Re: Google is preparing to replace RCS with MLS

Arno Welzel wrote on Sun, 21 Jul 2024 13:53:41 +0200 :

My plan is to set up the phone so that it's efficient for...
a. Daily use
b. Backup & restore
c. Privacy

 
I do the same. And I use my phone daily and also as 2FA for a number of
accounts. And *because* it is also used for 2FA I need some kind of
protection.

Philosophy can & should be different among intelligent knowledgeable
people, where I *never* use MFA/2FA/2SV because of the privacy flaws.

But then again, my phone can't do financial transactions (again, because
it's set up with a plan in mind - and that plan includes security).

Philosophically, I set up my phone for
a. Efficient constant use (i.e., no lock screens), and,
b. All my important data is secure and easily backed up, and,
c. Everything I do on the phone is designed to be done with privacy.
 

And my data is far safer than that of the people who lock it up.

 
If you don't have any data at all on the phone - yes, then it it safe
without any kind of lock.

Huh? I have plenty of personal data on my phone in encrypted containers.

Most people lock their phone because they don't use encrypted containers.
They live in abject fear, quivering & shaking that their data is insecure.

That's why people who don't know anything about phones, lock them up.
It's sad so many people live in the scary slums, figuratively speaking.

I've been using computers since the 1970s, and I've built them from scratch
(Motorola 68701) so I'm well aware that people have no plan for
safeguarding their data which is why they're forced to lock them up.

 
Define "safeguarding".

Well, I could write a lot about safeguarding because what's different about
me is I'm not clueless like every person who locks their phone is clueless.

For one thing, it means never using "the cloud" for my data, and for
another it means never installing apps which require a login/password when
they don't need a login/password, but it also means extending the safety of
my data to keeping private data in their own locations, in encrypted file
containers, and in securing passwords on the phone in Keepass2Android.

Most people have no clue the contacts (by default) are stored in a contacts
sqlite database on Android - where mine is always kept completely empty.

This is what I mean by people who don't know how to use phones, lock them.

It's a thousand more things, Arno - all of which is why I can safely make
the observation that people who lock their phones don't know technology.

They live in abject fear of everyone around them - which - is kind of sad.

That was my question of you and Andy (as Carlos wouldn't know anything).
If RCS or MLS require the Internet, then that's not good for privacy.

 
SMS is also not good for privacy. SS7 was already compromised 10 years ago:
<https://www.firstpoint-mg.com/blog/ss7-attack-guide/>

I do not disagree that SMS texting can get you in trouble.
Ask Tom Brady about that. :)

(Although he apparently deleted his texts successfully, as far as I know.)

I guess you're right that MMS uses the "Internet" in a way that doesn't
require a data plan. I assume that's what you're intimating above, Right?

 
No. MMS uses data transmission and requires a data plan. Without a data
plan, MMS gets *very* expensive since data is then charge by its amount
where even 1 MB of data can cost more than 1 USD.

The main point is simply that any messaging that requires a login/password
to a specific Internet server is a metadata privacy hole by design.

See above where "safeguarding" means not establishing those login/passwords
for things that don't need to have a login/password on an Internet server.

"Well set up" means with lock screen enabled. Otherwise this is only
true if you do not store *any* personal data on it, even no phone numbers.

 
I keep my personal data in encrypted containers. It's not hard to do.
I keep passwords in KeePassXC (Keepass2Android on the phone) too.

 
This is what I call "do not store *any* personal data on it, even no
phone numbers" - because an encrypted container is not "storing data on
the phone. An encrypted container can not be used to choose a person to
call in the phone app and you can also not see any calendar entries or
send/recieve messages this way.

Huh? My contacts are NOT in the default sqlite file, on purpose.
But I still have my contacts in each of my communication apps.

I don't have to lock my phone just to keep my contacts private from
Internet servers (which most people upload to without even knowing it).

Even WhatsApp is used without contacts - since it doesn't need them
(if you know how a phone works - which is why I say that anyone who locks
their phone, I feel sorry for - because either they live in the slums, or,
they don't know how to use computers).
 

Also SMS *is* personal data. So if you send or receive SMS you already
have personal data on the phone.

I'm actually surprised you don't understand how SMS is different from
establishing a login/password on an additional Internet server, Arno.

That's the problem Carlos had with his comprehension of technology.
The difference in terms of privacy is huge - where I think the reason you
don't understand how SMS differs from establishing a login/password on an
Internet server is you equate SMS connection to the carrier to establishing
a login/password on an Internet server.

They're not the same.

 

Philosophically, I think people who spread their data and logins about on
the phone are the ones who are forced to lock up the phone at the top.
 
But locking the phone or computer at the top has efficiency penalties.

 
Android will *encrypt* all data on the device and if you use a lock
procedure *nobody* can access the data on the device storage at all.
Only very old devices (older than 4-5 years) may not support that.

Yeah. I know. I tried that. I don't like it. Although I tried it long ago
when it first came out. I prefer encrypted file containers.

Remember my analogy. You don't need to lock every window and door in the
house and lock the chimney and lock the basement cellar door, etc.

All you need to do is put your valuable jewelry in a locked safe.
It's the same with Android.

I feel sad for people who are so afraid of their wife & children that they
feel they must lock their phone up so that nobody will steal their data.

It's like keeping the wife's jewelry in the living room and kitchen so that
you're forced to lock the front door with a dozen padlocks just because you
don't know enough to put the jewelry in its own locked safe.

 
Why "a dozen padlocks"? One lock is enough.

The point is that I feel sorry for people who lock their phone because it
means either they are afraid of every person around them, or they don't
have a clue how a phone works (and probably, it's both of those things).

BTW, I'm quite well aware why MARKETING wants all your data unlocked when
you unlock your phone - as MARKETING is what leads the sheep to slaughter.