Where to start? In my case it started here at it’sFOSS. Having moved to ubuntu 16.04 LTS then rescuing an older laptop with Trisquel and loving it. Being acutely aware of data leakage and invasion of privacy on a massive scale; I soon found Tails+Tor running live in RAM from USB stick – so cool – thanks to it’sFOSS. 
Then up popped a newsletter from Abhishek telling of this marvellous de-googled e Foundation phone which was also privacy enabled and didn’t do any nasty stuff with your data. Fantastic – what joy? Just what I need – answer to my prayers – Er, No! 
Jumped in and bought very expensive 273,56€ eS7 refurbished phone at way above market price; figuring it’s okay if the difference is used to install the OS and also help the e.foundation journey – Hey I’m Mr Nice! 
Not sure about just what I have bought? I thought that I was getting a de-googled phone that respects my privacy? With my previous old Samsung S3-mini I can turn most google stuff off fairly easily and kill mobile data, wifi, location, GPS and bluetooth etc in just one swipe and one tap.
Now just as with my wife’s Moto G I spent an hour or more with my S7 ePhone denying permissions to this that and about everything – it seems to be riddled with google like stuff and every feature wants to access all stored information; contacts, files, pictures etc. What on Earth is microG other than google? Why won’t it let me turn off connection to google servers and deny permission for network based location – terrible! 
Was hoping that I could get far away from google and USA Inc. but it looked like I had just spent a lot of money to get into bed with them and I can’t even kill the location of the bed! In my opinion due to issues widely known and reported such as privacy, security and data mining it is best to keep away from anything connected to google or USA Inc. Yes, I know that others will want to give all their data to USA Inc and just ignore the small print when it comes to SocMedia, verification or tap and pay apps – so stay with mainstream – why bother with e? 
Still it was early days but I was very disappointed and confused. MicroG feature No1 Opt-in to Google Services and extend application support – Hey, I want out of everything google! MicroG feature No2; on-/offline location service – Hey, I want to turn off all location services but MicroG will not allow this! Who is in control of my phone? Certainly not me! 
Complaining on the forum resulted in e Foundation advising removal of microG which required some technical skills I didn’t have in using three software programs to download and implement the removal. The e foundation staff or admin advised me to return phone for a refund rather than give any explanation at all. 
gitHub assessment of microG - MicroG is a common alternative to Google Play Services. Many people use this to get rid of Google tracking on their device but many people do not realise that this substantially worsens security by requiring signature spoofing which allows apps to request to bypass signature verification. This leads to yet another Hornet’s Nest or pandoras box of insecurites to consider! (in my humble opinion) 
MicroG say Quote:- Although most microG components are far from complete…Free software users got extended application support, privacy-caring users can reduce or monitor data that is sent to Google. No claims there of being de-googled or privacy enabled and if you ask eFound Admin about microG privacy they will not answer and send you off to find out for yourself.
I returned my eS7 and obtained a refund – now wish I had used credit card refund method and got ALL my money back and obliged them to collect the phone from my house at their expense due to phone OS not being as advertised. (de-googled - according to Gael Duval really means take first step to un-google as much as possible – You What? and be more respectful of user’s data privacy – Why does e Foundation front page not say this?
Please draw your own conclusions abot e foundation and do a little research yourselves. You may find links useful as a start. Please contain your posts here to e foundation’s use of microG as I will post other seperate warnings for discussion.
Hello All,
Hope that some of you have found more relevant information on microG, the false claims made by e foundation etc etc. According to wiki this e foundation, formerly known as eelo was founded by Gaël Duval. The eelo brand was based on Morray Eels which are fish that can hide in the sea – smells fishy from the start?
You may of thought that this Emporer of e would openly answer such security and google claims, questions on e community forum where along with manoj are admin – e support. He only waffles on about e being an Odyssey - his journey home after the fall of… ??? and that microG is the “best bad solution” for apps. It’s still a dependency to Google services - serious backtracking from e false claims on front page! 
Yet when confronted by authoritative concerns like German tech site Golem dot de or InfoSec he disappears just like a Morray Eel only to reappear on …… 
…… WHY??? ANSWER so he cannot be questioned by his own community! Would you buy a phone from this guy? Would you infect your phone with an e flash? Even hidden away on hackernoon web site someone comments on the install and asks why he is responding here rather than on his own community – yes, indeed you may ask but you will get no answers from Gaël Duval.
Have you found where the Emperor Morray Eel slithers and hides away to attack his critics?
Please post here when you do.
ps. For those not familiar with Danish Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes please visit wiki or ……
https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html
just substitute new clothes with privacy or security!