For context, I run a security consulting firm focusing on high risk clients like fintech firms and my job is quite literally defending my clients from sophisticated adversaries which includes state actors. Your threat model is not my threat model.
Degoogling and solving for privacy from corporations makes CalyxOS a great option for many, but privacy and security against actors willing to more blatantly violate laws is not as easily an attainable goal on Android sadly. I spent months building the aosp-build project and compiling and signing my own AOSP roms from scratch but even then there are just an insane number of blobs with way too much power to ever be able to trust.
Binary blobs with root access to my devices is a non starter for my privacy goals, free software preference, and threat model. QubesOS is about the only OS that suits my requirements, and even then it only runs on hardware that is hard to trust. Ideally it can be ported to my ppc64le Talos workstation soon.
All of that is only half the reason though. I was addicted to connectivity and over reliant on tech to live my life. Giving up my phone means not having constant bombardments of information and notifications and distraction making it difficult to be present in and enjoy the real world. When I walk away from my desktop computers, or leave my home, I am offline.
The ability to confidently navigate the real world and be comfortable in my own head with minimal tech took a while to build, but it feels like a superpower now. I have no interest in going back. Giving a phone to a kid feels like child abuse to me now given how much control I feel I have over my own brain again. I want that for others, especially kids.
I would maybe carry a Precusor when it gets a matrix messenger as a single purpose wifi only device I use to coordinate with people at events, but in no rush.
> I was addicted to connectivity and over reliant on tech to live my life. Giving up my phone means not having constant bombardments of information and notifications and distraction making it difficult to be present in and enjoy the real world. When I walk away from my desktop computers, or leave my home, I am offline.
Why didn't you (want to) do this with your phone? Couldn't you turn off notifications, leave it on your desk, maybe leave it at home? Was it too much of a temptation at all?
Degoogling and solving for privacy from corporations makes CalyxOS a great option for many, but privacy and security against actors willing to more blatantly violate laws is not as easily an attainable goal on Android sadly. I spent months building the aosp-build project and compiling and signing my own AOSP roms from scratch but even then there are just an insane number of blobs with way too much power to ever be able to trust.
Binary blobs with root access to my devices is a non starter for my privacy goals, free software preference, and threat model. QubesOS is about the only OS that suits my requirements, and even then it only runs on hardware that is hard to trust. Ideally it can be ported to my ppc64le Talos workstation soon.
All of that is only half the reason though. I was addicted to connectivity and over reliant on tech to live my life. Giving up my phone means not having constant bombardments of information and notifications and distraction making it difficult to be present in and enjoy the real world. When I walk away from my desktop computers, or leave my home, I am offline.
The ability to confidently navigate the real world and be comfortable in my own head with minimal tech took a while to build, but it feels like a superpower now. I have no interest in going back. Giving a phone to a kid feels like child abuse to me now given how much control I feel I have over my own brain again. I want that for others, especially kids.
I would maybe carry a Precusor when it gets a matrix messenger as a single purpose wifi only device I use to coordinate with people at events, but in no rush.