this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
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Privacy
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There may be some other comments being unfair. People shouldn't complain about free software someone else gives to them falling short of perfection, but we should be careful about granting random apps root permissions.
I think it's more like two:
This is another very binary statement about security. The article addresses a number of design issues with F-Droid and concludes that most users are better off getting apps from Google Play. I don't disagree with the design complaints in theory, but in practice it doesn't hold up. I've seen people get malware from Google Play and read a number of documented cases. I have never heard of malware in the official F-Droid repository.
I'm reminded of comparing Windows to Linux 20 years ago. In theory, Windows had a more sophisticated permissions model and more reliable logging, making it potentially more secure. In practice, it took significant care to keep a Windows desktop clean, while Linux was very unlikely to be compromised.
Of course someone with high-value secrets on their device or who's likely to be directly targeted by sophisticated threats should probably take a more conservative approach, install very few apps, and consider a hardened ROM like GrapheneOS.
Agree, agree, agree
But have some sidenotes to add 😂
Did you know you can root grapheneos, and lock the bootloader? 😂 pretty dangerous stuff to do, but possible!
In general, screw google play, and screw google, or any big corpo, it's not even about security, but about them being bad companies and bad services
And the same about windows, joy is the most important thing, if software is full of trackers and just designed poorly, why would anyone want to use it 🫠
I did not know that it was possible to have root on GrapheneOS with a locked bootloader, but there have been ROMs with SU functionality built in, and adding their keys would be a straightforward way to have root and a locked bootloader.