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Disable Device Backup, don't geotag your photos, don't use social media, disable location services, use Tor, use a VPN, actually probably should just sell the phone and communicate verbally in person ;)
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Why do you feel that Google are such a threat to you?
Do you understand that the vast majority of the people you communicate with are probably using Gmail, GDrive, etc and that as a result, you not using Google doesn't mean that everything you are cannot be inferred from the data of others?
If Google, specifically, are your concern then your only choice is to not use a Play Store device, to pull out totally.
Just buy a "feature phone".
There's really no point trying. This is like saying you don't want Apple to track you but want to use an iPhone. It's just pointless.
If you want to be secure from a non-Google entity, then we can have a conversation.
In that case I'd say:
- Install few to no apps, only those you explicitly trust
- Use Signal for full end to end encryption
- Use streisand as a VPN
- Turn off as many permissions as practical, i.e. location services, etc
- Use Firefox with uOrigin adblocker
- Install few to no apps, only those you explicitly trust
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I'm in much the same situation, although I understand a lot more of what's said in this thread, how to do a lot of it goes over my head.
Things that I have done:
Started using KeyPass (as I can store the file in Dropbox/Google drive and it syncs automatically for me) for password management. There is a good app for it on the Play store too.
Started to shift to running my own email server (on a RaspPi, instructions here I need to upgrade mine from a Model B really). I use the K-9 mail app on Android for it, and Thunderbird on the PC
I've set full disk encryption on my phone.Things I ought to do:
Get the NAS working fully, so that it does backups and acts as cloud storage for me, rather than using Dropbox/Drive.
Work out if I can use full disk encryption on my PC. -
If you want to be super-paranoid:
Root the phone*, install a google free AOSP ROM, start in aeroplane mode, encrypt )if you can - some ROMs & recoveries are tricky about encryption)
Sideload F-droid, sideload non-google versions of everything you like
Install a fine grained permissions manager, disable all permissions that aren't required for normal operation of the app, and aren't dependencies for other apps.
Install an app manager that allows you to move / disable system apps
Install various spoof apps (spoof location, spoof IMEI, phone number, MAC address etc.)
Run your own internet-based storage, run your own VPN on a box somewhere like Panama
Browse with script blockers, ad blockers, and cookie blockers
To start with...
* be careful, as some root tools are going to send pretty much everything you ever do on your phone back to some random server in a far off land
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hippy
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@t.o.
help! I am a google-dependent novice. I would like some help in becoming less so, or suggestions as to where to go to learn. I will re-read this thread, but much of it passes over my head...
I just bought a new android phone and would like, before using it, to work out how to get a slightly better level of security and to be tracked slightly less. I also need to buy a new computer for home.
At the moment I use gmail, but have my own email domain that directs there. I don't use any banking apps (although I'd like to but concerned I don't have good enough protection if my phone gets nicked). I basically feel like I am not making best use of my phone because I am concerned about security/tracking.
What relatively simple steps can I take to upgrade my security and protect my data / whereabouts a bit?
E.g. stop using gmail, google drive, calendar and google maps, but replace them with what?
continue using them but encrypt files before saving them to google drive?
use firefox with some or all of these plug ins, use duck duck go and just keep all of my internet usage separate from my google account?
get keepass or lastpass (which?) and/or yubico?
start using a VPN?
Basically clueless, but I'd like to take back a little control over my online life and protect myself if my phone gets nicked. Is that a pointless aspiration?