Watchful CitizenNov 24

@GrapheneOS is being threatened by French authorities for refusing to add backdoors and they're dealing with coordinated attacks in French media right now. They're pulling out of France entirely, moving all their servers, and fighting off a wave of bullshit one-sided reporting that makes them look like they're helping criminals.

They need us to fight back. Support them however you can, whether that's a dollar, sharing their story, pushing back on the garbage news coverage when you see it, or just telling someone you know about what's happening. All of it matters because they're drowning in attacks from governments and media and bad actors who want them gone.

This is the only Android OS that actually makes me feel like privacy isn't just marketing. They fight for us now they need us to fight for them.

The EU is pushing Chat Control and creating an environment where governments feel empowered to threaten developers into compliance, and if we stay quiet we're letting it happen. Show up for them in whatever way you're able to.

#grapheneos #Privacy #NoBackdoors #encryption #security #chatControl

Show threadCorsacNov 24
@watchfulcitizen @GrapheneOS Can you share the source for the alleged threats and the refusal to add backdoors?
Show threadGrapheneOSNov 24
@corsac @watchfulcitizen They've made the threats in multiple places publicly including https://archive.is/UrlvK and other interviews. They sent out a memo to all French police telling them to suspect people with Google Pixel phones and to treat it as a special case. They're conflating closed source products marketed as being based on GrapheneOS with GrapheneOS and attributing what those sketchy companies do to us which they're using to justify taking actions they did against SkyECC/Encrochat.
Show threadCorsacNov 25
@GrapheneOS @watchfulcitizen Thanks for the link. I don't really see the `threats` there or mentions of backdoors to be included by the project. And Johanna Brousse seemed to be pretty reasonable when she closed the SSTIC conference last year (https://www.sstic.org/2025/presentation/cloture_2025/)
SSTIC2025 » Présentation » Cloture 2025 - Johanna Brousse

Show threadGrapheneOSNov 25
@corsac @watchfulcitizen The context is important especially the references to SkyECC and Encrochat. They've made it clear they think we should providing them access and are demanding cooperation. They're also inaccurately conflating GrapheneOS with other things and talking about features, distribution and marketing it doesn't have. It's quite clear to us that it's not safe to operate in France or with French services. There are a huge amount of quotes attacking us from her across news sites.
Show threadGrapheneOS
@corsac @watchfulcitizen Giving a talk at an infosec conference doesn't indicate anything positive. They're waging a media war against GrapheneOS, against encryption without backdoors and against secure devices. There was no contact to us about anything beforehand. If the projects being developed in France were legitimate and truly protecting people's privacy and security, then they would face similar government attacks rather than receiving substantial government funding. Not a smart move.
Nov 25 at 6:15pmWeb
Show threadalciNov 28
@GrapheneOS @corsac @watchfulcitizen I dont really get that "other projects" (namely eOS and iodé) stance. These are in no way marketing security features but minimizing of big corps tracking. Those are two really different threat models. You can achieve less big corps tracking with GOS, and gain added security as a bonus, but it is not the out of the box experience...
Show threadGrapheneOSNov 28
@alci @corsac @watchfulcitizen /e/ and iodéOS are both scams with extraordinarily poor privacy and security. Both fail to provide high importance privacy and security patches along with standard privacy and security protections. Both have invasive services built into the OS. Both companies are misleading people about what's provided and have spent years spreading misinformation about GrapheneOS due to seeing it as a threat. We began making people aware of their false marketing because of it.
Show threadGrapheneOSNov 28
@alci @corsac @watchfulcitizen GrapheneOS is a privacy project and provides far better privacy than either of those. You're demonstrating the impact of their false marketing harming GrapheneOS. They've successfully propagated the myth that it's a security project rather than a privacy project. They've mislead people into believing an extraordinarily non-private OS without basic privacy patches which sends user data to OpenAI without consent is a privacy project. Privacy also depends on security.
Show threadGrapheneOSNov 28
@alci @corsac @watchfulcitizen Both companies have a business model heavily based around misleading people about what they provide including through misinformation about GrapheneOS. The claims you're making are directly based on their false marketing. The claim that GrapheneOS somehow provides less privacy than than those in general or out-of-the-box is ludicrous. Neither of those provides the standard Android privacy patches and privacy features let alone Storage Scopes, Contact Scopes, etc.
Show threadGrapheneOSNov 28
@alci @corsac @watchfulcitizen Both companies have continued misinformation about GrapheneOS during the current attacks on it from French law enforcement. It should also be noted the attacks from French law enforcement build on the foundation built by companies including Murena and iodé of wrongly portraying it as something niche, the ridiculous claim of it not being a privacy project but rather a security project, only being useful to people targeted by states, etc. They're directly complicit.
Show threadGrapheneOSNov 28
@alci @corsac @watchfulcitizen Both companies are involved in attacks on our team based on fabricated stories and other libel clearly aimed at directing harassment towards us. Murena has done it very directly and continues doing it. iodé is partnered with Robert Braxman, a blatant charlatan who posts fake privacy content to sell fake privacy products. He makes daily attacks on GrapheneOS with outrageously false claims to promote his products including ones in partnering with iodé.
Show threadGrapheneOSNov 28

@alci @corsac @watchfulcitizen Multiple of Braxman's products and services are proven by security researchers to contain backdoors including fake end-to-end encryption providing keys to the server.

/e/ and iodéOS both claim to provide privacy/security patches they do not and set an inaccurate Android security patch level. The mislead users about how little their DNS filtering does for privacy from apps and bogus labels on apps.

See https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/24134-devices-lacking-standard-privacysecurity-patches-and-protections-arent-private and the linked third party content.

Devices lacking standard privacy/security patches and protections aren't private - GrapheneOS Discussion Forum

GrapheneOS discussion forum

GrapheneOS Discussion Forum
Show threadalciNov 28
@GrapheneOS @corsac @watchfulcitizen scopesnare a great feature indeed !