C.1d ago

I learned something today: Google's Gemini "AI" on phones accesses your data from "Phones, Messages, WhatsApp" and other stuff whether you have Gemini turned on or not. It just keeps the data longer if you turn it on. Oh, and lets it be reviewed by humans (!) for Google's advantage in training "AI" etc.

But this only came to my attention because of an upcoming change: it's going to start keeping your data long-term even if you turn it "off": "#Gemini will soon be able to help you use Phone, #Messages, #WhatsApp, and Utilities on your phone, whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off."

This is, of course, a #privacy and #security #nightmare.

If this is baked into Android, and therefore not removable, I'd have to say I'd recommend against using Android at all starting July 7th.

https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/gemini-ai-will-soon-access-calls-and-messages-on-your-android-even-if-you

#spyware #AI #LLM #Google #spying #phone #Android #private #data

Show threadDragon-sided D1d ago
@cazabon
Strongly recommend
https://grapheneos.org/
GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS

GrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.

GrapheneOS
Show threadZenHeathen 🏳️‍🌈1d ago
@dragonsidedd Not an option for an awful lot of phones; easiest to implement on Google's own phones; also a nightmare for people not tech-savvy. @cazabon
Show threadNick1d ago
@ZenHeathen I'm curious which part is a nightmare. When I started using it, I was afraid it would be a big ordeal (as someone who just wants to use their phone, not tweak it), but I found it surprisingly straightforward. And it seems like if you go the less paranoid route and use sandboxed Google Play and still install from the Play Store, the user experience is mostly like using vanilla Android. But I am somewhat tech-savvy, and I was expecting it to be worse, so it's possible that I've just forgotten some of the bumps in the road.
@dragonsidedd @cazabon
Show threadNo.1d ago

@internic @ZenHeathen @dragonsidedd @cazabon My experience as a Danish citizen, is that a bunch of apps for interacting with government are at best challenging to make work, some (MitID) are impossible. For stupid reasons that I can do nothing about.

For now I use alternative but slightly more cumbersome workarounds, but it is definitely eroding the otherwise very positive experience I'm having with GrapheneOS.

I might cave in and buy an iPhone, eventually.

Show threadRuth Mottram1d ago
@m @internic @ZenHeathen @dragonsidedd @cazabon mitID only working with chrome is a freaking scandal.
Show threadNo.1d ago

@Ruth_Mottram @internic @ZenHeathen @dragonsidedd @cazabon The problem with MitID on GrapheneOS is the Google Play integrity check the app require, which will only work on Google authorized Androids logged in to Google, as far is I know.

Pretty nice racket Google have going there.

Show threadNick
@m Yeah, based on your first post I figured it was a Play Integrity problem. I knew that this could be a problem theoretically, I just hadn't personally encountered it, aside from one case; my authenticator (Authy) stopped working one day due to them abruptly turning on Play Integrity checks, which was problematic. But in that case I could just switch to an alternative. With a government app, that's a much bigger problem. @Ruth_Mottram @ZenHeathen @dragonsidedd @cazabon
Jun 26 at 12:53pmWeb