Google's Byzantine privacy practices had made me genuinely not trust the device.

I genuinely don't get this.

You don't trust the OS not to spy on you, so you covered the camera? Fine. But if you don't trust the OS, how do you stop it from, say, uploading everything you type to Google? OK, perhaps you have a highly restrictive firewall, or only use it offline (reading ebooks?)

But in that case, what's the point of the black tape over the camera? It now has no way of contacting the mothership; all you've done is restrict your ability to take pictures.

Surely the better idea would be to compile an AOSP build for the N7 (or maybe just get CyanogenMod if you're less paranoid?) and you basically have a tablet which you completely control without buying a Jolla (with an equivalent app ecosystem and less bugs)?

Note that there are definitely reasons to get a Jolla phone; for example the fact that AOSP on the N7 is unsupported by google -- just saying I don't fully understand the tape on the camera when you don't trust the OS.

(maybe it was just a figure of speech; in which case, ignore me -- it didn't come across that way in your comment)

[ganzuul]

It's basic OpSec. You disable the services you don't need. You always build security in layers.

Some devices, e.g. a Dell All-in-one PC, come with a little latch that you can pull in front of the forward-facing camera. It's often not just the mothership that is the target of these measures. It could even be family who misguidedly install spyware.

[gman99]

>It could even be family who misguidedly install spyware. That's an application installed by the user; But this won't protect you against the core OS (the Dell's with a camera shutter is not meant to protect you against Microsoft).

Your original comment seemed to indicate it's was Google's privacy policies you were protecting yourself against. And Google supplies the OS -- most of which is open source.

Comparing the open-ness of the SW, both of them are equally open or closed. The Sailfish UI is closed source (but you get something close using Mer) -- As for android, just GApps is closed (which, I would argue, is better than the Sailfish situation)

So, if you are motivated to not use android due to paranoia; my recommendation is to run a AOSP build with F-Droid as an app store. There are many reasons to use a Jolla phone. Privacy alone is not a reason to switch ecosystems (as I said earlier: there are other, more compelling reasons).

And of course, you need the black tape covering your camera on both the Android and the Jolla (which was your original statement I disagreed with :)