Breaking News: Pixel 8 Graphene build is out. Get it for XMR (video.simplifiedprivacy.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by ShadowRebel@monero.town to c/monero@monero.town

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GrapheneOS build for the Pixel 8 is out. This is not the final official version, but it’s making it’s way around their Matrix room, and they’re doing debugs. And we’re covering the Pixel 8 bugs/release as it unfolds in this article: https://simplifiedprivacy.com/graphenes-pixel-8-version-is-out/

Brand-new video that I’m in timed to cover the basics behind DeGoogled Phones: https://video.simplifiedprivacy.com/degoogledphonebasics/

Simplified Privacy is a “no-fiat” Monero phone supplier. Keep the economy circular, as we don’t spend the XMR you give us for fiat, if it is spent, it’s within the community.

If you buy a Pixel 8 from a fiat supplier, it ties the IMEI to your credit card, which connects to cell towers. This means government thugs watch your location like a pet dog with a “find me” collar.

Legal disclaimer: I do not support illegal activity, but instead disagree philosophically with this invasion of privacy.

Even if you don't want to buy it, you can enjoy our free educational resources that reject Youtube/google tracking

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[-] rattie_ok@monero.town 2 points 1 year ago

It's still mind boggling how people are okay with buying phones without unlocked root and bootloader. Not your root, not your phone.

Some weeks ago I had a problem that a friend's phone was randomly wiping data from crypto wallet apps. He was furious, and wanted to leave crypto altogether. After some digging, I found that Google Play Protection (a.k.a. Google's Virus Scanner) detected there were crypto apps on the phone, and somehow decided to disrupt them. Not outright uninstall, but slowly disrupt them, just enough for the user to get frustrated and abandon it, or install another app.

Now think about it: if TPTB want to disrupt crypto adoption, they'll just gatekeep users from crypto wallets, or demand OS-level KYC/AML. In that world, crypto adoption is impossible... Unless some Chinese manufacturer decided to make cheap unlocked phones, or we have something like a Raspberry Pi phone.

[-] ShadowRebel@monero.town 1 points 1 year ago

interesting perspective

[-] UncleIroh@merovingian.club 1 points 1 year ago

@rattie_ok @ShadowRebel

Insofar as I trust GrapheneOS, there are also alternatives:

* Purism's Librem 5
* No smartphone at all, and all comms and crypto is performed via non-ME corebooted computers using either QubesOS, TailsOS, or PureOS (see Purism, https://puri.sm/products/, and NitroKey, https://shop.nitrokey.com/shop)

But yes, crypto on-ramps are getting squeezed from all directions. I even heard that Binance have blocked UK from becoming new users.

[-] rattie_ok@monero.town 1 points 1 year ago

Intel/AMD x86 or Apple's M-series ~~CPUs~~ SoC are a privacy dead end. No matter how much internal backdoors you deactivate, it can always auto-magically come back and bite you in the ass. RISC-V is definitely the future. Perhaps one day this architecture will become powerful enough to fluently run a Desktop Linux or a smart-phone. Then Monero might stand a chance.

But yes, crypto on-ramps are getting squeezed from all directions. I even heard that Binance have blocked UK from becoming new users.

Another example: merchants in Serbia aren't legally allowed to accept crypto directly, they must go through a third-party "money transmitter" licensed by the government. I suppose only transparent coins will be supported, and even then customers will be required to undergo a KYC/AML with the money transmitter. It's a shit show. A merchant simply showing a QR code to their own private wallet would be committing a tax fraud similar to accepting cash OTC and not through a cash register.

[-] UncleIroh@merovingian.club 1 points 1 year ago

@rattie_ok

This is admittedly worrying since the war on privacy is being waged globally on both hardware and software fronts simultaneously.

Both fronts are a battlefield. Hamas slipped through Israeli intelligence in part because they evaded SoC backdoors using Huawei to coordinate.

> in Serbia (they) aren’t legally allowed to accept crypto directly, they must go through a third-party “money transmitter” licensed by the government.

[-] UncleIroh@merovingian.club 1 points 1 year ago

@rattie_ok

RISC-V looks awesome, thanks. I had no idea and I agree, desktop RISC-V could be a great and viable future.

Serbian citizens will no doubt flout what is "legally allowed", as is their natural right via non-KYC/AML exchanges/swaps/local and long may it live.

Let's not forget this too when it comes to Monero, the global black market is worth trillions. The 3-letter agencies have a trillion-dollar vested interest in an untraceable off-the-books currency too. ZCash lost, XMR wins.