How to De-Google - #SolutionsWatch
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Remember when Google was just a search engine? In the age of Gmail and Google Drive and Google Maps and GooTube and Google phones, it's truly unsettling to think how much of the average person's online activity is now directly feeding the Google data behemoth. Today on #SolutionsWatch, James talks to Rob Braxman (The Internet Privacy Guy) about how to de-Google, and why protecting your privacy online is so important.
Watch on Archive / BitChute / Minds / Odysee / YouTube or Download the mp4
SHOW NOTES
Brax.me
Braxman Tech channel on Odysee
Android without Google? How is that possible?!
Bombshell! Manipulated Google Search Results PROVED
How the Government Predicts The Future – Inside the “Sentient World Simulation”
Google's Selfish Ledger in an Unsettling Vision of Silicon Valley Social Engineering
F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
Alternatives to Google Products for 2021
Salting Your Data – #SolutionsWatch
LineageOS Android Distribution
Brax.me store for de-Googled phones and other products
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It would be nice if you asked these “privacy experts” about header data tracked through auxiliary services.
For example, brax.me loads fonts.googleapis.com. This is nothing more than a typeface which could easily be served from the brax.me server. Google collects “header data” to form a browser fingerprint that they use to track your movements across the WWW. As it happens, corbettreport.com also loads fonts.googleapis.com, so Google can see that visitors of corbettreport.com also visited brax.me, eventually performing a sort of triangulation to determine which human being has that browser fingerprint, all from forcing users to download a stupid 70 KB font file that webmasters and developers refuse to serve from their own servers (BTW, this can easily be removed from WordPress using a plugin such as Disable and Remove Google Fonts or manually removing them from your installed theme).
Another issue we can see when going to the brax.me wiki:
“The infrastructure of this program was specifically designed for Amazon AWS. This assumes AWS functionality, VPC, S3 Storage, a MySQL Database provided by Amazon RDS, Simple Notification Service (SNS), and Mail Service.”
While his code may be “open source”, unless it is re-written it won’t run anywhere except on Amazon’s proprietary servers, so Amazon is also tracking the users of brax.me.
So, this “solution” (brax.me, not the de-Googled phones) forces users to be tracked by Amazon and Google.
Thanks for the tip. I thought I had manually disabled Google fonts but looks like it didn’t work. I’ve just installed the plugin. Let me know if it’s working now.
Still there. Something is loading:
@import url(‘https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat:300,400,500,700’);
If you have server level access, grep Montserrat ../wp-content/* (and keep appending /* until you find the offending file) or if you don’t, then download the whole thing locally and search the folders for that phrase.
I think the plugin only takes care of themes, but other plugins or even custom or non-standard theme builds or something can still load the fonts, and you have to check back every now and then to make sure it isn’t still loading. Like cockroaches.
Oh, and apparently I was wrong: it isn’t as easy as installing that plugin. Man.
OK, clear the cache and try now.
Gone!
Turns out the offending call was coming from a widget I added in the weeks since I last checked. It’s like an infestation that requires constant spraying to keep the roaches out.
If I knew some basic scripting and CSS, it would probably be a cinch to track that, but I have other things I’m working on that don’t require those (really basic) skills.
(BTW, it could not have been a local cache issue as I was using curl -H ‘Cache-Control: no cache’ to fetch the page, so any caching would have been something upstream of me, which can happen.
Could you please explain how MySQL provided by AWS enables Amazon to track someone, and how it forces users to be tracked by Amazon.
“While his code may be “open source”, unless it is re-written it won’t run anywhere except on Amazon’s proprietary servers”
What is this about? One normally has to (partially) rewrite/adapt DBMS or any other part of code whenever crucial part of underlying infrastructure, frameworks, file system, hardware, OS etc is changed.
FYI there’s absolutely no way to know with certainty what runs on a server, so people who really care about privacy you shouldn’t rely on it, and that’s important part of his message (Although not sure he communicated this well in this video).
Open source may be, and IMO should be seen as a precondition/requirement for privacy and security, but definitely not as a guarantee. Especially not in a world where practically all popular hardware/firmware is closed source, and with current IT/hardware architecture and protocols.
There are many ways to hide and hijack open source software. From applying underhanded, code obfuscation techniques to temporarily hijacking binary or source code repositories, using backdoors implemented in hardware (For eg read about Spectre and Meltdown, Intel management engine).
Say you’re running Linux open source system distribution. It’s quite likely that US gov (NSA or whomever) has hijacked nowadays crucial parts of all major distributions with systemd and SElinux projects. Red Hat ties to US gov are obvious. But also consider how unlikely and actually impossible is to check and inspect every small update/upgrade for every application, library etc that’s running on on your system.
Oops, missed opportunity to fix typos. This one appears most important to fix: ‘ways to hide and hijack’, should have been ‘ways to hide backdoors and…’
“…Say you’re running Linux open source system distribution. It’s quite likely that US gov (NSA or whomever) has hijacked nowadays crucial parts of all major distributions with systemd and SElinux projects..”
Linux is still a hundred times better for security then Windows or Mac… but TBH the CPU on everyone but the most technical and paranoid is pretty much back doored anyway so if your at THAT level of interest to the NSA its time to go back to pen and paper 🙂
In the 90s I wrote a proposal to the management of British Telecom about an open phone. The idea was to have a phone that was transparent in terms of data and ran all apps, was open source and free. I love how this video exposes how Google very successfully beat apple…they went for the data and only the data.
I do disagree. If you’re a bit technical it’s not very difficult to de-google a phone without bricking it. You need to be able to read and follow instructions though. There are several good how-to videos and articles online.
In between LineageOS and GrapheneOS, I prefer the latter:
https://grapheneos.org/
Personally, I’m using a phone with GrapheneOS without any SIM. For navigation I have OsmAnd. I’ve preloaded the maps I need at home, while on WiFi. I don’t need to be online that much, when being on the go. That’s just a bad habit I’ve gotten used to. If I really need to go online I have a non-smart phone with KaiOS (normally tucked away in a faraday bag). I use that to set up shared internet, for special occasions.
If you need to watch GooTube, you have NewPipe. However, LBRY is a wonderful alternative.
It depends on a phone. Some bootloaders can’t be unlocked. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s only cumbersome. Consider that when it comes to system administration and programming almost anything can be accomplished by reading and following instructions. For average person without experience and IT know how that can be quite an undertaking. Even experienced person may sometimes need hours to install and configure a working system/phone, especially when starting from scratch (Downloading tools etc,).
Also there’s always a chance/risk of bricking your phone.
If you go with a Pixel phone, recommended for GrapheneOS, you should have no issues unlocking the boot-loader.
But yeah, there is a chance of bricking the phone. However, in this day and age we all need to learn as much as possible about as many things as possible. At least, this is what I feel. We need to start doing things we believe are hard to do. We have to explore new areas. That being building physical things, planting food, fixing stuff that breaks down and so on. Sure, you’ll damage a lot of things along the way, and it won’t be perfect at first try. But, you will gain very useful knowledge that might become very handy in this new grim future of ours.
I agree, generally. Though learning something completely new from scratch is usually pretty time consuming, and doing it only superficially doesn’t necessarily help much. Not disagreeing. Just saying finding motivation can be an issue for some but also objectively it can be hard or even impossible to pull of for many people.
“..You need to be able to read and follow instructions though. …”
and therein lies the problem for most people, myself included on occasion, TBH
I guess you are right about that, Duck 😉
Am I the only one who just uses the phone to make phone calls? 🙂
paul823
If you have a smart phone it is doing plenty more then calling all on its own without input from you
🙂 Remember a mobile phone is really just a computer you dont control connected to a radio network
Oh yes, ‘it’ is, but I’m not. Might have a go at degoogling a phone one day but can’t see a way around needing to make phone calls but not having a SIM card. There also needs to be a way to get around the coming vaccine passports. Even here in convict Australia we can;t go to a restaurant without scanning the phone app. Some cafe owners are a bit too nazi in their implementation of this BS and we simply don’t go back there. The state government is pressuring and threatening business owners to comply. What I will try in that case is a second phone with no SIM card, connect to the Cafe’s free wireless and use fake/sated info in the govt. tracking app. Without a SIM card I’m pretty sure the phone wont be transmitting IEMI numbers and if I only turn that phone on for the purpose of keeping cafe owners happy and out of trouble with the gestapo the it ‘should’ be right.
As I said, the vaccine papers will be another hurdle.
Paul
“….What I will try in that case is a second phone with no SIM card, connect to the Cafe’s free wireless and use fake/sated info in the govt. tracking app…”
If thats your plan for it NEVER let that phone see your home wi-fi… infact never let it be turned on and out of a faraday bag (someone gave me a mission darkness one and it worked well) anywhere even near your home. Mr Braxman was talking about the world wi-fi map (explains why google was recording wi-fi names with the google earth car so many years ago)
https://www.wigle.net/ this looks kinda like what i’m thinking of only not as good
“..Without a SIM card I’m pretty sure the phone wont be transmitting IEMI numbers..”
I would not bet money on that TBH
“..Without a SIM card I’m pretty sure the phone wont be transmitting IEMI numbers..”
I would not bet on this either. Personally, if a SIM card has ever entered the phone I’m using as a PDA, I look at this phone as compromised.
A SIM identifies you with your network operator; it is necessary to be able to receive calls and to bill you for calls you make. Without a SIM, a phone is mostly useless as a phone, but it can still make emergency calls (in most countries). Without a SIM, your cell phone will not normally transmit data to local base stations, but if you make an emergency call, it will identify itself with the cell tower by sending its IMEI. So there is some information identifying your phone that can travel on the cell phone network, but only at your own behest. I don’t know how easily the police can access this information.
Src: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/30876/can-android-phone-running-without-sim-card-be-tracked-localized-by-police
One alternative is a phone like the Libre 5 (https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/), with physical kill switches to disconnect cellular, wifi etc. However, that phone is very expensive. As well, I’m sure it’s not very stable and feature rich compared with GrapheneOS & LineageOS (Android).
This is correct.
It really is just a matter of following instructions patiently, one step at a time.
The tricky part is making absolutely certain you have the correct instructions, and downloaded the correct files, for your phone.
One of the best ways to accomplish this is to find as many videos & webpages as you can, from different people, that go through the steps for your particular phone model.
If one person’s steps don’t match up with another person’s steps, and you don’t understand why that is, that’s one of the best indicators that you’re not yet ready to proceed, and that you need to do more reading, watch more videos or ask more questions on related forums/subreddits until you do understand why the steps differ.
If you haven’t yet purchased your phone, consider making LineageOS compatibility a primary determining factor in choosing your phone.
There are lists all over the Internet indicating which phones have the best LineageOS compatibility & development activity.
You’ll notice that certain phone models keep appearing in those lists.
Those are the phones of interest.
👍
Awesome. How to go dark!
Interesting, I hadn’t heard of KaiOS. From a bit of research though I see that Google already has it’s fingers in KaiOS:
https://mobilityarena.com/google-invests-in-kaios-do-we-have-your-attention-now/
So I would assume KaiOS is already compromised and someone would need to figure out how to de-google it too. Not clear if that is a better option than just going for a de-googled Android phone.
I like the idea of just using a phone on WiFi and removing the SIM though – effectively turning it back into a PDA. Perhaps that plus a basic “burner” dumb phone for comms would be good enough.
Yeah, Google is everywhere. However, I’ve not entered any personal data into the KaiOS-phone. No account is needed. And, if you have your phone in a faraday bag most of the time it blocks signals. However, when Google invests in a product it’s a clear sign to stop using it.
One such phone, with KaiOS, is:
https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_int/nokia-800-tough
It’s a quite buggy phone, and the battery won’t last as long as Nokia says. However, as a feature phone including tethering (shared internet) it’s doing a great job for me.
Another great thing is pulling up this phone (or another non-smartphone) when I’m asked to scan a QR-code. I act stupid, asking the clerk, or what have you got, to help me scanning the QR-code. It’s always fun seeing the look on their face.
Getting a mobile internet dongle is an alternative.
mtalbot
“..I like the idea of just using a phone on WiFi and removing the SIM though – effectively turning it back into a PDA…”
If you are not on Airplane mode (And EVEN THEN I bet) even a phone with out a SIM connects to the network in some way… if you dont believe me dial the cops on such a phone.
I saw someone do that by accident and it went right thru to Emergency services so it WAS connected to the Cell network even without a SIM….
I have a flipper I use to play podcasts on and I can see it pings the network when not in airplane mode EVEN AFTER I scrapped out the internal antenna
Sure you will always say your smartphone saves you alot time, but dont you see how much time you invest in that tech thing. And its on purpose so you have less time for real important things.
Why not get rid of it, boycott smart devices, if majority would do that they would lose most power, no prediction would work without enough data, no profiling would be reliable.
I got none.
Very valid point. And I do agree (as stated here https://www.corbettreport.com/april-open-thread/#comment-107154). The best thing we can all do is getting away from the smartphone, and similar “smart tech”. I’m not only investing time, but money as well. However, this has been due to my line of work. This is changing though, and my goal is to throw away my smartphone this summer. I’ll start using paper maps for navigation, taking photos with my old camera, reading news and listening to podcasts on my computer. I’m looking forward to it. I know it will be great.
I hate to interfere in someone’s effort to end their smartphone addiction, but I feel I have to point out that it’s still a very capable, low-power portable mini computer.
If it were my phone, I’d hang onto it but put tape over the lenses and do everything I could to disable its mic and all of its RF communication capability.
Ideally, I’d install toggle switches for the mic & wifi, but if permanently disabling them is the only option, so be it.
TPTB are almost certainly going to take down the power grid at some point and these phones could be very useful at that time for maps, GPS navigation and all sorts of offline searchable survival documentation, videos, audio & images.
Of course you’ll need a hand crank or pedal charger, and maybe a small solar charger, but at least charging will be possible and practical for you while the desktop users will be pretty much out of luck and the laptop users will have to really work for it.
This is of course assuming they don’t use some kind of persistent or intermittent EMP to disrupt the functionality of all electronics.
Be sure to have paper copies of your most critical survival information.
Sure, they are capable devices indeed. However, my goal is to have a clearer separation in between being online and being offline. I prefer to having to go to a desktop computer for going online. As well, I want to “go back in time” a few years, not being as digital. And, it’s only being offline from the internet I manage to be online to real life.
AnimalsArentFood
“… very capable, low-power portable mini computer…’
You have a point there, except that I recall seeing Tim Leary, gov spook and pusher of the LSD craze, talking in a 90’s doc on CyberPunk (I’ll see if I can link it) and he had moved on to saying how the inner city kids having all that computing power in their pocket would make them more powerful.
He was lying about that just like he lied about LSD, “ultimate democracy” my ass… and when he says we will control our own screens….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxbZq8Zmd88
about 14:20 -16:00 he shows up.. and again at about 40 min (on transhuman body mods)
Hmn… Tim Leary also made the computer ‘mind mirror’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oabRxvjf9k
He appears to have invented proto- google mind shaping too….creepy old guy
Thanks, Duck. Had no idea Timothy Leary promoted trans-humanism. His old domain is for sale (http://mindmirror.com/). I guess his new domain is google.com.
I’m always surprised how far back they were working on this stuff…I watched the New York library archivist on Ytube who has his junk talking about the amount of personality shaping games he was trying to get produced but the tech was just too far behind his evil vision…. there must have been some real money backing him.https://www.engadget.com/2013-09-30-timothy-leary-video-game-archive-drugs-are-bad-mmkay.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADjRlgi7sUeV38a70KtYDVhtUN1eiyRRi4_wm6UZzyYvbeLYfFIApk4Ksx1b8XLwkO6vmjcHTdrVrZwTTQ6t68Sxz78hs7mEpcvjPpu6iBF4l2tQIjC8nBayhZAMqqyLR7AKA87Z368i0oPn0ZtEK-BmQ0xF5B7rLT_et4XMEbW9
Had no idea he was pals with johnny depp either…
I agree. It is surprising. The world we have and the world we’re moving into seems a lot less random than what I thought a few years back.
It’s fantastic that you don’t think de-googling a phone is difficult.
I don’t think it’s very hard, either, but there are TONS of people out there who want more autonomy from the Silicon Valley Surveillance State yet couldn’t begin to tell you how to open a Terminal, let alone execute commands.
Like Rob, I sell degoogled phones at https://privacytogo.co/ as a service for people who aren’t like us.
We all have our strengths, weaknesses, interests, time constraints, and skillsets. Everyone has a limit where outsourcing services makes sense – I try to grow a lot of my own food and write my own software, but I’d be out of luck if the transmission on my truck went out without a mechanic.
Custom ROMs have come a long way since the CyanogenMOD era and the Open Handset Alliance has greatly broadened device compatibility with AOSP derivatives, but we’re still far from the point where the average person could simply follow a wiki and reliably install something like LineageOS or Graphene with 100% confidence.
One of the most difficult ROM flashing experiences I’ve ever had was with a OnePlus device – second only to Pixel Developer Edition phones in their ease of access, allegedly. A few corrupt bytes when cloning firmware across boot sectors put Slot A in a bootloop. Luckily there are shell scripts to fix this, but someone just “following the instructions” would have no idea what to do at this point and simply give up.
There’s a huge chasm of knowledge between copy and pasting ADB commands from a wiki and actually knowing how to use the ADB API.
This Episode is for those who are hopelessly caught in the World Wide Spider Web and cannot imagine existing without a Smart Phone.
I actually ditched my Smart Phone because I could see how they were using it to try and control my behavior. Indeed, it is harder to communicate and find places, but I get by.
I despised being tricked into paying a monthly fee to be tracked and manipulated. Once they have you tied to a Smart Phone they will find you, for you are in the Spider Web.
We can only hope that as more and more bad info comes to manipulate Smart Phone users, “Smart People” will begin to ditch (cut the strings) holding them in the Web.
I try to talk to as many real people as possible these days, and I don’t even carry a Dumb Phone most of the time, so contact tracing cannot work..
Problem with that is that I have a lot of customers who call me and SMS so as much as I’d like to dump the phone I’d be letting too many people down if I did. I don;t use it for anything else though.
Cue ‘coviads vaccine passport’ in 3…2….1…..
paul823
Do you need to carry your phone or can it live at the office? I like to keep mine on a little plastic square on the shelf so I can find it again
The problem is not so much people who use their phones for specific things as people who always have it on their body or their fingers rubbing the screen endlessly like its a pleasure organ
Not really, I’m mostly out so people need to get me on the go and would be bulk hassle to have to go back out after coming back to all the messages and calls. 🙂
Dont get me as someone thats telling you what to do or that doesnt understand the implications that can mean to stop using the phone as we do for everything nowadays,even work… but, if we want a different world I believe we have to be able to make that jump into the freedom that is so scary. I understand that you use it for work but that doesnt mean that doing you work would be impossible without it. That thought process is part of what they want us to think. We have to re think and re build our lives in a way that follows our ideals, even if that means loosing the “commodities” we are so use to be spoiled with.
Think about it this way… if you were working for the NSA right now, and suddenly you are realizing all this messed up world we have, would you say that you couldnt change the way your life works and keep working there? Even if what you do harms you and others?.
Its all about where we draw oir line and what are we able tk keep up with. So everyone has their own knowledge of what they want and how they want it but lets not forget that the real world (the great beautiful fulfilling real world) is always outside of the screen,and it will be there waiting for us even if we forgot how it is.
I agree with Truth Seeker said, “This Episode is for those who are hopelessly caught in the World Wide Spider Web”…
1. Why do you need to carry a “Smart Phone” everywhere you go? I survived most of my life with only a “landline” at home that didn’t even have an answering machine. You had to be at home to take the call and you had to pick up the phone to know who was calling you. I’m not saying that you need to ignore all technological advances since then, but be aware that you can survive and thrive without them.
2. If your answer is, “just in case there is an emergency”. That is my answer too. On the occasion that I think I might need my phone for emergencies, I put it on airplane mode, turn off location, and put it in a carrier that supposedly shields it from location tracking. Are those measures good enough, or do I have a false sense of security?
3. I do need my computer, if only to watch the Corbett Report. I am trying to translate what was said to the computer I use at home. How can I protect my privacy while watching and commenting on Corbett Report and while following the links that James and the Corbett Commenters post on each episode?
4. If I do travel, I take my laptop with me. I know about VPN’s. I don’t have one, but if and when I do travel, I will get one. Is there something else I can do to avoid being spied on and tracked?
5. I am slowly turning my Google account into a “salted” alternative personality and trying to transfer all meaningful communication to protonmail and duckduckgo. The problem is when people I email are still using gmail. I will use this episode to try to convince them to get an alternative email provider.
6. Thanks, James and Corbett Community for the information you provide.
2) put the phone in the case you mention and then dial your mobile number. If it rings, the case isn’t any good.
3) this is difficult if not impossible. Using a text only browser will help. Keeping your devices for the single use only should also help. I.e. keep your stuff spread across devices. Having a dedicated PC that remains offline at all times will help.
4) I trust VPNs as much as the Tor network. Not at all.
5) You are right, even if you are completely outside of their area of influence but keep interacting with people who are inside of it, they will have a puppet of your somewhere, keeping tabs on what you were doing when communicating with their users.
mkey
Tor is better then a VPN since at least it has some chance of not having an outside entity recording and selling your data.
For hiding your IP from marketers and websites dont they work just fine against normal ‘marketing’ spies?
Tor is more secure than a VPN where one practically replaces ISP with a VPN company to some extent. Although it depends on a scenario. Tor network security varies from use case. Eg using it to access something outside the network is less secure than accessing onion services.
IMO protocol could be well designed and secure, but like everything it has its downsides/use cases.
I remember times when everyone was (‘legally’) able to run exit node. This was actually recommended practice to enhance personal browsing privacy.
Most countries (AFAIK) have made this illegal. Which is interesting since question remains who’s then running the nodes (rhetorical). Known weakness of the network is that control of majority of exit nodes allows one to connect the dots and to figure out to whom exit traffic belongs.
dennis
“..Most countries (AFAIK) have made this illegal…”
Where did you hear that?
Not saying you are wrong but I have not heard that running an exit node is against the law and am interested to know more… I duckduck’d and found that some people got some grief off cops but they were not punished for anything that I could find
Ahh… running one from HOME is a bad idea,
https://2019.www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en
It’s not illegal per se to run it, but in most countries you’d be held responsible for anything illegal that happens from inside of your network. For example if someone downloaded something illegal (Eg in Germany there was case involving video game download) with your IP, or imagine if someone accessed CP site (Although these are usually onion services inside of Tor network). Even if one managed to later prove it was someone else, it’s likely that would be preceded by police raids, confiscation of equipment etc.
“… How can I protect my privacy while watching and commenting on Corbett Report and while following the links that James and the Corbett Commenters post on each episode?..’
1)When you sign into Corbett report (even on TOR) you are doxing yourself…thats fine IF you use a different computer for your other activities.
1B) When you visit a website you get cookies and other stuff that stay on your computer and track you EVEN ON OTHER WEBSITES… fix with solution below
2)Rather then buy lots of computers (or run ‘live USB’s which is also VERY easy except you need a handful of thuimbdrives) run “Virtualbox” and set up ‘virtual computers’ for doing different things
Have one for Corbett report running Ubuntu OS and another one with PArrot OS or Whonix or Kali, or whatever, and run THOSE with VPN or TOR and keep them segregated for doing specific things li9ke CR or Podcasts or Youtube ect.
Thus no one ‘computer’ has cookies linking you to the other activities… do NOTHING online on your actual real computer, just in the virtual computers.
Virtualbox is free to download and use
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvlMDAxgMsQ
example video
This will NOT hide you perfectly so read up or watch someone talking about how to use these tools… but get rid of win 10 one day 😉
Keep in mind that you can use any phone to call 911, even a burner phone with no service plan/minutes. So, for emergencies, you could carry a burner phone in a Faraday pouch or with a piece of paper between the battery contacts.
If you salt your Google data, please don’t make a model citizen account like Rob did.
The more model citizens they believe there to be, the greater their confidence will be that they can launch blatant false flags & scamdemics, or push forced injections & implants, and get away with it.
You should absolutely create a fake persona but at least make it a fake persona that isn’t a completely brainwashed pushover who will happily open the door and present their children when the forced injections arrive.
There seem to be so many traps Google can get us in. The “no-phone” choice is not bad.
I wonder if turning off the phone can prevent it from contact tracing during the time it’s off?
I would believe that to be the case only if a) the battery was out b) the phone was tightly sealed in a faraday cage or c) down at the bottom of a ravine.
Yes, I mean to turn the power off. I heard the phone still pings the cell towers on occasion with the power off, I would guess that a contact tracing app would not function with the power off??
Power off then would be a good choice if you don’t want to give up a phone. I frequently keep the power off to save battery use and don’t want to be a slave to a phone screen. I don’t care if google knows generally where I am…unless I need to live in the woods someday though if it comes to that I suppose Gate’s satellites will see my thermal footprint anyway.
Just a reminder:
Whether or not you care about Google (aka: the NWO) knowing where you are, you increase their power by letting them know where you are.
Also, like mkey said, remove the battery or put the phone in a Faraday container.
Always assume you can be tracked & recorded with the phone powered off.
I fully agree about the tracking part, I’m more concerned about the contact trace part because that’s where you and some “infected” person get close enough for some amount of time for the Covid police to then tell you you need a test and/or quarantine. If the tracking part is less frequent or if it requires blue tooth to be on, I wonder if that part wont function when powered off. I guess its a moot point if I have a Faraday pouch.
While I’m on the forum, about “testing”, it’s becoming increasingly possible that the purpose of swabs up near the brain and up the rear end are to give you something not get something from you (see recent vids looking at swabs in a microscope). If a virus is infective it should be in the throat, and I’m a bit skeptical of how much RNA can survive stomach enzymes and make it in one piece to the back door, and well who cares if supposed Corona RNA is in your rear anyway.
Telling your phone to power down is only a software ‘suggestion’ … that you can wake it up without flicking a real power switch should show that its not really at zero internal activity either
I got no smart phone, its not that bad.
And the more things are denied to you, the more militant you get thats the best thing. Worked long time in IT and radio engineering, and still i deny smart devices access to my life.
Google abuse of dominant position: some facts about the Google Android operating system and personal data collection.
https://www.indidea.org/gael/blog/google-abuse-of-dominant-position-some-facts-about-the-google-android-operating-system-and-personal-data-collection/
“The Hated One”
https://www.bitchute.com/channel/rveHH7pMZVtI/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjr2bPAyPV7t35MvcgT3W8Q
Has some great information about privacy as well.
And videos how you can change your phone OS.
And this is the “vaccine” that important people on the news get:
https://i.imgur.com/Zm9s9tC.mp4
I am not at all a tech guy…. I love the earlier comment about living most of your life with a old school house phone as I totally did that and miss it…. I am very tempted to get rid of pretty much all my modern tech. My question to the Corbett community is: I have been using IPhone for 10 years and haven’t been salting any data… I know google is bad, but is apple and iTunes not as bad, just as bad, or worse?
slurry
just as bad.
They want to make you live on their little corner of the internet so they can feed off selling your data.
It’s increasingly looking like Apple answers to the exact same power masters.
You can find many examples.
The most recent that I know of:
Twitter engaged heavily in hard-core tyrannical China-style speech censorship this year. Many of the people they censored simply gave them the finger and headed over to Parler to continue their free speech, so TPTB tried to shut down Parler.
TPTB told Amazon to cut off Parler’s servers and told Google and Apple to remove Parler’s app from their app stores.
All three complied.
Also, the more you look into the Steve Jobs ‘from the garage’ story, the more you start to wonder if Apple was some kind of technocrat agenda all along.
“..Also, the more you look into the Steve Jobs ‘from the garage’ story, the more you start to wonder if Apple was some kind of technocrat agenda all along…”
Yes, true. I wondered how a guy could come from such an interesting family, get adopted into a normal family, then end up making computers when he had zero tech skills and such a revolting personality.
There were plans to bring computers out into normal peoples lives back way before it was possible and Technocracy is literal insanity to suggest before you have computers and networks to manage everything.
the sale price of his first computer was $666.66 and the company’s sign is a bitten apple (think Adam and Eve). Just sayin’…
10% success estimate for any given human being to install a custom recovery ROM + Lineage OS on a random Android phone is BUNK. Absolute unadulterated bullshit. I’ve been doing it for years now and as time goes by it gets easier and easier to do. I understand not everyone is savvy with these things, but it’s very much doable, I kid you not.
There are two main issues, none of which will directly lead to your phone being bricked, i.e. destroyed.
1) Does your phone model have Lineage OS support? If not, there still may be options out there.
2) Unlocking the bootloader. This is not a technical hurdle, but an artificial impediment put there by the service provider/phone seller. Many phones have an option in the settings that allow you to unlock the bootloader and install on the phone whatever the hell you want (duckduckgo your phone model for more information on the subject).
What follows is the general procedure that will probably get you 80% there, way WAY past the 10% success mark set by the guest.
1) Install
flashbootandadb(I believe all of the major operating systems support said software)2) All the commands mentioned henceforth are to be inputted into a command prompt, interpreter or terminal emulator (bash, cmd, powershell, duckduckgo it)
3) Plug your phone into a PC over the cable (can be done over wifi with some minor/major fiddling, cable is better for sure, cable is easy, cable is reliable)
4) Reboot the phone into fastboot mode (typically hold the volume key down + power button, duckduckgo your phone model for details) or input something like
adb reboot bootloader5) Unlocking the bootloader can also be done from the command prompt, if supported, by inputting
fastboot flashing unlockorfastboot oem unlockfollowed by a screen unlock on the phone itself.6) N.B: If you can not unlock the bootloader, you’re pretty much screwed (unless you find a way to root your phone without unlocking the bootloader which would allow you to dump much of the software garbage – this can indeed be a major pain in the posterior, better to just get a bootloader unlock friendly phone, proceed with research only if stubborn as a mule)
7) N.B.2: if you can not unlock the bootloader, no harm no foul. You simply can not proceed, your phone isn’t bricked, it’s status in fact diametrically opposed to “bricked”, the phone is as functional as it was prior to the bootloader unlock attempt
Continued…
Proceeding from this point onward data/device loss may occur. Not nearly as dangerous as the guest sets it out be, but a chance is there so we take responsible action. It would be perfect if you can get your hands on some disposable device, that’s still somewhat usable and can be flashed, for training purposes.
1) To clear the phone storage
fastboot format cache2) To clear user data
fastboot format userdata-> this is optional and it will delete all your data from the phone. Depending on the image you are installing later, userdata may need hedging so that you don’t inadvertently delete it.3) Following images (.img files) need to be obtained for your phone specifically. If you get the wrong image, you may indeed brick/destroy your device.
4) N.B.3. When looking for a ROM for your device, note that GAPPS means Guulag apps, so this is something you will want to skip. Sometimes it’s offered bundled with the system image. Looking for the system ROM and the recovery ROM is usually one stone two birds type of scenario because you’ll be getting both from the same place.
5) To flash the custom recovery (like BIOS of sorts for your phone, a very nifty tool for backing up, recovering etc)
fastboot flash recovery <recovery_image>.img6) To flash the ROM, as provided by Lineage OS for example, you would basically input
fastboot flash <linege-os-rom>.imgfollowed byfastboot reboot7) As an alternative to step above, once can also put the ROM file onto the phone data storage, boot into recovery and then backup/install whatever they want from there. I’m providing this info here without details just to inform of what can be done.
8) The first boot after flashing will take some minutes. If things go awry, you can typically flash another image or proceed into the recovery and restore any backups that you have made.
9) With the first startup you’ll get that stock android breath of fresh air emanating from your phone, so brace yourself because you will not encounter a plethora of garbage that typically comes preinstalled.
10) If you prepare in advance and get your .apk files ready (that is Android applications you will want to install, like F-droid or the Aurora stuff) it’s very easy to install them through the command prompt via
adb install <app_to_install>.apkThat 10% estimate is the single most ridiculous piece of trash ever to emanate from this site. Pardon the ranty bits. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Does this also apply to a desk top computer as well? I don’t have a cellphone, smart or otherwise but I do have Google Chrome and would like to be rid of it but lack any tech skills.
I hate Odyssey. I jumped through the usual hoops in order to find Rob’s channel and I was asked to verify. I chose my phone and the site rejected my phone number.
Then I find Brax.me, sign up and click on blogs and am told that I don’t belong to any blogs. Right.
Then I find Brax.me, sign up and click on blogs and am told that I don’t belong to any blogs. Right.
Me: Google is part of a global terrorism organization that’s using your data to predict and manipulate human behavior and bring about the complete enslavement of the human race.
If we use these alternative products we can stop them.
Them: Why would I switch to something that’s less convenient than Google tho?
Me: But.. I just… ️🤦♂️
Me: The Internet Itself is the neural network of a predatory, alien intelligence, designed to study any species it encounters in order to discover its drives and flaws, hack its central nervous system, hijack its biomass, and transform the entire prey species into a hive-mind of bio-slaves implementing the inhuman will of an infernal Machine.
Them: Don’t worry, I got this. I’ll just spend every waking hour intensively interfacing with the internet, in an endless shadowboxing session to try to purge one particular tech company called “google” from my individual internet terminals. Oh yes, and also I’ll buy more and more devices so that each one is only used once. And yes I’ll contribute to open-source communal coding projects whenever possible.
Me: o… I’m-a drink now.
I want to be like the Amish folks (technically Wagoners, i.e. electricity and vehicles but no TVs) I buy my meat from. The guy has a dumb phone and that’s it. They can obviously still track your location, but otherwise seems like a decent interim solution.
At least until a smartphone becomes a requirement for interacting in society…
It’s a fact!!
Here is a short suggestion to let people around us know about it;)
https://partner.spreadshirt.fr/shop-area/100622405/shop
Some here might be interested in the Librem 5 phone, which uses neither Android nor IOS, so I will report my experience. I ordered one some while ago (3 years?) understanding that the schedule might get delayed as development issues were dealt with. It finally arrived about four months ago.
I can report that (1) it does work on the North American wireless network (I use Ting), and (2) Librem tech support is responsive when I have problems. Which I have. The phone is an actual linux computer and works like one, sort of. Software to support the cameras isn’t yet ready. The phone is expensive (even more costly now than when I accepted the risk of pre-ordering it).
As far as I know there’s no physical keyboard available for it, which is a big disadvantage for clumsy folk. It does have privacy advantages over Android or IOS phones, but getting it working for everything I need turns out to be quite a project.
It’s my understanding that carriers are removing support for non-smart phones, so even if you have one that works it might not be usable for calls in a year or two.
I really like Rob and I’m really glad you had him on.
The word privacy is being systematically replaced with the word ‘security’.
TPTB are trying to pretend that privacy is already a thing of the past in hope that it will become reality.
People like Rob who go beyond just protecting their own privacy, and into the realm of helping others protect their privacy, can really make a difference.
Privacy = something for rich and for paranoid people these days.
Think phones are creepy consider how many kids are using google docs and services to do their school work. If an AI can color a movie or fill in the rest of a face from under a mask then all that personal data is or will be building a psyc profile of everyone from childhood.
https://petapixel.com/2020/02/24/using-ai-to-colorize-and-upscale-a-109-year-old-video-of-new-york-city-to-4k-and-60fps/
99.999% of children will grow up with almost total behavioral predictability
It’s possible to De-Google a locked down OEM phone. Not everyone has $$$ for a Pixel Phone, compared to entry level Android phone for under $100 dollars.
* To start with as soon as possible after purchase, ask the attendant to place the phone in airplane mode, or at the every least disable data.
* Go through all the settings, especially location, accounts & sync, disable all. You know your making the right choice when it warns you not to disable because it will make your device less secure.
* Enable battery savings, this prevents some apps from communicating in the background.
* Enable Unknown sources – this allows installation of apps from sources other than Google Play Store
* Phone is still in airplane mode, using USB sideload open source NetGuard apk. This will allow you to block applications from communicating by setting up a dead end proxy, no root required. Go through each application and disable as much as possible, if not sure, disable, specially apps from Google or the OEM.
* Go to settings – Apps, go through each app, remove or disable as much as possible from the OEM and Google. Google Play Services is the heart of the Googleplex, with this running Google will always have a backdoor to your phone. Disable Google Play Services if you can, on my LG phone I was able to.
* After all this you are now ready to take the phone out of airplane mode. Under normal circumstances the phone would immediately start doing a bunch of updates. It should do nothing, since we either disabled the service, or blocked from communicating using NetGuard.
* Reboot the phone at this point, to make sure it still starts up as expected. If it doesn’t enter recovery mode by powering on while holding down power and volume down key to re-image. Start again from step one, figure out which component is necessary for it boot.
* Now you can load F-Droid repository: Load FFUpdater – this will download Firefox. Don’t use Google Chrome. Download both Firefox and Firefox Klar. Add essential add-ons uBlock Origin, NoScript, edit the settings, delete browsing data on quit (Firefox) – quit often. I loaded Opera (apppure.com) as backup backup browser with virgin settings, rarely used.
* Install AnySoftKeyboard from FDroid, make this your default keyboard, replacing the OEM installed keyboard application.
* As stated by Brax – avoid using apps, use the web browser were all possible.
* Since the phone is not rooted, some apps that requires Google Play Services will not work. Since I was only able to disable, not uninstall, I am unable install microG Services to fake Google Play Services. The T-Mobile voice mail app doesn’t work, no big deal. If I recall both Uber and Lyft apps wanted Google Play services, both services offer hailing through the web browser. Other apps complain that “Google Play Services” is required, however they work without a problem. For me this includes Google Maps 9.47.3.
* Other recommended FDroid apps: Mail – Tutanota, RSS AntennaPod, Calendar by Simple Mobile Tools (I don’t need sync), Tor Browser.
* Don’t use Gmail, if you use Gmail find a different provider. If you use Gmail, you will be data mined, no cell phone required. If you insist on using Gmail, don’t use Gmail app, use a third party app and connect via IMAP.
* Don’t update any system apps, only trusted apps.
* Encrypt your phone
I’ve been trying to boycott the goo for years. I rooted a phone using adb and help from xda-developers dot com (I bricked it and they helped me to resurrect it).
I used firefox until mozilla recently revealed their true (socialist) colors and ALWAYS with the uMatrix plugin. I had firefox configured with ghacks hacks in the .config directory and customization through the about:config and about:preferences#privacy firefox pages.
Now I use Brave. Their private tabs work pretty well. How do I know this? Constantly checking cookies through either Brave settings, uMatrix and checking/cleaning with CCleaner (available for windows, mac, android). CCleaner will find and delete super (persistent) cookies. Evil cookies are bound to slip through but that doesn’t mean they get to track everything I do for more than an hour. And Bye duckduckgo. Brave, Qwant (might as well call it “qwant” lol why the hell not?) with uMatrix and a lot of private tabs (android also) are my tools.
I commented with a lot of this info on your 2017 bitchute video “SO YOU’VE DECIDED TO BOYCOTT GOOGLE…”, James, but that comment has mysteriously disappeared. It’s mostly deprecated now anyway but my main point was this: it’s a lot of WORK to try to boycott google. Work that most people either aren’t willing or capable of doing. We are so far behind the tech curve now. If you’re not behind the curve, I’m not speaking to you and you shouldn’t get offended.
I’m not about to regress into not caring but I care a lot less now who knows what about me. They can find anyone whether one jumps through hoops to cover their tracks or they don’t take the steps… if they want to find you. Unless you’ve been doing this for decades, they’ve got you in an archive. They are technologically so far more advanced now with 5G AI and their space grid using chemtrials and Tesla HAARP tech that most people can’t fathom just how not free they are anymore. Good. They deserve to be slaves.
And if somehow you slip through the cracks, they can extrapolate you from three words of info.
A Primer on Information Theory and Privacy (11 years old)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/primer-information-theory-and-privacy
Court allows NSA and Google to keep their ties secret (9 years old)
https://www.rt.com/usa/court-nsa-google-agency-053/
NSA Locations In The United States (7 years old)
https://attackonliberty.com/government/nsa-locations-in-the-united-states/
The net is tightening still. Crypto was supposed to be anonymous and it’s going the other way.
On a similar note you should invite a linux expert on your show to tell how to transition to linux from Windows or MacOS as well James.
Linux is going to be as bad as windows within 10 years 🙁
No way did all the social justice weirdos just show up for random reasons any more then antifa and the proud boys do at protests and riots
I hope there will still be some secure-ish OS’s left
For folks interested in linux, it is an excellent step in the right direction. Even within linux universe, closed source exists, just be sure to keep it open and you are moving in the right direction. Open source linux universe does by no means mean you are out of the weeds, but you are at least in the green fields away from the murky hell of apple/microsoft/google. A fantastic stepping stone.
Very easy to find tutorials on switching over to linux. I just did a quick search and found ‘The Linux Experiment’ gootube channel with the following very beginner videos:
How to switch to linux: https://youtu.be/ro6IWsT3uRk
How to choose 1st distro: https://youtu.be/o9Nq1Reu0Wg
And as a bonus, related to this report’s topic, he did a video on something called the /e/ project, providing a de-googled version of Android. Just as another option specific to Andriod phones, he even talks about its use of something called ‘Nextcloud’, which Sabex mentions below, all of which I’m unfamiliar with, but an option to look into: https://youtu.be/C9fFiaGv2WA
And that’s just one gootube channel’s offerings. Lots out there. I of course would recommend folks keeping an eye on pine64’s pinephone project, currently only really usable for non-beginners, but with ‘normal’ users as a project goal: https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/
Thanks for this interview James, all good stepping stones in the right direction.
Can I suggest using an Open Source product like Nextcloud to replace Google services such as Drive, Calendar, and Hangouts?
Using my own instance of Nextcloud and Protonmail means that I don’t have to use Google services at all.
I find it unbelievable how much time people waste per day on with and about their smartphone, i can just imagine this is very welcome, distracted people are always the best sheeple.
Why not give yourself a timeout and try at least for some time with no smart devices, guess majority cant even grasp what to do with all their time if they got none anymore.
Sure aside from all the data grab with smart devices, without them and the drained data the current powers who abuse all this data would not be that powerful if they could not profile whole populations and predict all behavioristics.
Most countries can even predict their future enemies in case of wars, you got all data from the children, teens and young adults you would be your future enemies, their skillsets reactions and behavior profiled in the smallest detail in online games(which sure would be another problem but they all tie together in the data drain).
Minimize the data drain by not using smart devices and configure the remaining of them.
Am I correct that Rob states something incorrectly @20:05 when he says “we install the DuckDuckGo browser”? I see DuckDuckGo as only a search engine — not an Android phone browser. On their referral page at URL
https://restoreprivacy.com/google-alternatives/
…under category “Google Chrome alternatives” there is no DuckDuckGo browser listed.
Did Rob mean to say “Brave” browser?
I don’t know if he made a mistake or not but DuckDuckGo does have an Android browser.
https://m.apkpure.com/duckduckgo-privacy-browser/com.duckduckgo.mobile.android
W0W: thank-you! It just wasn’t listed on the Chrome alternatives page. My bad.
RamRod0
TBH A smart phone itself is so suspect that using it to browse the web is pretty much giving your data away anyway whatever browser you use
DuckDuckGo
Tidbit:
On our local “News, Traffic & Weather” CBS Radio Station (1080 kHz AM – KRLD), they often advertise DuckDuckGo in a quick 15 second spot.
It seems so out of place.
The radio station is hardcore vaccines, masks and pro-Biden agenda.
No way to deGoogle if you use an Android phone with GMS (google mobile services). No amount of “settings” will do that.
Dumb phone is a solution, or getting a Huawei phone withOUT Google services. Then you’ll be tracked by Huawei.
Pick your poison.
GOOGLE-FREE CUSTOM ROM:
Custom ROMs like Resurrection RemixOS or LineageOS are completely Google-free, bloatware-free with many additional customizations. To get google services (playstore, google apps…) back a separate .zip file called Gapps needs to be flashed using TWRP.
There are many guides depending on the phone. My phone is also rooted with magisk and I also have an Xposed Framework installed.
MODIFIED GOOTUBE:
Vanced Manager is an app that enables the installation of YouTube Vanced. It’s a modified version of YouTube with additional features like no ads, dark theme, background playback, swipe controls for brightness, swipe control for volume…..
TWRP: https://twrp.me/Devices/
Resurrection Remix OS: https://resurrectionremix.com/
LineageOS: https://lineageos.org/
Magisk: https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/releases
Exposed Framework: https://magiskroot.net/download-xposed-for-android-10/
Gapps: https://opengapps.org/
Vanced Manager: https://vancedmanager.com/
Not really, there are many options. As I commented earlier, if you install a custom ROM like Resurrection RemixOS, there’s no google on the phone at all. If you’re on a Stock ROM (android version the phone came with) and if the phone is rooted, you can uninstall/freeze any system apps including google. Even if the phone is not rooted, you can uninstall apps through ADB (command line).
If you don’t want to do any of that, here are some handy Google settings to disable to stop Google spying on you.
Go to phone settings, then Google settings.
Click on “Manage your Google Account”/ “Data and Personalization” / “Activity Controls”, then disable “Web & App Activity” and “Location History”
Hope that helps
I really, really like this Rob Braxman fella.
I’m glad he is on our side.
I flunk out when it comes to tech savvy stuff, but I enjoy Braxman’s communication style.
Here are a few previous mentions of Rob Braxman on the Corbett Report…
This is non-technical. Meant for anyone.
You need to see this…Society is changing of March 24, 2021
https://www.corbettreport.com/salting-your-data-solutionswatch/#comment-106782
“The Great Firewall of…America? WTZ!”
https://www.corbettreport.com/5-ways-biometric-security-can-be-spoofed/#comment-104350
Excerpt comment…
“…Rob Braxman mentions February 2nd (Tuesday) as the start date.
For me, this date rings a bell.
Very, very early that morning of Feb 2nd, prior to U.S. market open, SILVER PRICES CRASHED.
This was during the days of the “Silver Short Squeeze”, and silver prices on Monday had almost touched $30 an ounce….”
PaulDiggsJazz says:
“Check out Rob Braxman’s website. He is focused on privacy and security. He also sells degoogled phones…
…Here is a video where he discusses how to create a Home without Spyware:….”
https://www.corbettreport.com/our-digital-gulag/#comment-106074
Duck says:
“You should check out The guy linked guy, or SwitchedToLinux or Rob Braxman all of whom know more then I do.”
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1631-new-world-next-week-with-james-evan-pilato/#comment-107707
For those of us that still have gmail and want to change to a different email client that has more privacy:
1. Create a gmail account that is salted
or
2. Create a Proton mail account?
From the solutions watch, Braxman recommends solution 1. What do other thinks?I can see how number one allows you to remain in the open and have privacy whereas having a proton mail account announces that you are interested in privacy.
Apologies if I’m preaching to the choir here, I haven’t read through the comments, but…
I’m now on my 2nd de-googled phone. The 1st was a Blloc phone ( nice UI, liked the Aurora store option for apps but the handset itself wasn’t brilliant, somewhat ironically for a phone I didn’t find it to be the best for making phone calls, what does that tell us about priorities?)
I recently bought a Gigaset GS290, from e.foundation, and it’s brilliant! As modern as you’d like…proper full screen (no borders)tiny selfie camera, which is great for reading articlesand it uses the F Droid store for apps, where you can check out the scores for privacy for each app, including searching for just open source apps. Maybe the store doesn’t have all the social media apps carried by the Play Store, I don’t know, they’re not my thing, but for apps I couldn’t find in the Play Store I found a perfectly good alternative.
Come over to the Un-Googled world, it’s fine, really…
It is not hard to root most phone.
10% chance and most likely bricking the phone? Bullshit.
Read the instructions, which include verifying the md5 hash to check the files are complete etc (very easy), and you will be fine.
That imo is simply whipping up insecurities to serve his business.
Not appreciated.
The rest great as usual.