Having a “secure” Google phone: The good, the bad, the ugly (but best)

First, a big thanks to ML for the information to all of us in this post. There are a lo of scams targeting conservatives and the security conscious, and some of them can compromise you in a huge way.

First, the one you really must not get. The bad:

The ‘Freedom Phone’ that far-right leaders are hawking is a cheap Chinese Android—and a security nightmare

Security experts are raising concerns over the “Freedom Phone,” a new device touted by prominent conservatives as both secure and censorship-resistant.

Unveiled on Wednesday by Erik Finman, the world’s youngest bitcoin millionaire, the $500 Freedom Phone claims to offer a series of robust privacy features as well as an uncensorable app store.

Finman states the Freedom Phone runs on a custom Android operating system known as “FreedomOS” and provides access to apps such as Parler, the social media service which had previously been banned from app stores in the wake of the Capitol riot.

The phone’s launch also came alongside numerous endorsements from popular right-wing figures such as Jack Posobiec and Candace Owens, who both offered their followers discount codes for the device. It remains unclear whether either individual is receiving financial kickbacks for promoting the Freedom Phone.

Please read the article at source. ONE of the problems with this fraud, is that it has what it calls an unmonitored and uncencored app store. This means you can download a virus, key-logger or root-kit or worse if there is such a thing, while imagining you are getting the latest time saver.

One you could get. The Good:

Amazon link: Silent Circle Black Phone:

Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackphone

Probably best to read the details at those links.

How to make your OWN Android phone secure. Difficult, but probably the best option. The Ugly:

Going Google-less: How to install a custom Android ROM with no Google apps or services

(This is complete instructions on how to de-google your phone and make it about as secure as one can do for a portable radio that has all your most important information on it.)

If you’re an Android user, Google has a scary amount of information on you, and matters get worse if you’re deeply embedded in the company’s app ecosystem — getting locked out of your Google account can have serious consequences then. Thankfully, Android is open source, so it’s possible to evade Google without having to leave the platform altogether — just look at Amazon’s tablets or Huawei’s Google-less phones. But if you’d rather be completely independent from big corporations, going for a free and open-source custom ROM built on top of Android’s core might be the best solution.

 

I personally accept that there’s always going to be some inherent privacy trade-off when you’re using an always-connected mobile device that you carry with you everywhere you go, but I’m curious if there’s a way to remove the ad company from the equation. It’s probably still not feasible to use nothing but open-source apps, but you might be delighted to learn that it’s possible to reduce your dependency on a single data aggregator like Google.

To go fully Google-less on your phone, you’ll need to install a so-called custom ROM, a custom operating system based on the open-source version Google provides. Depending on your device, this is a more or less involved process, and it might not even be possible. You will lose all data stored on your phone in the process, so be sure you have backups. If you make a mistake, you might end up with a permanently bricked, unusable paperweight, so please double- and triple-check what you’re doing, read all instructions before you start, and make sure you understand.While you might not like Google as a company, it still has to adhere to privacy regulations. That’s not true for open-source ROMs potentially created by bad actors going after your data. LineageOS and microG are sufficiently peer-controlled, but there’s no guarantee. Be aware that you could always fall for someone shady when you’re tinkering with your device, and that the risk is greater the more obscure the ROM you choose is.

(Please read the rest at site. Download the instructions perhaps, and then follow each to the letter. It may be a good idea to have someone under 20 with you when you do it, things being what they are. But if you are comfortable with tools like Home Brew or SUDO you should be able to do this without bricking your phone.)

This looks like a shop that sells you a phone where the process above has been done for you. One may be concerned about the motives, as the term, “surveillance capitalism” is a little pointed. But at least the point is at both ends.

From that site:

Escape from surveillance capitalism

Your mobile phone tracks you!

1. Up to 12Mb of your data is collected every day without your consent Learn More.

2. Most of your favourite apps contain trackers harvesting your location and activities.

3. Your documents on remote servers are scanned and analysed.

Choose /e/OS

1. /e/OS is open source, pro-privacy and fully degoogled Learn More.

2. No data scanning or location tracking 24/7.

3. Check built-in trackers in apps before installing.

4. Store or back up your data in your private space.

Parler appears to be pushing the scam Freedom phone. Be advised.

 

 

 

MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK OF ENGLAND WARNS OF IMPENDING GLOBAL FINANCIAL DOOM, ALSO LAUDS ARAB SPRING

MEANWHILE, SPEAKING FROM HIS OWN SPECIAL SECTION IN HELL……..

Soros: “While the economic and fiscal woes of the developed world remain critical, Mr. Soros said his recent travels gave him a sense of optimism about Africa and the Arab world. “A lot of positive things are happening,” he said. “I see Africa together with the Arab Spring as areas of progress. The Arab Spring was a revolutionary development.”

Just what brand of narcotics is this man ingesting?

H/T: Sheik Yer’Mami (pbuh)

Secret courts to shut down £1m ‘Cashpoint’ for terror suspects .

UK Government currently unable to contest compensation claims due to the secret nature of the evidence.

Daily Mail-Online           19th October 2011

Secret hearings will be held in terror compensation cases, in an attempt to stop the taxpayer being used as a £1million ‘cashpoint’ for fanatics.

The move is designed to end the dilemma faced by the Cabinet Office when MI5 and MI6 hold classified intelligence on terror suspects who are lodging compensation claims, which under civil court rules must be released to them and their lawyers.

It follows public outrage over payouts of millions of pounds to 16 terror suspects, including former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed, who claimed they had been mistreated by security and intelligence officials.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050714/Secret-courts-shut-1m-cashpoint-terror-suspects.html#ixzz1bGO9a5xm

Far-Right growing; becoming more confrontational: academic

From European Son
Political science lecturer Matthew Goodwin has said a “noticeable tide of anti-immigration sentiment” has emerged in Europe over the last decade. He says that there is now “open skepticism toward” the affect of immigration “on the welfare states of Europe, on public services, culture, values, way of life, but we’ve also seen quite high levels of dissatisfaction over the response of mainstream parties on that issue.”

Speaking to the Economist, professor Goodwin said that  there has been a “nopticeable shift” in the discourse of far-Right parties over the last five to six years toward a more “confrontational” and “provocative” message. Goodwin says that activists believe their countries are “under a profound threat from Islam,” and that they are involved in… continue reading!

Christmas Comes Early To The Island.


A bit of background:

Way, way off the north-west coast of Australia, closer to Indonesia than Oz, lies a little itty bitty speck called Christmas Island. It used to be considered Australian Territory on a par with the mainland until the “asylum seekers” and their enablers, the people smugglers and refugee activists, realised that if you got to Christmas Island and claimed asylum, you’d be afforded all the legal and other comforts you could ever want without having to get all the way over here.

So a detention centre was built there, to process claims, which was difficult because somehow, these “refugees” could make it to Indonesia from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and so on, and get onto a boat, yet still not have any papers that would identify them.

This detention centre wasn’t built to house more than around 600 or so people.

Under John Howard, aka the Evil Right Wing War Monger (the last conservative Prime Minister), regulations were toughened up and an exclusion zone was devised. So now you could get to Christmas Island, but you didn’t automatically get Legal Aid or instant acceptance. Also introduced were Temporary Protection Visas, which did not give you all of the rights and benefits of a full Refugee Visa.

When John Howard was voted out in 2007, Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party became PM, and as a part of his platform, he promised to loosen up the harsh regime that Howard had instigated.

In 2008, he did so.

Andrew Bolt's graph.

Bolta’s graph outlines how since the laws have been loosened, there has been an exponential increase in boats arriving carrying illegal immigrants (or asylum seekers if you prefer).

There are currently over 2000 of these people on Christmas Island (with several thousand more on the mainland in detention centres and four-star motels), from several different nationalities.

If you spend enough time at Aussie blogs, you might come across a rare sighting of a commenter by name of The Frollicking Mole. The Mole has worked in the detention centres, and has had his say about it.

The Labor government’s enabling of more people seeking to gain entry to Australia and the benefits that accrue upon acceptance as a refugee has led to the current rioting.

Especially since detainees are now being flown to the mainland to protect them from the violence.

Once on the mainland, they’ll be pretty much right.

Not sure about the rest of us, though.

DOJ PRESS RELEASE SHOWS FBI’S NEW POLITICALLY CORRECT LOGO

DOJ AND FBI: SO WHAT IF ETHNIC EUROPEANS ARE TYPE CASTED AS TERRORISTS, THEY ARE THE LEAST LIKELY TO CRY FOUL.

An anonymous source sends in the following:

“Have a look at the DOJ press release. The story, in itself, is most important.  However, it might be worth while to focus on the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force logo that appears at the bottom of the release.  The facial features represented on the logo’s character might suggest that authorities are no longer ravaged by political correctness – where ethnic Europeans are concerned.  If my impression is right, this selective extension of respect and consideration is unacceptable.

Now what would happen if the FBI chose another character, more representative of the terrorists currently wreaking havoc upon society, not only in the US, but around the world? KGS

Ottawa: Man wearing hijab robs bank. One more reason to ban the burqa.

From The Ottawa Citizen

by Claire Brownell, Ottawa Citizen

December 30, 2010

Hijab-wearing man robs west-side Ottawa bank

OTTAWA — A man used a Muslim woman’s religious garment as a disguise to rob a bank at the Pinecrest Mall on Thursday, police said.

Sgt. Mark Myers said the man, who wore a blue robe and a head scarf concealing his mouth and nose, passed a note demanding money to a bank teller at a Scotiabank branch around noon.

The teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash.

The suspect then fled the bank, heading eastbound on foot, he said.

Myers said that since the summer, there have been a handful of other robberies in Ottawa involving male suspects using Muslim women’s religious garments as disguises. He was not immediately able to answer how many such robberies there have been or whether police suspect they have been committed by the same person.

The sergeant said police are confident the suspect is a man because at one point during the robbery, he spoke in a masculine voice.

The three or four customers in the bank at the time were uninjured. The bank remained closed for the rest of the day.

“We are thankful that our employees and our customers who were in the branch at the time are safe,” said Ann Derabbie, a Bank of Nova Scotia spokeswoman in Toronto. “We will be offering counselling support (to employees) should any of them need it.”

Police described the suspect as male with dark skin, dark eyes and bushy eyebrows, standing about five-foot-10 with a slim build. He was wearing what police described as a dark blue hijab with designs around the head and neck and a long, dark-blue robe. The suspect spoke English with a slight accent.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

LAX staff get special Muslim sensitivity training.

I remember when we passed laws that men and women could not be treated differently even to the extent that a sports team did not have the right to keep a female reporter out of the locker room before or after a game. I guess we can flush all those laws down the footbath sinks now. Well, at least if you are Muslim.

H/T Fjordman

MPAC trains 2200 officers:

November 24, 2010

MPAC volunteer & TSO trainer, Nisreen Malhis
MPAC volunteer & TSO trainer, Nisreen Malhis

Last week, MPAC completed a quarterly training for Transportation Security Officers (TSO) with about 2,200 officers receiving training on cultural awareness about Islam and Muslims. This was an important achievement for MPAC and the Muslim American community in light of the recent airport security changes and because TSOs are responsible for screening passengers and luggage.

MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC Civic Outreach Coordinator, Saadia Khan and MPAC volunteers, Nisreen Malhis and Sireen Sawaf, conducted the trainings at Los Angeles International Airport for the past two months. They discussed the diversity of Muslims around the world from cultural dress to language to tenets. The four trainers taught the TSOs how to properly handle a Quran and discussed the different ways Muslim women and men choose to cover or dress. For example, the TSOs learned if a woman wears hijab and needs a secondary screening she should be screened in a private area by a female TSO officer. Continue Reading →