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Comment by fsflover

9 hours ago

And force them into the Google surveillance, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26639261

Collecting telemetry is not the same thing as surveillance. Using such vocabulary to describe what a phone does is both misleading and manipulating, playing into the angle of scaremongering people who do not want to be survived.

  • It really doesn't matter. When you power on an android smartphone with google play installed for the first time you are presented with a gate screen that asks you to consent to google's privacy policy. You can't use the phone without accepting. (for example https://forum.fairphone.com/t/finalising-the-setup-wizard-wi...)

    Using smartphones with such a setup should not become required by a European government on a fundamental level.

  • So please tell us what the difference is.

    • With surveillance a person gets surveilled with telemetry a person doesn't. Telemetry is collecting information about the operation of the device. The goal of telemetry is to understand how the device is operating where with surveillance it is about seeing what a person is doing.

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  • Are you a lobbyist for Google, Apple, Meta, or the adtech industry? Because if you aren't, you are parroting their bullshit.

    • Save your keystrokes. I think I've seen that nickname express anti-consumer, pro-corporate, freedom-violating viewpoints in dozens of different threads on a pretty wide variety of topics at this point. Not once have I seen them take the pro-consumer stance.

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    • I am not a lobbyist, but I do recognize the great value the adtech industry provides to society and I am familiar with the common arguments and strategies people try and use to undermine it and sow distrust.