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Re:Free Your Android by TeMPOraL on Thursday May 08, 2014 @08:50AM (#7714958)
Well the post mentioned NSA several times as a motivation for those privacy changes. But the NSA can "talk" to cell operators, and cell operators can talk to baseband chips, and baseband chips can "talk" (DMA) to the rest of your phone, so let's be explicit here: this will not protect you from intelligence agencies / state actors. This only might protect you from overly targeted ads.
Re:Free Your Android by comzeradd on Thursday May 08, 2014 @08:56AM (#7714976)
True, but NSA is mentioned just because it made these discussions more vivid and relevant over the last months. The post doesn't claim that you get an NSA-proof phone. I don't think such thing exists.
Re:Free Your Android by akavel on Thursday May 08, 2014 @09:43AM (#7715178)
Not sure if you really did this by accident, or if you're playing dumb, but the article does sound like claiming it'll make a phone NSA-safe. Yeah, now that you said so, I notice that it doesn't explicitly claim so, but first paragraphs are sure sprinkled with the name; if you really cared about the reader's safety, it would be responsible then to explicitly state that this advice does not protect against NSA.
Re:Free Your Android by comzeradd on Thursday May 08, 2014 @09:46AM (#7715196)
So I have to explicitly state what this article is not about. Interesting approach...
Re:Free Your Android by TeMPOraL on Thursday May 08, 2014 @09:54AM (#7715241)
Well, if you already mention the NSA to make discussion "more relevant" to recent events (which were about... NSA surveillance), then it would be also good to mention that the advice from your article are not meant to secure you from the NSA :).

It's good for people to know exactly how much security they get by following particular advice :).

Re:Free Your Android by a8000 on Thursday May 08, 2014 @10:12AM (#7715348)
Just like Private Browsing Modes in Chrome/Firefox tell you that they won't protect from agents.
Re:Free Your Android by comzeradd on Thursday May 08, 2014 @10:14AM (#7715354)
I mention NSA to point out that you should at least avoid Companies that cooperate with them. Nothing more, nothing less.
Re:Free Your Android by CHY872 on Thursday May 08, 2014 @11:36AM (#7715834)
What, like your phone company? Hmmmmm...
Re:Free Your Android by TeMPOraL on Thursday May 08, 2014 @09:36AM (#7715138)
Agree, but when discussing privacy/anonymity it would be good if people talked more explicitly about the end result. Because most of the solutions that "will improve your privacy" and/or "security" will do so only against targeted ads and technically inept stalkers. Without calling out limits to which the solution improves our "privacy", we're just creating false sense of security in people.
Re:Free Your Android by spiritplumber on Thursday May 08, 2014 @09:09AM (#7715024)
The real question is, would there be demand for it?