Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

Re:Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send teleme... by Yetanfou on Saturday November 14, 2020 @08:13AM (#25092105)

Don't rely on vendors to help you out of this conundrum, instead use what you have at your disposal to escape the duopoly. Get a supported Android device - there are hundreds of those by now - and install an AOSP-derived distribution like LineageOS. Leave out the Google bits, i.e. no 'gapps', no Google account, no nothing. If you need 'apps' which rely on the Google Services Framework use microG [1] but be aware of the fact that even this free software implementation of GSF needs to connect to Google to do its thing, i.e. try to find 'apps' which don't rely on GSF to start with. Use F-Droid or another alternative repository for you 'app' needs and something like Aurora Store (which you'll find on F-Droid) for those 'apps' which can only be found in the 'Google Play store'. Install a firewall (available on F-Droid and elsewhere) and set it to block all traffic by default. Configure it to allow selected 'apps' and system services to access those parts of the network (LAN, WAN, Mobile Data and VPN) you think they need. You can use the Log service to monitor which apps try to access the network.

Once you've got something like this set up the way you want it you're mostly there. The radio firmware will still be outside of your control and probably open to exploitation by the Three Letter Agencies of the world, for now there is not much that can be done about this other than to get a device with totally separate baseband processor, i.e. not integrated into the SoC. These used to be common but are as rare as hens' teeth now. There are some - e.g. the Librem 5 - but most devices come with an integrated baseband subsystem. Then again, for the purpose of circumventing the duopoly this is irrelevant so it can be ignored by all but those who also want to limit access to their devices by TLAs.

I've been using AOSP-derived distributions for as long as I've been using Android - close to 10 years - and have never found reason to regret my choice. LineageOS has OTA updates just like vendor distributions, the user experience is that of 'clean Android' - no bloatware.

[1] https://microg.org/fdroid.html

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Re:Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send teleme... by francis-io on Saturday November 14, 2020 @08:41AM (#25092221)

Can this approach still use google apps when needed? I need to use certain things like 2FA apps used by my employer. I want the freedom to be able to quickly install X app if needed.

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Re:Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send teleme... by Yetanfou on Saturday November 14, 2020 @04:41PM (#25095893)

You often can, give it a try. You can install the needed Google app and see if it works. You can use Termux Widget [1] to add enable/disable links for apps so you can keep them around in a disabled state, to be enabled and disabled on demand. Create a directory named .shortcuts in your Termux home directory, any script placed there will be available through the Termux widget. Take Google Maps, an often demanded but extremely intrusive app. If you occasionally want to use it you can add the following scripts to enable and disable it:

googlemaps-enable:

   #!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/sh
   
   exec sudo pm enable com.google.android.apps.maps
   exit 0

googlemaps-disable:

   #!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/sh
   
   exec sudo pm disable com.google.android.apps.maps
   exit 0

Yes, you need root (and sudo) to do this.

[1] https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux:Widget

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Re:Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send teleme... by danhor on Saturday November 14, 2020 @10:33AM (#25092866)

Depends on what the app needs, but microG seems to help a lot. But the issue with the GSF is that you can't just use it when needed, it's either nothing or everything. Additionally, modifying the firmware to install microG can lead to Safety Net failing, which may also lead to some other apps failing. I use Android without GSF & microG and it's fine for my needs, but that really depends on what types of apps you use.

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