iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web browser apps

Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by ragnese on Monday June 22, 2020 @04:43PM (#23606348)

Everything except for the Android part, sure.

But you're definitely letting perfect be the enemy of good if you think that closed-sourced drivers means that e.g., a closed source web browser doesn't increase your privacy attack surface.

Life is full of choices between imperfect options. And security/privacy is always qualified with "from whom". Sure, closed source drivers are not ideal and I am more vulnerable to privacy attacks from state actors. But why should my response to that be to just willingly give all of my personally identifiable information to Google, Inc?

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Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by scarface74 on Monday June 22, 2020 @04:47PM (#23606403)

You mean the “Android parts” that Google keeps abandoning for their own closed sourced versions?

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/googles-iron-grip-on...

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Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by ragnese on Monday June 22, 2020 @04:57PM (#23606547)

Yes, that's what I mean. But you're moving the goalposts. I, too, fear that there will not be a usable, open source OS for smartphones in the near future. But that's not what I said above and it's not what you appear to be arguing.

Today, AOSP is absolutely open source. You're acting like it's not.

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Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by scarface74 on Monday June 22, 2020 @05:14PM (#23606753)

And absolutely useless for any company that wants to sell a phone outside of China without Google Play Services. Most phones run with Google’s closed source equivalents not the unmaintained AOSP versions.

You don’t know what the apps on your Android phone is doing because they all interact with Google Play Services. Most phones don’t even use the open source dialer.

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Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by ragnese on Monday June 22, 2020 @07:09PM (#23608010)

That's all true and fine. But is there anything I said that hints that I'm a company trying to sell an Android phone without Google? If not, what are you refuting exactly?

I said that we don't know what Apple software is doing because it's all closed source. You then spent the last several replies trying to convince us that the same is effectively true of Android. It's not. You know how I know? I'm writing this reply from a Pixel 2 running LineageOS without Google Play Services. Is it a pain in the ass to do this kind of setup? Yep. Do I miss out on TikTok? Probably (I don't want it, so I don't know if it requires Play Services). Is it closed source? No.

In any case, refuting my claim that we can't trust Apple by arguing that we also can't trust Google doesn't actually refute a thing.

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Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by scarface74 on Monday June 22, 2020 @07:52PM (#23608345)

So you can have a completely open source version that is a pain in the ass and can’t run many Android apps. Congratulations?

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Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by ragnese on Monday June 22, 2020 @09:08PM (#23608892)

I'm not looking for a pat on the back from you. Again, all I said was that you (mostly) don't know what closed source software is actually doing. I have yet to understand how in the world you disagree with that.

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Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by scarface74 on Monday June 22, 2020 @09:26PM (#23609031)

Have you personally audited every piece of code on your phone?

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Re:iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web bro... by ragnese on Tuesday June 23, 2020 @06:17AM (#23611978)

Of course not. And even if I did, there's no chance I could catch every possible bug or issue or exploitable issue. But, like I said several replies ago: life is full of choices between imperfect options. I try to choose the less bad choice as often as possible.

If you wanted to spy on your users, would you honestly risk publishing your source code? Let's be real.

Next obnoxious, low effort, trolling, question?

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