Hi All
I’m from Australia and as many know our police and government have gone nuts. I’m looking for a phone that I can feel safe that my conversation and information is not being listened too . I only need it for basis stuff but as everyone knows we don’t need the extra stress of wondering if we are going to be arrested if we suggest that we protest about the government or vaccinating our babies. Can someone tell me the best to get for my needs please . Stay safe
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If you’re not vaccinating your babies, you SHOULD BE thrown in gaol! I don’t care - it’s not political, it’s SCIENCE!
If I could I’d snitch on you and have family services take your children away if you had any (unfortunately that’s not on the statute books here)… and I normally hate snitches, but not vaccinating your children is CHILD ABUSE.
Anti-VAXers themselves are a virus and pox on humanity!
They’re NOT civil justice warriors human rights campaigners… they are PRO-DEATH. PRO-VIRUS.
Anti-vaccine is a HIDEOUS first world mental disease.
That’s science…
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Opinion noted. That too is science.
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Also - just to note - our law and order is sometimes “out of control” - but - neither they, nor the government, are snooping and spying and arresting anti-vax nutjobs…
The government is not SPYING on your shitty phone because you’re an antivax knobhead 
Recently some Religious group in Queensland was circulating and dowing BULLSHIT FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) amongst indigenous communities, even as far as the goldfields here in West Australia - and - Australian indigenous people are particularly, and acutely, more vulnerable to Covid 19, than white Europeans.
Note : this false FUD should be a crime, but it’s not, the white religitard who originated this, is doing it with impunity, and not facing charges, I believe he should be, because his bullshit could cost lives!
I have a healthy distrust of government, BUT a healthy trust of science and health professionals :
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“Anti-vax nutjobs”. Interesting fanatical statement implying supposed superiority. Not unlike others of 1932. They too had “science”.
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I have to agree with @daniel.m.tripp:
Not vaccinating your children is child abuse. I won’t be assisting in helping to spread lies and fake news about this topic.
Still, I follow the Australian youtube channel “the juice media”, and, as far as I understand it, there are a lot of things going very wrong in this lovely country.
If I were an Australian journalist covering stories, say, about corruption or the treatment of refugees and indigenous people, I’d be very concerned about privacy and internet security.
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Lol I heard the you guys could be ruthless .
My children vaccinated with everything tested and approved and supported with their choice to have this vaccine .
Anti vaxer implies I wouldnt have any vaccination but i have had everything suggested when I traveled, for my job and rubella when I was tested and it showed i didnt have an immunity .
I listened to MY specialist who said for my condition to not have this vaccine but to wait for novavax .
So please don’t show your ignorance and attack people when you don’t know the whole story .
If you don’t have the info for the ph I asked just go get your booster shot as soon as you can . Thanks
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Well, the problem here is that whatever phone you use what matters is the SIM card. Even if you buy the best privacy oriented phone in the world, they can trace your calls if they want because calls are not encrypted and they can just listen.
So to better fit your needs, I suggest calling only for general talks like “how are you?” etc. and for private talks using something like Signal.
But one thing to note, If you use Android I cannot assure that they don’t trace you by listening to your microphone, tracking your location, watching you through the cameras etc. because Android is closed source and you may not know what happens in the background. I suggest to buy a phone with open-source in mind, like PinePhone, which has hardware killswitches for camera, mic, etc. so you can switch them off and stay peacefully.
Here’s a podcast to start you out.
Graphene OS is a custom ROM for Android.
https://inteltechniques.com/blog/2021/08/27/the-privacy-security-osint-show-episode-232/
Good resources there.
Privacy is a lifestyle choice if you are serious about it.
Gidday from Queensland, I use Signal on my Android phone, it should assist your quest. I also run my phone data via a VPN, plus ESET security. As you stated, things in Australia are really, really bad with the cops, government and health officers going crazy.
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Any GSM traffic is possible to intercept by the providers. They will allow access to this law enforcement authorities if they ask for it based on an a permission by a court. They won’t do this for their pleisure, but they do if you are suspected in a crime.
I guess, this works the same in every law ruled country.
If you look for an option to (at least partially) hide from spying and tracking big corps, Lineage or the already mentioned Graphene OS would be your choice. Of course with a supported device… 
In this case, you also will need to ditch all Google-apps, messenger, etc…
…otherwise you punch a hole in your newly created secured boat…
Hi Kiatsu,
total bs rants from others aside - you are stuck with android but you can limit what is going on. Depending on the phone you have, you can install straight android without services - meaning google services or you can install lineage or other os’s. Like others said, your calls are based on your sim but you can drastically cut down all the other potential tracking by changing your os. The Australian police have been caught in the past doing the same as some US police (uk, russia, etc) by doing tower dumps of all data. If you are calling another person and they do not have the same awareness as you - at least call over one of many apps. As said already, Signal is a good one, so is Telegram - stay away from whatsapp but there are others you can check into.
Ignore the political bs here and I hope you find some answers.
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This used to br a great place for technical talk, without the polical BS… Too bad
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I hear you.
This is a forum for technical questions and discussions, not for political arguments, and yet:
- Privacy and IT-security related topics are valid discussion points.
- It is an illusion to believe that we live in a vacuum. Politics affect the technical community as well as anybody else. Pretending otherwise, is phony and ignores the reality of the world we live in.
- The decision to use FOSS is intrinsically a political one.
- Moderators and the forum’s owner will always ensure that non-technical discussions will not get out of hand and close or even delete topics if discussions wander too far away from FOSS-related content.
I personally don’t believe that every slightly out of place discussion should be censored right away. If you’re not interested in a specific topic, you’re always free to choose another one to read and to engage with. There are a lot of open questions in topics where people seek purely technical advice and would be glad to receive answers from more knowledgable users.
Complaining and mourning for the good ole days isn’t a constructive way to improve this community, either.
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e/foundation OS - Europe based. A privacy OS forked from Android/Google (so you get a deGoogled phone/device). Playstore apps can still be used - details of trackers/privacy issues are provided on the e/ app store. You can download the OS and install it on your phone, but check your phone is compatible. I bought a Samsung phone with e/ pre-installed - very reasonable price but I did have to pay import duty in to the UK - this may be even more problematic for Australia. I have been using e/ for a couple of years, I can certainly recommend it.
I have a pinephone. It is linux based and free of ios or android. So far,
it does just about everything except mms for messages. That is no group messages
or attachments just plain text. Pinephone just came out witha new model too. Oh,
the other down side of my pinephone is the short battery life. I’ve heard that there are
things I can do to help this but so far, I haven’t tried. Might be worth looking at.
Hi Steve
Thank you for the info . I found the ph in Australia but it appears to have google on it . I have contacted the e foundation to see if it can be used in Australia . my search indicates it may not but I will be honest I’m not 100% clear as I’m not tech savvy in this area. Stay safe
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Thank you wadesmart . I have been using telegram but didn’t realise you have to initiate a secret chat for it to be E2E . we will look at signal for our conversations . I looked up linage went to downloads and there was so much stuff there I had no Idea what to look at. Do you know if a pine or light ph would be simpler ? Thank you for the political BS comment . I didn’t realise what this site was for . I thought it was to get info just on the pine ph . Stay safe where ever you are .
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Hi Qiset .Thank you for the info . I’m getting a lot of great info my ph now . I think it may be easier just to get the pine ph and all is already done for me . I’m not tech savvy enough to work out how to do all of these items. Can you do banking on it safely as well .
Thank you Mina .
I was just trying to explain that I need help to pick a ph for these reasons. Life is so hard and sad with out the abuse when you are trying to get info on something you have no technical experience to ask.
Stay safe
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