I recently asked the /c/Android community what information Google has access to on stock Android, assuming the user is not using any Google apps, and was told Google has full “unstoppable” access to the entire device, including Signal messages, the microphone, duckduckgo search history and anything displayed on the screen at all times.
Does this mean that encrypted messaging is essentially pointless to use on Android? I’m a newb here so go easy on me.
Is the most sophisticated surveillance apparatus in history going to ignore you just because you’re a little guy and it has a legal corporate frontend? Google has guys who planted bombs in the pagers of Lebanese doctors to get at Hezbollah working in their offices. They are one of the most important business partners of the organizational umbrella Guantanamo Bay falls under. Security by obscurity? I don’t think so man. Being a blurred image in the corner doesn’t mean you won’t be counted as an illegal combatant by the glorious Pentagon battle computers. There’s this misconception people have that there is a rational limit to the surveillance even while they see articles about how many nuclear reactors would be needed to scale the US AI griftdustry. This is the country that famously put little children on the no-fly list because they were automatically marked as relatives of citizens of concern.
Signal is not trustworthy. Firebase notifications is not trustworthy. Google, ditto. Your phone’s hardware itself…