How my growing interest in privacy and security has made me buy a phone made by Google, the company with literally the worst track record on those issues.

Premise

No, I have not gone crazy (yet). I am not stating that Google and its products are good for your privacy, for they are not. This behemoth of a company, currently ranking 4th for market cap, makes around 80% of its revenues from advertising. These ads are so much more valuable when they are targeted at an audience that will most likely engage with them. I do not think anybody will be surprise by the fact that information about what we like, how old we are, and what kind of products we like to spend our money on can be directly turned into revenues by Google and its parent company, Alphabet. Most of use happily traded this small invasion of privacy for the myriad of free applications Google provides us. Applications that make our lives so much easier.

Do you need to drive somewhere? Here are the directions on how to get there; Want to find a bite to eat? Google will happily provide you with the best local restaurant, tailored to your taste! Do you need an email address? Try gmail. It is all free.

But what happens when we start to feel that maybe, just maybe, the prying is going a bit too far? Are we even aware of what we have agreed to share on our side of the deal? Would we still be willing to use headphones that record anything we say? Would we still use Maps directions after being accused of murder with the data collected in the app? Would we be more cognizant of what we write or afraid of what we might receive, knowing that all our emails are read and processed by barely vetted companies?

Taking Google out of a Pixel

GrapheneOS […] is the operating system everybody would use if we really read the “terms and conditions”.

Ok, so you have become more aware of how much companies like Google and Apple spy on you. Moreover, you are in need of a new device since your old one is reaching the end of its life. What is the best option for the privacy-concerned user? A dumb phone, undoubtedly. But it is not 1995 anymore. Can we coniugate privacy and security with the trappings of modern technology?

The Pixel 8 Pro by Google

Enter GrapheneOS, previously known as CopperheadOS (not to be confused with the new CopperheadOS. Balkanization continues to be the norm with anything Linux), a polished-Andorid based operating system that focuses on just that. Say no to spyware and yes to privacy. It is the operating system everybody would use if we really read the “terms and conditions” that we nonchalantly agree to on a daily basis. Starting with stock Android, which thankfully happens to be open source, the GrapheneOS team hardens the operating system from the bottom up, mitigating risk points, removing Google integrations, and overall increasing the security of the device. What you are left with is a device that retains all the functionionalities of a smartphone without it spying on your location and constantly listening to everything you say. Banking apps, your favorite browser, games-they all work in GrapheneOS. You can even install Google’s App Store in Sandboxed mode, that is, it will run as a normal application without the special root permissions it usually has on other Androids. Only Google Assistant is off limits, as by its own nature it goes against the privacy ethos of the project, as well as Android Auto, since Google does not allow it to run in unpriviledged mode.

GrapheneOS can be used on almost any device, but the developers strongly recommend using Google’s own Pixel phone lineup. While surprising, there are good reasons for this choice. Pixel phones have an open bootloader, allowing for easy ROM replacement. They support a higher level of hardware security, with WiFi privacy, hardware secure modules, and now even memory tagging (Pixel 8 only). Additionally, Pixel phones are easy to find and are supposedly supported for a long time. There are other ROMs out there that do support a much larger number of devices, CalixOS and LineageOS for instance. But neither quite matches the level of quality and security achieved by GrapheneOS.

Or so I read. I decided it is time I checkout this distro for myself and learn what the fuss is all about on my very own device. After weeks of deliberation, I decided to order Google’s best, a Pixel 8 Pro which will hopefully serve as my daily driver for the next five years or so. It should arrive just in time for the holidays. I cannot wait to test the phone, write about the distro and its daily use, and maybe even create some tutorials.

As always, it should be fun.