Google’s ‘Secret’ Update Scans All Your Photos
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Yep. I'm furious at Mozilla right now. But when the Firefox Phone was in development, they were one of the web's heroes.
it says its only for LLM? as long as they dont try to expand the "privacy" in any case i download alternatives to the browsers anyways.
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I've looked into it.l briefly. Did you have any issues switching? I'm concerned about how some apps I need would function.
I switched from a Samsung to a Pixel a couple years ago. I instantly installed GrapheneOS and have loved it ever since. It generally works perfectly normally with the huge background benefit of security and privacy. The only issues I have had is one of my banking apps doesn't work (but the others work fine) and lack of RCS (but I'm sure it's coming).
In short, highly highly recommend. I will be sticking with GOS for the long term! -
I've got a Pixel 8 Pro and I'm currently using the stock OS. Anything in particular that you miss with Graphene OS?
I switched from a Samsung to a Pixel a couple years ago. I instantly installed GrapheneOS and have loved it ever since. It generally works perfectly normally with the huge background benefit of security and privacy. The only issues I have had is one of my banking apps doesn’t work (but the others work fine) and lack of RCS (but I’m sure it’s coming). In short, highly highly recommend. I will be sticking with GOS for the long term!
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Per one tech forum this week: “Google has quietly installed an app on all Android devices called ‘Android System SafetyCore’. It claims to be a ‘security’ application, but whilst running in the background, it collects call logs, contacts, location, your microphone, and much more making this application ‘spyware’ and a HUGE privacy concern. It is strongly advised to uninstall this program if you can. To do this, navigate to 'Settings’ > 'Apps’, then delete the application.”
More information:
It's been rolling out to Android 9+ users since November 2024 as a high priority update. Some users are reporting it installs when on battery and off wifi, unlike most apps.App description on Play store:
SafetyCore is a Google system service for Android 9+ devices. It provides the underlying technology for features like the upcoming Sensitive Content Warnings feature in Google Messages that helps users protect themselves when receiving potentially unwanted content. While SafetyCore started rolling out last year, the Sensitive Content Warnings feature in Google Messages is a separate, optional feature and will begin its gradual rollout in 2025. The processing for the Sensitive Content Warnings feature is done on-device and all of the images or specific results and warnings are private to the user.Description by google
Sensitive Content Warnings is an optional feature that blurs images that may contain nudity before viewing, and then prompts with a “speed bump” that contains help-finding resources and options, including to view the content. When the feature is enabled, and an image that may contain nudity is about to be sent or forwarded, it also provides a speed bump to remind users of the risks of sending nude imagery and preventing accidental shares. - https://9to5google.com/android-safetycore-app-what-is-it/So looks like something that sends pictures from your messages (at least initially) to Google for an AI to check whether they're "sensitive". The app is 44mb, so too small to contain a useful ai and I don't think this could happen on-phone, so it must require sending your on-phone data to Google?
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Per one tech forum this week: “Google has quietly installed an app on all Android devices called ‘Android System SafetyCore’. It claims to be a ‘security’ application, but whilst running in the background, it collects call logs, contacts, location, your microphone, and much more making this application ‘spyware’ and a HUGE privacy concern. It is strongly advised to uninstall this program if you can. To do this, navigate to 'Settings’ > 'Apps’, then delete the application.”
The countdown to Android's slow and painful death is already ticking for a while.
It has become over-engineered and no longer appealing from a developer's viewpoint.
I still write code for Android because my customers need it - will be needing for a while - but I've stopped writng code for Apple's i-things and I research alternatives for Android. Rolling my own environment with FOSS components on top of Raspbian looks feasible already. On robots and automation, I already use it.
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They were not “suspected” they had to be matches to actual CSAM.
And after that a reduced quality copy was shown to an actual human, not an AI like in Googles case.
So the false positive would slightly inconvenience a human checker for 15 seconds, not get you Swatted or your account closed
Yeah so here's the next problem - downscaling attacks exists against those algorithms too.
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Thanks for bringing this up, first I've heard of it. Not present on my GrapheneOS pixel, present on stock.
I suppose I should encourage pixel owners to switch from stock to graphene, I know which decide I rather spend time using. GrapheneOS one of course.
I'm traumatized by trying to use banking apps on lineage.. don't think I'll risk it until I get a backup phone
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Per one tech forum this week: “Google has quietly installed an app on all Android devices called ‘Android System SafetyCore’. It claims to be a ‘security’ application, but whilst running in the background, it collects call logs, contacts, location, your microphone, and much more making this application ‘spyware’ and a HUGE privacy concern. It is strongly advised to uninstall this program if you can. To do this, navigate to 'Settings’ > 'Apps’, then delete the application.”
laughs in GrapheneOS
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Per one tech forum this week: “Google has quietly installed an app on all Android devices called ‘Android System SafetyCore’. It claims to be a ‘security’ application, but whilst running in the background, it collects call logs, contacts, location, your microphone, and much more making this application ‘spyware’ and a HUGE privacy concern. It is strongly advised to uninstall this program if you can. To do this, navigate to 'Settings’ > 'Apps’, then delete the application.”
Per one tech forum this week
Stop spreading misinformation.
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Per one tech forum this week
Stop spreading misinformation.
And what exactly does that have to do with GrapheneOS?
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Even with the latest update from Samsung, I am not seeing this app. My OnePlus did get it with the February update and I had to remove it.
I see it on my S25 Ultra.
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Per one tech forum this week
Stop spreading misinformation.
So is this really just a local AI model? Or is it something bigger? My S25 Ultra has the app but it hasn't used any battery or data.
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There are two solutions for that. One is Waydroid, which is basically what you're describing. Another is android_translation_layer, which is closer to WINE in that it translates API calls to more native Linux ones, although that project is still in the alpha stages.
I know about WayDroid, but never heard of ATL.
So yeah, while we have the fundamentals, we still don't have an OS that's stable enough as a daily driver on phones.
And this isn't a Linux issue. It's mostly because of proprietary drivers. GrapheneOS already has the issue that it only works on Pixel phones.
I can imagine, bringing a Linux only mobile OS to life is even harder. I wish android phones were designed in a way, that there is a driver layer and an OS layer, with standerdized APIs to simply swap the OS layer for any unix-like system.
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Thanks. Just uninstalled. What a cunts
Do we have any proof of it doing anything bad?
Taking Google's description of what it is it seems like a good thing. Of course we should absolutely assume Google is lying and it actually does something nefarious, but we should get some proof before picking up the pitchforks.
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Jokes on you my phone is so old it hasn't updated in 4 years
Who would have thought the best security practice would turn out to be having devices too old to be updated with spyware? No jokes
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And what exactly does that have to do with GrapheneOS?
Please, read the links. They are the security and privacy experts when it comes to Android. That's their explanation of what this Android System SafetyCore actually is.
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Do we have any proof of it doing anything bad?
Taking Google's description of what it is it seems like a good thing. Of course we should absolutely assume Google is lying and it actually does something nefarious, but we should get some proof before picking up the pitchforks.
Google is always 100% lying.
There are too many instances to list and I'm not spending 5 hours collecting examples for you.
They removed don't be evil long time ago -
Per one tech forum this week
Stop spreading misinformation.
To quote the most salient post
The app doesn't provide client-side scanning used to report things to Google or anyone else. It provides on-device machine learning models usable by applications to classify content as being spam, scams, malware, etc. This allows apps to check content locally without sharing it with a service and mark it with warnings for users.
Which is a sorely needed feature to tackle problems like SMS scams
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My system is set to auto update, and yet it never automatically updates any app. Drives me fucking crazy.
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Google is always 100% lying.
There are too many instances to list and I'm not spending 5 hours collecting examples for you.
They removed don't be evil long time agoWhy check any sources first when you can just blindly rage and assume the worst?
