Shopping advices
Security for the sake of others
: NSA and processor-based randomness
Lack of security
: phones where modem can read system memory
Weak design
: bluetooth keyboard
: Speculation in recent CPUs
: non-replaceable battery
Easy
Concrete options with the least hassle.
Phone
: Weak: Any "feature-phone" (i.e. non-smart phone), e.g. from Nokia
: Medium: Any smart phone w/ /e/ OS preinstalled
Better
Concrete options with better qualities,
which requires technical help or patience.
Phone
: Weak [tricky setup]: Refurbished Samsung Galaxy S w/ community-maintained /e/ OS
: Medium [tricky setup]: Refurbished Samsung Galaxy S w/ officially maintained /e/ OS
: Medium [tricky use]: Pine64 PinePhone w/ Mobian
: Medium [tricky use]: Pine64 PinePhone Pro w/ Mobian
: Strong [tricky use]: Purism Librem 5 w/ Mobian
Discouraged
Phone
: Fairphone, SHIFT or Teracube 2e: eco- and repair-friendly, but relatively expensive
System
: CalyxOS, GrapheneOS: Strongly security focused, but limited to expensive and/or Google-centric phones
: iodéOS: Strongly security focused, but freemium business model with enabled-by-default cloud service
Phone system (comparison chart)
Money is better spent on either a new phone
with relatively open hardware and running mainline Linux by design
(PinePhone, PinePhone Pro or Librem 5),
or alternatively a refurbished phone
running a freely licensed system (/e/ OS) reliably (i.e. supported).
Shops
Murena sells new and refurbished smart phones w/ /e/ OS preinstalled.
GreenMind sells refurbished smart phones in Denmark.
Refurbed sells refurbished smart phones in Denmark.
Trust paths
- Debian secured by PGP Web-of-Trust
- Debian operates transparently - "Security through mockery"
- Free software - "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow"
- Open Source Hardware helps ensure longevity
