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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: December 31st, 2023

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  • What is being counted as an ad for these things? Is branding slapped on a product an ad? If a car with a company logo drives by my window, is that an ad?

    I’m in a similar ad boat to you in that I actively removed most ads from my life. I work remotely and often go a full day without going to a commercial venue. I still see a lot of things that could be classed as ads

    As a random example, I just looked at my key chain. My car key has a Ford logo. The key chain was a freebie from a now long-defunct car dealership with their logo. I have a light on it sold by Battery Junction and manufactured by Titanium, with both logos prominently displayed. One of my keys was cut by a local locksmith with their name engraved on it. This could be considered as exposing me to 5 separate ads just on my key chain

    To get a figure in the thousands, they probably have a very inclusive definition of an ad. I’m sure we’re exposed to more ads than we realize




  • No sideloading and no unlocked bootloader means you can’t sideload malware or install malware-preloaded ROMs

    It’s a simple configuration change to disable it and can be done with any corporate MDM system, making this a moot point. Not to mention too many people don’t understand security, so Android is taking away sideloading anyway, FoR sEcUriTY

    No root also means you can’t just install malware that uses root access

    The vast majority of Android phones do not come with root access. For both, you generally have to elevate access yourself

    Long OS support means fewer people run around with iPhones that are 5 OS versions behind

    If you’re running an out-of-date OS, clearly security is not a priority

    There’s no tiny boutique iPhone manufacturers who sell phones that come pre-loaded with malware

    Supply chain attacks absolutely can happen to iPhones as well. There are plenty of re-sellers


    You missed the actual security benefit over iOS that Android cannot compete with: Apple controls the entire software chain from security patch to OTA update. This allows them to patch and release a fix for critical vulnerabilities far faster than any Android device possibly could. Apple does not need to get the approval of an OEM (such as Samsung), and, due to special deals, they do not need to get the approval of a carrier (like Verizon). Android devices typically need to get approvals from both before releasing updates (although Google flagship phones can bypass one, and can fast track the other)

    The downside there is there are no checks on Apple. They could release a horribly vulnerable patch with no additional checks in-between


  • In terms of security alone, iPhones easily beat most Android phones

    That’s not how security works in the modern tech landscape. No major OS is going to meet a high security standard out of the box. All of them have to be configured to the desired security level, then be added to ongoing security efforts. Every major OS can be secured to the highest security standards

    The primary difference is how much effort each takes, but even then there isn’t much of a difference. You’ll find tooling and in-house expertise makes a much larger difference than the OS

    The myth that some OS are inherently secure really needs to die off


  • Usually when people complain about DNS, they’re talking about stability issues. In this case I think he’s pointing out how centralized it is, and how a bad actor could cause significant issues

    At a local level, the most common issue I know of is ISPs blocking sites at the DNS level by feeding in fake information that redirects you to one of the ISP’s blocked/parked domains. Usually implemented to prevent customers going to piracy sites. It’s not much of an issue to subvert currently, as you can simply use any public DNS provider

    That being said, much of that has been consolidated into a dozen or so tech companies. In the current political climate, I could see a coordinated effort happening between those tech companies to block sites deemed non gratis. Obviously there’s still ways to subvert it, but the vast majority of user’s won’t be able to