[Omnitech]

I was a late convert to BlackBerry. My first smartphone was a Google Android. When Google data mining reached the point that it would not let me open my own previously set up apps without signing into Gmail or Facebook. If was the end. I changed carrier and bought a Z10. I don't need many applications ; native apps like Neutron do what I want. The Z10 Is a perfect phone for me. I decommissioned my Nexus phone with a hammer. I will never buy another phone with Google baked in. If this is the case with Priv then my next phone will be Microsoft or Ubuntu.

Then you should probably eliminate Microsoft too, as they seem to be quickly copying Google's business model. Have you tried Windows 10 yet? Snoop city. And to make matters worse, a bunch of things are done "under the hood" without any notice or documentation or control by the user.

There are some things you can do to subvert some of that, but the general direction they are traveling with their platforms is obvious.

Which is really funny, because less than two years ago they had a whole anti-Google ad-campaign revolving around the concept of being "scroogled", which was, in part, a reference to having Google snoop on everything you do..

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/15/mic...to-be-working/
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/1...-and-mark-penn

[vladi]

Privacy and Google Android. There is no such thing. There could be Security and Google Android.

[The Big Picture]

Iphone it is then

Posted via CB10

[joeldf]

Re: how it would work on eg a Blackphone, the idea is that for example since we know that Gmail uses a variety of mechanisms to snoop on your activity and send it back to Google, if you isolate it in a container where it does not have access to your contacts, your social media accounts, your text messages, your location data, your web browsing activity and history, your local files and porn collection , details of any computer you connect to the device, details of any storage device or peripheral you connect to your device, and so on - then the aspects of its privacy-slurping proclivities that rely on slurping information from those places would be prevented.

Since you brought up Gmail, I have a question.

I don't have Gmail account. I do have a Google account that I use to access the patched Play Store with on my Z10, but it's uses to my regular ISP email address. It's an account I created long ago before Google had Gmail (or maybe they just started it, but hadn't yet made it a "requirement" to sign up for it).

I know that for some time all android phones required a Gmail account to setup on the phone as part of the initial setup, and there was no way around it - a non-Gmail Google account wouldn't be accepted. I'm guessing that was all part of the snooping they did.

Is that still a requirement on Android phones today? Or can you bypass that now?

Any ideas on whether or not the Priv will require a Gmail account to complete it's setup? That would be a big minus to me if it did.



Posted via CB10

[Omnitech]

I don't have Gmail account. I do have a Google account that I use to access the patched Play Store with on my Z10, but it's uses to my regular ISP email address. It's an account I created long ago before Google had Gmail (or maybe they just started it, but hadn't yet made it a "requirement" to sign up for it).

I know that for some time all android phones required a Gmail account to setup on the phone as part of the initial setup, and there was no way around it - a non-Gmail Google account wouldn't be accepted. I'm guessing that was all part of the snooping they did.

Is that still a requirement on Android phones today? Or can you bypass that now?

Well I know my Nexus 7 running CyanogenMod (a 3rd-party, open-source fork of the Android open source code), doesn't require a Google account. But most commercial devices don't ship with those kinds of Android versions and that device was rooted and overwritten with that special ROM which doesn't come from the factory. I believe my old Lenovo Android tablet running IceCream Sandwich did require an account, but it's been a few years and my memory is fuzzy on that now.

Any ideas on whether or not the Priv will require a Gmail account to complete it's setup? That would be a big minus to me if it did.

I don't think anyone outside of BlackBerry staff can answer that at the moment, and the BlackBerry staff aren't telling. I can tell you that since the Priv runs all the standard proprietary Google software, much of which requires such an account, a lot of those apps and tools (Google Play, backup, Hangouts, Keep, Gmail, Wallet, Google Drive, Google Voice, Google Calendar, Google+, Google Now, etc) will not function without it.

[tickerguy]

It almost-certainly will.

However, you can shut off permissions (in M native, in earlier revs using a third-party app) that for all intents and purposes "neuter" said apps ability to get to anything. If you do that, however, then any app that requires those components won't work -- much like is the case with BB10 now.

[joeldf]

Well, the only Google app I'd even use is Google Play, and I can already use it with my non-gmail account. I have no use for any of the other Google apps.

I guess we'll see how that all works out.

Posted via CB10

[skibnik]

Question is will the Priv be more secure against malware attacks and viruses etc than the average Android device? Most likely yes. On the other hand will it secure your personal information and data from analytics programs baked into Google better than other Android devices? Most likely not as that's the price OEMs pay in order to be part of the OHA. Privacy and security are two separate but related issues that most people aren't fully aware of, and it's up to each individual to decide how much info they want to share in order to access the apps and services they want or demand at little to no up front cost.

[The Big Picture]

Question is will the Priv be more secure against malware attacks and viruses etc than the average Android device? Most likely yes. On the other hand will it secure your personal information and data from analytics programs baked into Google better than other Android devices? Most likely not as that's the price OEMs pay in order to be part of the OHA. Privacy and security are two separate but related issues that most people aren't fully aware of, and it's up to each individual to decide how much info they want to share in order to access the apps and services they want or demand at little to no up front cost.

So how is the priv in anyway more private than the average android phone?

This is the make or break question.

I think BlackBerry better have a great reason in calling this phone priv.

Posted via CB10

[joeldf]

That depends on whether or not BlackBerry is actually now part of the OHA. That has yet to be determined one way or the other.

Posted via CB10

[6stringriffs]

I lie awake at night knowing that Google knows I've been reading Android Central, ESPN, and 4chan/s.

Eyes rolling....

[skibnik]

So how is the priv in anyway more private than the average android phone?

This is the make or break question.

I think BlackBerry better have a great reason in calling this phone priv.

Posted via CB10

Priv for Private but also Privilege as I recall from Chens interview. Regardless that's the million dollar question, are users more afraid of Google analytics collection practices or hackers and/or malware/viruses gaining their credit card and social insurance numbers?

[Emaderton3]

I lie awake at night knowing that Google knows I've been reading Android Central, ESPN, and 4chan/s.

Eyes rolling....

Yeah, I mean how many people use Google on their computers?

Do you drive a car? Your car is monitored through various transportation studies.

Do you have health insurance? Car insurance?

You are a data point in more ways than you may realize. But, perhaps Priv is not the right name then.

Posted via CB10

[Tre Lawrence]

Yeah, I mean how many people use Google on their computers?

Do you drive a car? Your car is monitored through various transportation studies.

For some reason, on CB, smartphones have become the last bastion of freedom.

[Tre Lawrence]

So how is the priv in anyway more private than the average android phone?

Does it need to be? I suspect not.

[The Big Picture]

Does it need to be? I suspect not.

Iphone for me then lol

Posted via CB10

[Steve Rizla]

So how is the priv in anyway more private than the average android phone?

This is the make or break question.

I think BlackBerry better have a great reason in calling this phone priv.

Posted via CB10

They will provide apps (Contacts, email, password keeper, etc) that are built by BlackBerry and use those to replace the default versions that are built by Google.

Any vendor can do this today. Android M will make it much easier for the end user.

[cbzeduser]

They will provide apps (Contacts, email, password keeper, etc) that are built by BlackBerry and use those to replace the default versions that are built by Google.

Any vendor can do this today. Android M will make it much easier for the end user.

That would be encouraging if true (that Blackberry will make secure versions of Contacts, Browser, Email and other apps that are isolated from Google's ad-profiling).

But it's a little concerning that BlackBerry have not been forthcoming with details about what will actually be on the Priv. If the Priv is truly going to be available in November and supported by carriers, one would think that details of the software build would have been frozen by now, so that devices could be given to the carriers for testing...

[skibnik]

That would be encouraging if true (that Blackberry will make secure versions of Contacts, Browser, Email and other apps that are isolated from Google's ad-profiling).

Not very likely, Google has been consist with banning any apps that would circumvent its analytics collection and is one of the conditions for signing onto the OHA.

[joeldf]

Not very likely, Google has been consist with banning any apps that would circumvent its analytics collection and is one of the conditions for signing onto the OHA.

Again, no definitive word on if BlackBerry is actually part of the OHA.

It could be a separate deal that is part of the Android for Work initiative that both BlackBerry and Blackphone are a part of with Google.

Posted via CB10

[Steve Rizla]

Not very likely, Google has been consist with banning any apps that would circumvent its analytics collection and is one of the conditions for signing onto the OHA.

What are you talking about? OHA has nothing to do with apps.

[joeldf]

What are you talking about? OHA has nothing to do with apps.

Actually, it's a big part of how Google controls what is on those android phones. Members have to provide Google's core list of apps.

But, that's also what is now being looked at by anti-trust police at the FTC, and similar government agencies in other countries. Similar to how Microsoft got in trouble with IE on Windows years back.

Posted via CB10

[Steve Rizla]

Actually, it's a big part of how Google controls what is on those android phones. Members have to provide Google's core list of apps.

But, that's also what is now being looked at by anti-trust police at the FTC, and similar government agencies in other countries. Similar to how Microsoft got in trouble with IE on Windows years back.

Posted via CB10

And I have a strong feeling that those apps will be overridden with BlackBerry apps when we unbox our Privs.
I guess we'll see.

Samsung does that now with their hardware. They include the Gapps in a folder. You don't have to use them.

[BB-JAM215]

Not very likely, Google has been consist with banning any apps that would circumvent its analytics collection and is one of the conditions for signing onto the OHA.

The OHA may be slowly fading away, just like BB10.

[bandpass]

Jolla. Engineered in Finland.