Privacy

32004 readers

1074 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

[Matrix/Element]Dead
Discord

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Is pixel 4a too old for a new phone? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

124 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi,

A friend wants to degoogle his phone, so I suggested the OS I'm currently using. The one we can't talk about... He wants a small/compact phone, so I suggested pixel 4a (not buying second hand though), but I'm afraid that planned obsolescence may kill the phone rather soon. What's your opinion?

Cheers and thank you for your help,

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (6 children)

Custom ROMs will receive upstream Android security patches but not patches from proprietary components (firmware). For instance, my Moto g7 power has Android security patches from May but the latest vendor security patch level is 2021. (I'm running Lineage OS) I'm curious to know if the older firmware is a problem. I don't think it is easily exploitable outside of government backdoors. Not that it matters much as I plan on keeping my phone until it dies.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (5 children)

Not sure where your getting your information but the Pixel 5 has not gotten Android updates or security updates in over 7 months.

There are tons of examples of exploits being used to target EOL phones as its common for people to not care about these updates, or be misinformed, so they are easy targets.

If OP or anyone else wants to use an EOL phone that's fine but, don't pretend its a smart security practice. Although even if I were to use an EOL phone, LineageOS doesn't have the greatest background and isn't really degoogled

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

You are still missing my point. All phones actively supported by Lineage OS get Android security patches. Those aren't vendor patches but they do patch the OS and sometimes the kernel.

For instance, the Pixel 5 was last updated June 28. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/panther/

Not to say that you should still buy it. However, if it cheap it might be worth it.

Also from the article you linked:

Although the incident forced LineageOS to take offline all its service, it did not impact the signing keys that authenticate distributions because they are stored on hosts separate from the main infrastructure.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Those are partial security patches (its not in the same ballpark as a non EOL phone).

Even non EOL phones are usually updated dangerously slow when it comes to LineageOS.

Some more sources, not sure why I'm even adding them as you seem hell bent to believe LineageOS is secure regardless of the facts.

https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm

https://www.kuketz-blog.de/lineageos-weder-sicher-noch-datenschutzfreundlich-custom-roms-teil4/

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

If my device is so insecure why haven't I been compromised? Your "facts" are only important if it promotes Graphene OS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Lmao putting facts in quotes does not makes them less true. Figures, that when confronted with reality you would immediately start relying on logical fallacies.

Just because you are more at risk of being compromised does not mean you will be compromised. This is obvious.

You don't have to respond if your just going to be a child about it.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)