alt Hacker NewsThe paranoia is completely warranted, but there is a solution.
Just root your Android phone and put a custom ROM like LineageOS etc
If you want a stretch goal try and de-Google yourself, I have tried but failed twice now.
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Easier said than done in the US. Even of the phones that allow for rooting (which is few and far between these days) you're at the complete mercy of the carrier for whether or not that ability is actually available to you. Even if the gracious lords may allow it, you have to engage in a long and drawn out Byzantine rite just for the privilege. Currently sitting on a Pixel 10 that will not let me have root.
Give me a Linux phone with halfway decent modem drivers, or give me death.
Re: de-Googling yourself:
Goldman Sachs paid $6 million to try to get its [soon-to-be] former chief counsel Kathryn Ruemmler's Google search results highlighting her close friendship and many-years-long association with Jeffrey Epstein off the first few pages of results.
Today, the first result on the first page of a Google search for her is the opening paragraph of her Wikipedia biography:
>Kathryn H. Ruemmler (born April 19, 1971) is an American attorney who was principal deputy White House counsel and then White House Counsel to President Barack Obama.[1] Previously a partner at Latham and Watkins co-chairing its white-collar defense group,[2] Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs in 2020 and was Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel.[3] She announced her resignation from this position in February 2026, effective at the end of June, over her links to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.[4][5][6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Ruemmler
>How a Secretive Firm Tried (and Failed) to Fix an Epstein Friend’s Tattered Image
1) My phone is not officially supported by LineageOS so I will have to port it first.
2) I did not analyze LineageOS yet and how it is different from stock Android, so I need to go through complete diff.
> If you want a stretch goal try and de-Google yourself
My goal is to have an open source system that is under my full control and doesn't play tricks on my by sending telemetry or collecting forensic databases. Because now I cannot even connect the phone to Internet and it is not as useful as it could be.