Bernard Tyers wrote: > Firstly: I agree with you in principle but these tools need to be > available to all. > > Technology is not used in a sterile, hygienic environment, it is used on > the streets, by people who can't write, who use it for their purposes, > not necessarily the purpose it was invented for.
I do agree, but its important to note that smartphones offer a significantly higher risk than say laptops. > >Smartphones are horrendously complex, rely heavily on untrusted > >binary blobs, have mutiple CPUs some without direct owner/user > >control (eg the CPU doing the baseband processing) [1]. > > I agree with your points about running untrusted binaries and lack of > user control. > > Firefox OS (OS level at least) is open source, right? > > Cyanogenmod is open source, right? Yes, but Firefox OS and Cryanogenmod only control the user facing part of the smartphone. Loading eg Cryanogenmod onto a android phone leaves the software running the radio part of the phone untouched (otherwise the phone would never have passed the regulator auhorities). The second link I posted reported a vulnerability in that software. Secondly these phones connect to the cell phone network and you and I have no tools to examine what happens on that network. Compare this with a laptop. If you buy a new laptop and are sufficiently paranoid you can use widely available software tools to monitor all network connections from that laptop to the wider internet. > My threat is from the local governmental goons and their smarter > colleagues in the government controlled telco, who will surveil my > calls, SMS, and e-mail. > > If I can use any tool to protect myself from them, isn't it worth seeing > that tool exist? As long as you are aware of the limitations. Erik -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Erik de Castro Lopo http://www.mega-nerd.com/ -- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu.
