I have a Xiaomi phone. They already know everything about me.
Who needs it?
Submitted 5 weeks ago by Godric@lemmy.world to [deleted]
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4f19037b-1376-41e3-9872-96b1101a5a01.jpeg
Comments
NONE_dc@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
My gf had xiaomi once. Had the visit the doctors a lot before it cleared up.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Haha this joke is funny because foreigners have funny words and sound stupid
Corn@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
I mean I’d rather China know everything about me than America, since as an American citizen, America is a much bigger threat.
But lets be honest, whether I get an iphone, samsung, or huawei, both countries are going to have all my data.
NONE_dc@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Facts
nope@jlai.lu 5 weeks ago
You could change ROM. Then the software wouldn’t spy on you anymore
NONE_dc@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I could, but how phones work with respect to PCs has always seemed very complicated to me and I don’t want to screw up my phone.
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Tell me, did I have a fever dream about this or does Xiaomi actually have ads in their settings and system apps?
NONE_dc@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It isn’t a dream, more like a nightmare.
I mean, they can be disabled, but it is pain in the ass to do so.
Zaphod@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
Not that I’ve seen. The only annoying thing is this weird Wallpaper Carousel they keep wanting me to use
modifier@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Can I just brag for a moment? I feel like I am among my people, and there is a little lesson at the end.
to calibrate: White dude in my 40s, nerdy by nature but non-technical in my education/employment
Twitter - signed up in the early 2000s when it first came out, pretty much stopped using by 2011
Facebook - signed up in the early 2000s when it first got big, pretty much stopped using by 2011, deleted my abandoned account last year
Google +, I’m sure I never signed up, but I had an account that I never used. Google being google negated me ever having to contemplate whether or not I would ever use it
Snapchat - never used
TikTok - never used
Instagram - never used
Are there others? I don’t know.
Reddit was the only “social media” I ever used for a sustained period of time and the only one where I felt part of any sort of community. I left reddit in June of 2023 when I made this account and I’ve never been back.
So, in many ways, I am successfully resisting/avoiding “the algorithm” and I am a good example of high media literacy with good resistance to manipulation by social media.
But, just to emphasize why community itself is so valuable and worthy of exploitation by techbros, here are life changes I’ve made since joining Lemmy, even without any algorithms or dark patterns. Not that Lemmy is strictly causal in all of these, but the relationship is there:
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I am now making my way through TNG, and am generally more Trek-literate
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Linux, natch
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Cancelled all streaming services (honestly most ‘subscription services’) in favor of a NAS running Plex (for now, will probably move to Jellyfin), Calibre, AudioBookshelf, Immich, Joplin, NextCloud, etc, etc, etc
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Now using Steam Deck as my daily driver for gaming
In other words, though I prize my independent thinking and avoidance of Big Cloud, and though I think all of these are positive changes representing a positive influence, I am clearly impressionable. And so are you.
Justdaveisfine@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
It seems like you got your taste of social media, decided you were essentially done with it and moved on.
I am just about in the same boat, I feel social media doesn’t offer me much that I value, and so I have been looking elsewhere.
Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
My only use for social media is finding a $30 push mower or used TVs on marketplace.
Other than that, the content around most social media sites is mostly a slurry of bullshit mixed with Ai, so… waste of time, mostly.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
I never even signed up for Twitter.
The modern internet makes me want to live in a cave and grow moss.
modifier@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
That isn’t an accident.
There is this insight that I remember reading about internet scams, that they are poor quality with lots of misspelling by design. According to what I’ve read, this acts as a useful filter: If you’re smart enough to pick up on things like misspellings, we don’t want to waste our time scamming you.
That is now essentially the entire ethos of the modern internet.
slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 5 weeks ago
I was once working for a company that wanted to post pictures online. They had the option to opt out, so there is no picture or a blurr or whatever. I was the only one who had no picture and they didn’t like that, they didn’t ecpect that anyone would check that mark. They pressured me to have that picture there. I didn’t even really care tbh, i just checked it because i could. They told me that i have puctures online anyway and it doesn’t matter. I told them that if they find a single picture of me online, they could use that. I have no social media, no pictures online and nothing. They were quite disappointed
GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
“Now, you know it’s up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Or… well, like Brian, for example, has thirty seven pieces of flair, okay. And a terrific smile.”
Ketchup@reddthat.com 5 weeks ago
Wow, I just read my own use bio. Exactly down to the T. Except still on OSX and I am using infuse instead of plex jelly fin. But all other use patterns are identical.
I’d say. I never posted on reddit though. Just a lurker. On lemmy, I post :)
chunes@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Got you beat. I’ve never used any social media except for reddit (if that counts). I also have never used a smart phone.
modifier@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Many props to you. I feel like reddit doesn’t count as social media, but I couldn’t energetically defend that position. They are certainly engaging in social media tech bro behavior, so the distinction probably doesn’t matter at this point, but it felt different than social media before it went to shit. Now, obviously when it “went to shit” is a point in time that is highly relative to the observer, but always sometime after the observer joined, which is an artifact of enshittification.
vodka@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
twitter early 2000s
2006 counts as early 2000s and not mid 2000s?
modifier@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
There is a lot of heated debate about this. They’re saying due to COVID, that “early” can mean anything from 0-8 now, which obviously I don’t understand but what can you do? They are saying it.
I must assume from your helpful correction that 2006 is the actual year twitter came out but even then I literally cannot be arsed to look that up on purpose because, I cannot stress this enough, I very much do not care about social media, as per my comment. So if you say 2006, that is what we’re going with.
Maxxie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
Steam has an algorithm feeding you game suggestions
modifier@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
yeah and I gobble that shit up like candy.
I am not immune, and I don’t find all algorithms predatory - for example, I log on knowing that steam is selling me a product, but I am not the product. I just said in many ways I am successfully avoiding “the algorithm”, though the scare quotes immediately following a run down of social media networks was meant to indicate a specific type of algorithm that is meant to induce engagement or enragement (both are profitable) and change my behavior because I am the product.
I still have plenty of time for algorithms that serve me up games for that crucial 15% of my library that I bought but haven’t played yet.
One thing at a time Maxxie.
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FourWaveforms@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
I already get the same thing from the YouTube app which won’t shut the fuck up about Shorts
teamevil@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Uninstalling that app was a game changer…so much better on browser with unblock origin running.
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Fr if something works in browser I will never use the app.
Some exceptions for things which require better encryption.
HollowNaught@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Uuuuuse a foss youtube frontend wooooooo like freetube woooooooooo…
(Insert other ghostly noises)
FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
YouTube shorts are fantastic. You have to be into misogyny though.
rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
My shorts are just cats and dogs acting silly and the rare REPO clip…
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I sign out to view shorts, clear site data, then manually search a couple of “seed” videos I like to get the algorithm picking out new stuff.
It won’t even show you anything unless you have some viewing history. It’s just straight up broken for people who have had accounts for many years.
propaganja@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Check out revanced.app. You’re welcome.
FourWaveforms@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Neato
andros_rex@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I don’t get Shorts. I can’t watch them on my PlayStation, if I click on one on the phone app it’ll disconnect the PlayStation and force me to watch it on my phone.
If you try to upload a video that is less than a minute long, it forces you to do Shorts.
I also don’t get why opening up a community thread or something pauses the video I’m watching on the PlayStation.
I’ve also noticed lately that when I connect the phone app with the PlayStation, about 30% of the time, the video will play extremely slow without sound. I have to close and reboot the YouTube app on the PlayStation to watch anything afterwards.
FourWaveforms@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Sounds like a bunch of shit if you ask me!
alekwithak@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
More like Buys the same data from Meta but okay.
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
And if I don’t use facebook?
alekwithak@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Then they still have a profile on you.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
REDACTED@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
It’s kinda dissapointing that the world is going from “we should care about our data or privacy” to “why/what’s the point”.
Giving up on this also means privacy focused software is going to become more and more “not worth the effort” for devs.
Huge win for everyone who wants to manipulate you
Cantaloupe877@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
They gonna buy my data anyways so…
drathvedro@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
If you even have a phone then Google, the phone’s manufacturer, your ISP, the NSA and their respective governments already know everything about you.
VitabytesDev@feddit.nl 5 weeks ago
But if China has your data, then it is bad. If the U.S government has your data then it’s fine, right?
/s
Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
You can very well fragment what each one knows, and keep certain ones from knowing more.
Google knows I use Android, but the phone I’m holding is running a custom rom without gapps on a private dns server I run over a private vpn that I host on the other side of the Earth.
But, I admit, I’m not as thorough as I should be, one login and a few comments without paying absolute attention to a VPN connection and the veil is pierced.
I could start over, only come here over layers upon layers of obfuscation, but I’m no serial killer, so, meh. At least they don’t know what I’m doing all the time, 24/7, 365…
drathvedro@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
It’s not just gapps, though. Search, gtags/adsense, youtube, maps, etc are all so pervasive that google effectively controls the internet. You can try run ublock and a plethora of privacy addons, but those are only effective as long as Google is playing nice. Others, like Yandex, are not, and they defeat all those with ease.
Though I’d say running custom rom is an exception from the rule, along with people running with dumb or even no phone, but those are not but a blip on a big picture.
comfy@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
My ISP doesn’t even know I’m downloading communism 🏴☠️
Only one of those entities could realistically deduce I’m making this post, and there’s no reason for them to care. Not that I’m particularly relevant to Western governments anyway. ¡Hola!
anas@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Never used TikTok, but I’m not going to pretend that China (and pretty much every other government if it wants it) has access to my data, there isn’t much I can do about it at this point.
Binturong@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Heh, nice. Now do American corporations.
Jankatarch@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Haha I never downloaded chrome so now google spies on me only through maps, youtube, email, my friends’ email, and android. Also chromebooks if I am a highschooler.
Godric@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Your turn, Captain Noposts!
Dasus@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
No wörries I still had a Huawei for several years and still use the Huawei health app.
So I’m pretty sure China could — if they had any interest in — know literally my very heartbeat.
epicstove@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Health apps scare me. Idfc where it’s from.
nun@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Like on a meta level maybe, but why do you think China or anyone else cares about something like your heart rate or workout habits?
Dasus@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I’m ideologically against, but personally, I’m not bothered. Like I do not believe in the bullshit “nothing to hide nothing to fear” rhetoric, I’m very much against it.
But like personally, I’m not really bothered if they know when I have a wank, tbh.
I am worried with what they do with all the data they have, I just don’t think anyone is interested in me personally and if they were, I’d kinda take it as a compliment tbh.
Godric@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
🤢
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
China a perfect communist motherland that doesn’t need anyones secrets!
abbadon420@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Yes, I also live China and their all-seeing government.
thal3s@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Unpopular Opinion: You folks are missing out.
TikTok is home to some of the most hardcore leftists you’ve ever seen and has content about how to fix our current fascism problem that’ll get you banned on Meta instantly.
It’s also a great to see what real people are taking about since they’re walking down the street or in their cars speaking as a genuine human.
Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
No thanks. Lemmy isn’t great by any means but social media is poison and a direct cause of the current state of affairs
mriormro@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Lol, yeah no thanks. Tiktok isn’t reality.
xx3rawr@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
I already have Mastodon for that which is almost entirely made up of transfem devs
Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 5 weeks ago
Diamonds in a sea of diarrhea.
MajesticElevator@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
Better to get your data spied on by China than by the USA who might share it with your home country 👀
culprit@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
TikTokTeleMessage
cm0002@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
US tiktok data has been hosted by Oracle on their own servers on US soil for several years now, China doesn’t have access to it. Also they can and do just buy your user data from US companies. If you don’t like Tiktok then you don’t have to use it, but fear of Chinese surveillance is a stupid reason to avoid the app.
dephyre@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Big brain move, let’s make them buy our data from someone else. 🙌
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
They still know your name, phone number, relationships, and every piece of info ever supplied to or from you in a text message going back as far as it is recorded on every phone which has ever downloaded the app. Your mother, your brother, your sister, your ex.
It’s a cruel and terrible world for those who aren’t ignorant.
Zealousideal_Fox_900@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
tankies devestated
nun@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
haha yeah that’s stopping them
straightjorkin@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
More like “keep your nazis”. The place is fucking infested and every report comes back with “no violation” for literal double lightning bolts and posting that one anti-semetic wojak.
PillowTalk420@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I like some of the content, but will not download the app either. I mostly just want to talk to other people anyway. The funny pictures and videos are just a bonus.
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 5 weeks ago
I wonder what the proportional value is of all the actionable data that’s ever been extracted from date lakes versus the cost of gathering it all. Probably not even as good as people think given the difficulty of evaluating that as a metric.
mo_lave@reddthat.com 5 weeks ago
Teleporno: Tell me where is Godric? For I much desire to know his secrets.
Sneptaur@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
China doesn’t need TikTok to get your data. They can just buy it from data brokers, lol.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
Or sell you ads AND not have to pay for it, while also influencing us algorithmically directly. If that’s even the case, that is, which, who even fucking knows anymore. And I’m not even sure we needed tiktok to be pissed at wrongdoings everywhere, including Chinese government wrongdoings. Honestly, tiktok’s algorithm is better than basically any other algorithmic app right now, save for the fact that it obviously is getting very up to date information through my phone somehow.