this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
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Enshitification

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[–] [email protected] 217 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (15 children)

>reboot to bootloader -> unlock -> you will use your warranty -> yes

It's fucking outrageous that companies are allowed to blatantly lie like that (you will not, in fact, lose your warranty -- Federal law doesn't allow it). Every company that displays such a fraudulent message ought to be fined by the FTC, or worse.

[–] [email protected] 72 points 4 days ago (1 children)

ought to be fined by the FTC, or worse

Fines don't work, just start throwing people in jail already.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 days ago (5 children)

By its nature, the only penalties that can be applied to a corporate entity are fines or revoking its charter. The latter is what I had in mind when I wrote "or worse," although I suppose piercing the corporate veil and going after the company's executives personally is certainly an option too!

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 days ago (1 children)

OP seems to be Austrian. I don't think the FTC has anything to say about Austrian laws.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (2 children)

OP may or may not be Austrian, but is definitely behind seven proxies

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This post makes me want to check out graphene OS when I get my new phone.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You're gonna love it. I switched about 6 months ago, and it has been nothing but fantastic for me.

[–] Rekorse 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Sorta feels like stepping back in time like 15 years with a phone that doesnt track you all day.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Feels so powerful to straight up deny all network connectivity to any app, at any time. 👨‍🍳🤌

[–] [email protected] 120 points 4 days ago (2 children)

At this point, I find a rom I like then shop for a new phone in the supported section

[–] [email protected] 68 points 4 days ago (19 children)

Bought my Pixel just for GrapheneOS. It is not perfect, but better than all the Samsung etc. shit. And for the next couple years I am not forced to upgrade due to missing security updates, so there's that.

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 4 days ago (9 children)

All that trouble yet you still install whatsapp. Make them text you by sms

[–] [email protected] 55 points 4 days ago
[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 days ago

SMS is arguably worse than WhatsApp, at least in terms of overall security

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago (2 children)

SMS is literally unencrypted and contents of messages stored on your cell provider’s servers. At least WhatsApp is E2E encrypted (even if the metadata isn’t- just use Signal).

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (7 children)

GrapheneOS. Easy, quick, reliable.

Yeah you have to buy a phone by Google but I don't mind giving them money to reward them for making a decent phone with an easily unlockable bootloader that lets you do what you want with it, even if it means denying them your data. This is extremely atypical from a company like Google so I want to encourage that kind of behavior.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

What are the chances the phone is still spying on you at the "hardware" level so to speak?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago (3 children)

For peeps who want a lower cost option, Motorola allows easy unlocking too. I have a moto g7 power that I got for under $100 running Lineageos with microG. Its a six year old phone but it runs Android 14 just fine. I work in construction and I don't even use a case because these Motorola phones are durable and inexpensive.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago (7 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (17 children)

-no SD slot
-no headphone jack
-no swappable battery
-camera juts off the back so it doesn't even sit flat

But hey, you can take your temperature by pointing the camera at your forehead!

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I am concerned to find myself in a green text unironically

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 days ago

My sexual orientation is now this post.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago (31 children)

Install WhatsApp

That's when you lost me. Either teach your boomer relatives to use Signal, Matrix, or, at the very least, Telegram. Otherwise, let them reach to you via Facebook which you open only in web browser in containerized tab.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago

Otherwise, let them reach to you via Facebook which you open only in web browser in containerized tab.

I just hire a rando guy from a different country to become me on Facebook. Then I have them email screenshots to a different email. A separate person gets those emails and prints them out. They mail it to a PO box, which gets picked up by a whole different person. The handoff happens at 615pm at the subway on Broadway Ave.

I open the handoff. It's pictures of my niece celebrating her 6th birthday. I give the guy a thumbs up. He takes that thumbs up, translates it back to paper and reverses the whole process.

It takes 6 weeks for me to respond. But that's the price of security.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

If your friends and family are willing to use those apps over WhatsApp than they love you in a way I don't really believe is possible.

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 4 days ago

Don't forget the part where the preinstalled OS forces you to accept the Google ToS. You just spent a few hundred bucks on a new phone and then it won't let you use it without also selling your soul.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 4 days ago (10 children)

My banking app won't work if I'm rooted and before that when I had developer mode on it wouldn't work. Just gave me a error so I have the login to Firefox each time. I hate apps that block you because they can't track you anymore

[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 days ago (4 children)

Banks that do this are just ignorant and hypocritical. Those same banks will let you log in from a web browser on the phone that is just as (un)likely to be compromised or from a desktop computer where you also have admin rights.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Find out too late that this exact sequence of events identifies you as Hamas to Mossad and your phone explodes.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 47 points 4 days ago (1 children)

And that's after you swim through a hundred forum posts to figure out how the fuck to do it and why the fuck it isn't working.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 days ago (5 children)

helps if you specifically get a phone model that isn't absolute bullshit, pixels generally don't actively fight you, which is extremely ironic since they're google's flagship.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 days ago

This, except install LineageOS and don't bother with removing google/Samsung stuff. And skip whatsapp as my older contacts email me and younger ones have moved to Signal

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Alright fine, you've convinced me. I'll give LineageOS a try.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 days ago
  • There was a problem initializing your phone, contact customer service.
  • Customer service flash restores everything back to the way it was in the box.
[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago (7 children)

Sadly, if i flash my phone, i can't use certain critical services, such as banking. Since my bank has only two locations--total--and is only open when i'm at work, that's a problem.

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