I have experienced extraordinary and inexplicable behaviors with my Pinephone (Community Edition) since using it as a daily driver from late 2020.
I've asked myself why what I believe to be temporary hacks may be undertaken and have formed a few hypotheses that I'd like to share with fellow users.
Firstly, many people here should be savvy enough to realise that the Pinephone represents a threat to the otherwise aggregious access into users lives that Android and Apple devices provide. As such, there is a case for three and four letter agencies in various countries to conspire to degrade the user experience of Pinephone users in a targeted way. Why do this? To deter their use as daily drivers, quell early adopters' enthusiasm and generally slow the device's spread into the wider community. That I believe is the potential government motive for such nefarious activity.
The other parties interested in achieving similar goals are Pinephone's commercial competitors, of which there are many. The likes of Google, Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG, Nokia etc. would all consider Pinephone a small but real threat to their business interests. Would tech corporations commission hackers to target early adopters to damage the reputation of Pinephone and slow its uptake? I can only speculate... but I can see a clear motive for them to do so.
So where does this leave us, as determined enthusiasts that want to see Pinephone and other Linux phones thrive in the wild?
I think it would be helpful for people here to compare notes on how to best secure our devices against cyberattacks/hacking, and combine resources in investigating cases where it occurs or is likely to have occurred.
My own circumstances have an extra layer of confounding context, due to my ongoing, personal soft advocacy for the release of Julian Assange, founder and publisher of Wikileaks, who faces extradition to the USA after years of torture in the UK. Last year, it became a matter of public record that the CIA had cast a dragnet to intrude into and interfere with the lives of his remaining supporter base, after years of malicious attempts to erode it and smear Julian's character. That agency's interest in my life has made itself known in Australia, so if you think "this couldn't happen to me" it may pay to reflect on the far-reaching nature of the surveillance state today, our political context and what Pinephone represents. Pinephone is a smartphone for the people, by the people... and one that allows those of us who seek to, to draw the blinds on the covert use of our devices for commercial or political purposes.
I look forward to other users' thoughts on this subject.
I've asked myself why what I believe to be temporary hacks may be undertaken and have formed a few hypotheses that I'd like to share with fellow users.
Firstly, many people here should be savvy enough to realise that the Pinephone represents a threat to the otherwise aggregious access into users lives that Android and Apple devices provide. As such, there is a case for three and four letter agencies in various countries to conspire to degrade the user experience of Pinephone users in a targeted way. Why do this? To deter their use as daily drivers, quell early adopters' enthusiasm and generally slow the device's spread into the wider community. That I believe is the potential government motive for such nefarious activity.
The other parties interested in achieving similar goals are Pinephone's commercial competitors, of which there are many. The likes of Google, Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG, Nokia etc. would all consider Pinephone a small but real threat to their business interests. Would tech corporations commission hackers to target early adopters to damage the reputation of Pinephone and slow its uptake? I can only speculate... but I can see a clear motive for them to do so.
So where does this leave us, as determined enthusiasts that want to see Pinephone and other Linux phones thrive in the wild?
I think it would be helpful for people here to compare notes on how to best secure our devices against cyberattacks/hacking, and combine resources in investigating cases where it occurs or is likely to have occurred.
My own circumstances have an extra layer of confounding context, due to my ongoing, personal soft advocacy for the release of Julian Assange, founder and publisher of Wikileaks, who faces extradition to the USA after years of torture in the UK. Last year, it became a matter of public record that the CIA had cast a dragnet to intrude into and interfere with the lives of his remaining supporter base, after years of malicious attempts to erode it and smear Julian's character. That agency's interest in my life has made itself known in Australia, so if you think "this couldn't happen to me" it may pay to reflect on the far-reaching nature of the surveillance state today, our political context and what Pinephone represents. Pinephone is a smartphone for the people, by the people... and one that allows those of us who seek to, to draw the blinds on the covert use of our devices for commercial or political purposes.
I look forward to other users' thoughts on this subject.
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