Are there any privacy issues if we choose a phone from Google like the Google Pixel 3a/3a XL?
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Is not Google a company which is known for spying on us? And are Google products not known to have privacy issues? What about the Google Pixel soft- and hardware? Are there any privacy risks if choosing a Google Pixel phone? Has the UBports software on Google phones anything to do with Google? Was it developed by Google? And is it risky for privacy reasons to choose a Google Pixel phone with Ubuntu Touch? Is it possible that there are any back doors by Google for spying users out on these phones?
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@Peter-Gamma In a word no. Ubuntu Touch (UT) doesn't scrape your data.
With any mobile devices that connect to a mobile (cellular) network or WiFi is the point that they can be tracked (even if switched off). -
@MrT10001, thank you for your answer.
I found very interesting information about the Google Pixel 3/3a security:
“A Pixel 3 with an unsupported version of GrapheneOS on it is still the most secure OS on the market. “
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@Peter-Gamma
This is the personal opinion of a single person on the internet...They put some perspective to this sentence just before:
the dangers of not getting security updates can be offset IF you manage how you use your device IN MY OPINION.Translated in human English, it means that if you understand the limitations due to lack of updates, an expert will be able to tune their expectation and mitigate the risk by adding constraints on how to use the device.
Basically they say how you use the device is the largest risk compared to obsolete kernel for example.But security is relative and needs to be evaluated for your own use cases.
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Point of view of non-specialists: for any smartphone (under UT or others), the flaws (or entry) can be in the kernels, in Ubuntu itself, or in the apps. And there are necessarily flaws already found or to be discovered for those who want to find them (if the person is well-intentioned, they will point them out). Generally speaking, it seems to me that UT is not widespread enough (unlike Android) for hackers to spend a ton of energy hacking smartphones running UT. It is obvious that if there was regular periodic monitoring of security patches like in Ubuntu, that would be a plus.
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@domubpkm said in Are there any privacy issues if we choose a phone from Google like the Google Pixel 3a/3a XL?:
It is obvious that if there was regular periodic monitoring of security patches like in Ubuntu, that would be a plus.
There is.
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@arubislander said in Are there any privacy issues if we choose a phone from Google like the Google Pixel 3a/3a XL?:
There is
What do you mean by that ? When ?
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@domubpkm Security fixes from upstream Ubuntu are rolled in on every OTA. And should there every be a serious vulnerability that the theme feels puts UT users at risk, the release of the OTA would be pushed forward as much as possible.
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@arubislander said in Are there any privacy issues if we choose a phone from Google like the Google Pixel 3a/3a XL?:
Security fixes from upstream Ubuntu are rolled in on every OTA. And should there every be a serious vulnerability that the theme feels puts UT users at risk, the release of the OTA would be pushed forward as much as possible
Agreed for OTAs and i expect for (serious) vulnerabilities. What I say in comparison in my case which has a laptop running Ubuntu 20.04 (compared to UT 20.04), is that the security updates seem very regular to me.
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@domubpkm yes, they are. But not all vulnerabilities affect the specific usecase of UT. You must also consider how easy it is, or if it is at all possible, to exploit the vulnerability on UT. Also UT has less packages installed than a typical Ubuntu desktop / server install.
All I can tell you is that the UT devs do keep an eye on the CVE's and act on those that are deemed a present and serious threat on UT.
