So my roommate has informed me that Android and Motorola donate to Republicans more than Democrats whereas Apple does not, claiming this as a reason that the iPhone is better than an Android phone. While I could find statistics confirming the fact about Motorola, I don’t even know what they were referring to when they mentioned Android and I tried looking for “Android” and “Android Foundation” and came up with nothing. If they’re referring to the fact that Android, while it’s an open sourced project, is maintained by Google, I’m already aware of that and would like to de-google my phone as much as possible (note: my phone is a Motorola Moto G Power (2022)). I however couldn’t find any stats to support the Apple claim and my roommate has yet to provide me with any sources.
In any case, for my next phone, I’d like to move to a more privacy-focused phone. I’ve heard about the Fairphone, but re this comment, I’m slightly dissuaded from getting one when it comes to the US. I got a Motorola phone in following the advice of this post regarding the safety of the hardware used, but I might want to switch off of the phone when it comes time to upgrade to a new one down the line.
I’m not sure what to go with, so feel free to give me tips on that. Also I’ve wanted to install an alternative OS on my phone but all the ones I’ve seen aren’t compatible with my phone at the moment.
So my roommate has informed me that Android and Motorola donate to Republicans more than Democrats whereas Apple does not, claiming this as a reason that the iPhone is better than an Android phone.
So I’m not sure from where your roommate is getting their information, but according to Open Secrets, Alphabet, Inc. (parent company of Google) donated $27M to Democrats during the 2020 cycle, compared to $1.4M to Republicans. The 2022 cycle is shaping up to be the same. I haven’t been able to find much information on Motorola Mobility or its parent company Lenovo.
This is apparently their source.
Okay, that makes a certain amount of sense then. All of the companies and products owned by Alphabet are lumped under “Google”, which includes Android, and it’s saying that between 2018 and 2022 they’ve donated just shy of $780K to political action committees (PACs) that in turn give money to anti-trans politicians. According to Open Secrets, which by the way is where Pay Back Pride gets its data by way of Follow the Money, Alphabet sent $3.8M to Republicans during that period, so that figure represents 20% of their total Republican spend during that 4 year period.
However, Google Android is different from the Android Open Source Project, which is where mobile OSes like GrapheneOS, LineageOS, and /e/OS (and Google Android) fork from, so saying that iPhone is inherently better than Android as a whole in this particular area is slightly disingenuous.
All of that said, I think it’s very important to vote with your wallet and if a company does or supports something you disagree with, it’s entirely reasonable to look for alternatives. From my perspective, and I want to emphasize that I am not defending Google sending money to GOP PACs that promote anti-trans bigotry, Google is not directly lobbying for anti-trans bills and their spend on the PACs that do is paltry compared to others. Do with this information what you will.
e-waste is unethical, try keeping your phone if you can. keep an eye out for LineageOS and see if they end up making a port for your device. if your plan is to de-google your life, stock android can also do that just fine for you. iirc, there are no google services on stock android.
i stand by my comments about fairphone. there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. if you are dead-set on a new device, look into getting a used/refurbished pixel phone and installing GrapheneOS. you won’t find a more private/secure phone mobile system, it’s vouched for by Edward fuckin Snowden. try get one of the newer models (6 or 7 series) because you’ll get longer software support life.
the fairphone still isn’t a bad option if you want the hardware to be as ethical as you can realistically manage, fairphone uses several fairtrade gold sourced parts, has open schematics and is almost fully repairable. just bear in mind that it is not designed to last on the software side and fairphone’s priority is straying towards profit; it’s the ‘lesser of two evils’ in my mind, i guess.
keep an eye out for LineageOS and see if they end up making a port for your device
I know that playing with experimental OS’s is like playing with fire, but would there happen to be a way to help contribute to that?
that’s beyond my ballpark, i’m not a software guy so i only ever contribute money. this page is on their website, maybe give it a look and see if anything seems doable to you.
Your friend is… Misguided at best. And, no phone on the market outside of the Fairphone, or any Linux based phone is really going to be privacy capable.
If your already on the Internet, I’d stop caring about privacy other than enough so your actual important data isn’t stolen. Beyond that, nobody on the internet has a private life anymore.
It’s part of the reason I’m going Apple soon, at least Apple hasn’t had any major privacy data leaks/breaches to where my data is at risk. Other companies have in the Android space.
Apple had some pretty major iCloud leaks a few years ago. I don’t trust Apple any more than I trust anyone else. Every cloud service has the same problem across Apple and Android.
With Apple being one of the top names in anti-right-to-repair, I can’t see myself buying another one of their products.
At least with an Android phone it’s a lot easier to run custom apps or even OS firmware to control your data better. Having everything on my phone backed up to my own NAS is great.
Are you referring to “the fappening”? Because if I’m not mistaken, that was all social engineering and not really Apple’s fault. Their iCloud private relay leaked the user’s ip address a few year ago, that was their bad.
If it’s not one of those two, can you tell me what you were referencing so I can find out about it? Thanks!
I don’t know any details on how data was leaked (Apparently “the fappening” was 8 years ago now, so I’m sure those issues are fixed). I’m probably a little biased against Apple, but I think this applies to any cloud service, and I’m just using iCloud as an example:
It may have been social engineering , but I don’t think the specific attack matters much. There are millions of iCloud uses (including a lot of high profile individuals), and that makes the whole system a target. Only the most targeted of attacks would bother trying to attack someone’s home NAS.This is true. I self-host, so I see where you are coming from.
I am very satisfied with my Fairphone 3. I still get monthly security updates. I can easily unlock the bootloader and install any alternative ROM I desire. I can repair any broken part without having to unglue something. But it also seems to be the most robust phone I have used in years. There’s a reason a used Fairphone is as expensive as a new one.
If you really want to go all-in on privacy a Pinephone or Librem 5 would be options but they have their own bag of problems. They are better suited for tinkering.
And regarding the comment on firmware updates of the parts themselves, that is a general computing problem that seems to be the worst with single board computers like smartphones. The solution would be parts with support for open firmware but they are almost impossible to find. I think Fairphone is going a good middle ground. I don’t expect there to be any phone where this is better.
Unfortunately the Fairphone isn’t available for sale in a lot of countries yet.
The post you noted is a decent resource.
The best phone is usually the one you already have. I have used that guide in the past but now just stick to the degoogling of my devices using adb directly.
There are so many things to consider when you go down the rabbit hole… Is the company ethical? How can you balance security, privacy, and usability in a way that doesn’t cause too much friction?
At least with Motorola it isn’t loaded with too much bloatware and the price isn’t astronomical.
At least with Motorola it isn’t loaded with too much bloatware and the price isn’t astronomical.
Yeah and that was another thing that drew me to the phone
If who a company donates to bugs you, buy used or refurbished. It’s good for the environment. If it’s an unlocked phone, flash lineageos, and they can’t mine your data.
End of the story: you’re not going to find an ethical phone company. It’s too competitive a field for ethics to get in the way.
you’re not going to find an ethical phone company
That’s fair, although without referencing a certain scene from The Good Place (because another commenter already did), I want to try to make the most ethical choices I can in this fucked up world.
My favourite smartphone was a Blackberry Bold. Now I’m stuck with whichever is the lesser of the two evils.
Also my favourite smartphone ever. I made the move to Android quite early and have never enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed my Blackberry Bold.
Like the comment you linked to, I only know people who have installed GrapheneOS onto a Pixel phone, and they’ve been pretty happy with that. It would be great to see a flagship phone that isn’t greenwashed, but for now I also settle for buying used phones exclusively. Usually one model behind or at least 6 months post-release, which has worked really well for me with the Pixel line, at least in my area. When I’m done with them I give them to family or resell them, trying to stretch out the e-waste cost as much as possible.
I would love to use a Pixel but they are a tad expensive, at least at market. Where would you suggest getting a used phone?
trying to stretch out the e-waste cost as much as possible
Yeah, I’ve done this too, hence why my upgrade went from an iPhone 6S that was gifted to me from a family friend to an iPhone XS that I was able to buy myself with work funds and trading in the old phone.
Yeah, they definitely can be pricey. I usually watch FB Marketplace for a while before finding a decent deal. How much I’m willing to spend is really subjective to how much income I have at that moment and how new the phone is. My last couple of phones were from folks who received it as a work phone and then kept it after they were upgraded. The Pixel a# (ex. a6, a7) series is also a little cheaper, and usually the specs are still comparable.
I’ve not heard that one before! What an odd reason for choosing an iPhone!
I didn’t know this, I’m not from US. Why companies donate money to politics parties?
Companies tend to donate to political candidates so that those candidates, upon being elected, propose and vote in legislation that benefits those companies or vote out legislation that doesn’t (e.g. oil companies and climate change policies)
Edit: a detail that was implied but should be noted
Why it’s allowed by the gov?
See Citizens United v FEC. Basically, it was ruled that corporate lobbying counts as free speech under the 1st Amendment.
Citizens United v FEC thanks, now I know something I didn’t know before
Honestly, if a fairphone had competitive hardware specs I’d get one as my next phone. I just can’t go back to a 60hz screen and mediocre cameras.
wow!