nullagent

3 Monate her

nullagent
3 Monate her

Major privacy alert for Android users

mastodon.sdf.org/@jack/1139522…

#Privacy #Android

jack

2025-02-05 16:29:31

You remember #Apple scanning all images on your #mobile device?
If you have an #Android #phone, a new app that doesn't appear in your menu has been automatically and silently installed (or soon will be) by #Google. It is called #AndroidSystemSafetyCore and does exactly the same - scan all images on your device as well as all incoming ones (via messaging). The new spin is that it does so "to protect your #privacy".
You can uninstall this app safely via System -> Apps.
developers.google.com/android/…

Google System APK Transparency
^{Google for Developers}

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SpaceLifeForm

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@jack

Do I have to get a newer phone to get this feature? /s

@jack

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Ra

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@jack hey @GrapheneOS ELI5, is this a prob'? #grapheneos

#grapheneos @jack @GrapheneOS

Dieser Beitrag wurde bearbeitet. (3 Monate her)

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf Ra 3 Monate her

@Ra It's not included in GrapheneOS but the claims aren't accurate anyway.

@Ra

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf GrapheneOS 3 Monate her

@Ra See grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/….

GrapheneOS

2025-02-08 17:17:03

The functionality provided by Google's new Android System SafetyCore app available through the Play Store is covered here:
security.googleblog.com/2024/1…
Neither this app or the Google Messages app using it are part of GrapheneOS and neither will be, but GrapheneOS users can choose to install and use both. Google Messages still works without the new app.

5 new protections on Google Messages to help keep you safe
Posted by Jan Jedrzejowicz, Director of Product, Android and Business Communications; Alberto Pastor Nieto, Sr. Product Manager Google Messa...
^{Google Online Security Blog}

@Ra

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霖リン

Als Antwort auf GrapheneOS 3 Monate her

@GrapheneOS Thanks for clarification

@GrapheneOS

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Noxy 🐾🏳️‍🌈

Als Antwort auf Ra 3 Monate her

@Ra @jack @GrapheneOS nope.

no such trash has shown up on my Pixel 8 Pro running GrapheneOS.

@jack @Ra @GrapheneOS

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf Noxy 🐾🏳️‍🌈 3 Monate her

@noxypaws @Ra It's not included in GrapheneOS but the claims aren't accurate anyway.

@Ra @Noxy 🐾🏳️‍🌈

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf GrapheneOS 3 Monate her

@noxypaws @Ra See grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/….

GrapheneOS

2025-02-08 17:17:03

The functionality provided by Google's new Android System SafetyCore app available through the Play Store is covered here:
security.googleblog.com/2024/1…
Neither this app or the Google Messages app using it are part of GrapheneOS and neither will be, but GrapheneOS users can choose to install and use both. Google Messages still works without the new app.

5 new protections on Google Messages to help keep you safe
Posted by Jan Jedrzejowicz, Director of Product, Android and Business Communications; Alberto Pastor Nieto, Sr. Product Manager Google Messa...
^{Google Online Security Blog}

@Ra @Noxy 🐾🏳️‍🌈

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

This isn't an accurate description of what that Google Mobile Services component does and how it's integrated into the OS.

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@GrapheneOS honestly i can't imagine a group that has more direct knowledge of this while still being directly antagonistic to google that i would want to hear more from about what this is/how this works, if you had the time

@GrapheneOS

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d@nny disc@ mc²

Als Antwort auf jonny (good kind) 3 Monate her

@jonny @GrapheneOS i've been forwarding people to this post to tell them we probably don't need to sound the alarm but would love to have something more specific to point to regarding what this added module does

@GrapheneOS @jonny (good kind)

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf d@nny disc@ mc² 3 Monate her

@hipsterelectron @jonny
Here's a thread on what it is:

grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/…

It's tiring going through endless news cycles of fake privacy and security threats and we don't really have the energy to deal with it more than that.

We're dealing with ongoing attacks on GrapheneOS on X by several different charlatans/scammers and we've been focused on dealing with that rather than writing about something like this. Threw together a quick thread about what it is though.

GrapheneOS

2025-02-08 17:17:03

The functionality provided by Google's new Android System SafetyCore app available through the Play Store is covered here:
security.googleblog.com/2024/1…
Neither this app or the Google Messages app using it are part of GrapheneOS and neither will be, but GrapheneOS users can choose to install and use both. Google Messages still works without the new app.

5 new protections on Google Messages to help keep you safe
Posted by Jan Jedrzejowicz, Director of Product, Android and Business Communications; Alberto Pastor Nieto, Sr. Product Manager Google Messa...
^{Google Online Security Blog}

@d@nny disc@ mc² @jonny (good kind)

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Bitslingers-R-Us

Als Antwort auf GrapheneOS 3 Monate her

"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."

Forgive me if I'm not understanding correctly, but to clarify:

That statement could be misconstrued to suggest that "on-device machine learning models usable by applications to classify content" is different and distinct from "client-side scanning". To clarify, those're two ways of saying the same thing, with one being more specific. Do you really intend to just point out that it doesn't report things to Google or anyone else by default, and/or that the "client side scanning" is a scan-on-request thing, and not a let's-scan-the-whole-device-by-default thing?

What's stopping any app from using the output of the "on-device machine learning models" to report to third parties?

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf Bitslingers-R-Us 3 Monate her

@AnachronistJohn @hipsterelectron @jonny We're pointing out neither this app or Google Messages is using it to report something. It's also not scanning for illegal content. Apps also don't need this app to use local ML models. It only provides certain already made models. Apps have always been able to run local classifiers and can use hardware acceleration for it, which has been there for many years. It's not something which just showed up recently with the recent AI craze.

@d@nny disc@ mc² @Bitslingers-R-Us @jonny (good kind)

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf GrapheneOS 3 Monate her

@AnachronistJohn @hipsterelectron @jonny People are using the term client side scanning to refer to doing content scanning for a service on the client side and reporting to the service. That's not what this is doing. This also doesn't somehow enable that in a way that wasn't already doable by any apps wanting to do it. It's a specific implementation of detecting certain kinds of content used by Google Messages for local warnings and blurring with a dialog to bypass it.

@d@nny disc@ mc² @Bitslingers-R-Us @jonny (good kind)

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jonny (good kind)

Als Antwort auf GrapheneOS 3 Monate her

@GrapheneOS
I've said it before and I'll say it again, really appreciate what you do.

@GrapheneOS

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leo vriska

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this post is misinformation, it's the "sensitive content warnings" feature described in this blog post security.googleblog.com/2024/1…

5 new protections on Google Messages to help keep you safe

Posted by Jan Jedrzejowicz, Director of Product, Android and Business Communications; Alberto Pastor Nieto, Sr. Product Manager Google Messa...

^{Google Online Security Blog}

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leo vriska

Als Antwort auf leo vriska 3 Monate her

the source it links does not back up its claims whatsoever

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nullagent

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

For folks looking for exactly how the Android client side image scanning works or if it's present see the below. 👇🏿

partyon.xyz/@nullagent/1139663…

nullagent (@nullagent@partyon.xyz)

Attached: 1 image The system definitely scans photos for nudity already. Today they claim the feature only runs on certain apps but as we've seen with Apple and various world governments there's a major tendency for these sorts of features to creep …

^PartyOn

teilten dies erneut

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nullagent

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

A few folks are questioning if AI scanning like what Android is doing can be missused. The last time a similar feature was coming to Apple's iOS the media rightly described it as an extremely dangerous warrantless surveillance tool.

Regardless of what Android developers intended this client side scanner to do it will be enlisted by governments of the world to spy on you and break strong encryption.

9to5mac.com/2023/09/01/csam-sc…

#privacy #cybersecurity #apple #android #ai #clientsidescanning

Apple finally admits the CSAM scanning flaw we all pointed out

Almost nine months after Apple confirmed that it had abandoned plans to carry out CSAM scanning, the company has finally...

^{Ben Lovejoy (9to5Mac)}

#Android #privacy #ai #Apple #CyberSecurity #ClientSideScanning

Dieser Beitrag wurde bearbeitet. (3 Monate her)

teilten dies erneut

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nullagent

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her (Empfangen 2 Monate her)

And if you look at the current reporting on Apple and government requests for your private data...

"The encrypted data of millions of Apple users worldwide could reportedly be handed over to the government.

The Home Office has ordered Apple to let it access encrypted data stored in its cloud service, The Washington Post reported."

Demanding access to every last bit you have in any cloud is normal government stuff these days

metro.co.uk/2025/02/08/privacy…

#UKPol #EU #UK #Apple #Privacy #HomeOffice

Privacy fears for millions after government demands access to messages and photos

^{Luke Alsford (Metro)}

#EU #privacy #UK #Apple #HomeOffice #ukpol

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食 Shoku the MN Wolf

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

@jack according to the Google developer page that this claim is based on, that app does not scan pictures, it scans applications to ensure that they have not been compromised with something like a man-in-the-middle attack. The only way this could refer to an image is talking about a file structure image, nothing to do with actual graphics.

@jack

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nullagent

Als Antwort auf 食 Shoku the MN Wolf 3 Monate her

The system definitely scans photos for nudity already. Today they claim the feature only runs on certain apps but as we've seen with Apple and various world governments there's a major tendency for these sorts of features to creep into all of your content whether that's what Google intended in their first release or not.

security.googleblog.com/2024/1…

@TheMNWolf @jack

5 new protections on Google Messages to help keep you safe

Posted by Jan Jedrzejowicz, Director of Product, Android and Business Communications; Alberto Pastor Nieto, Sr. Product Manager Google Messa...

^{Google Online Security Blog}

@jack @食 Shoku the MN Wolf

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Token Sane Person

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

@TheMNWolf @jack So according to this it warns the user about nudity, but does NOT notify Google.

Of course it's possible that Google is lying, but the evidence to support the main claim of surveillance isn't here.

@jack @食 Shoku the MN Wolf

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Emil 🇵🇸

Als Antwort auf Token Sane Person 3 Monate her

@tokensane @TheMNWolf @jack This!

Without any result of the scanning leaving the device I do not see the privacy implications at all.

@jack @Token Sane Person @食 Shoku the MN Wolf

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Paperpad

Als Antwort auf Emil 🇵🇸 3 Monate her

@emil @tokensane @TheMNWolf @jack step 1 in the 2 step plan

@jack @Emil 🇵🇸 @Token Sane Person @食 Shoku the MN Wolf

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nullagent

Als Antwort auf Paperpad 3 Monate her

@paperpad @emil @tokensane @TheMNWolf @jack

Exactly. Right at a time when SMS(RCS) end-to-end security is improving isn't it odd that suddenly there's so much helpful client side AI that wants to read your messages. 🤔

Is -accidently- sending a nude really this big of a problem that ALL android users need this feature turned on by default without over night?

@jack @Emil 🇵🇸 @Paperpad @Token Sane Person @食 Shoku the MN Wolf

Dieser Beitrag wurde bearbeitet. (3 Monate her)

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JustSaying

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

@jack went and checked what it did. Scan every image as stated suppose to be to "blur" obscene" images who decides that? Oh they do it also would destroy evidence if some one is sending unsolicited nudes

@jack

Unbekannter Ursprungsbeitrag

leo vriska

Unbekannter Ursprungsbeitrag 3 Monate her

@nazokiyoubinbou it's disabled by default if you're over 18, specifically a google messages feature, and very explicitly does not send any data to google including whether or not there was a flag

@Nazo

Unbekannter Ursprungsbeitrag

harmone

Unbekannter Ursprungsbeitrag 3 Monate her

@nazokiyoubinbou @leo > And with things as they are going right now, they might not even [have to] notify you.

should be:

And with things as they are going right now, they might not even [be allowed to] notify you.

@leo vriska @Nazo

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Iwillyeah

Als Antwort auf leo vriska 3 Monate her

@leo @nazokiyoubinbou then why is it installing itself? 'we don't do anything, we just LOOK' does not make me any happier to have a Peeping Tom invite themselves into my garden.

I'm not disagreeing with the info you're sharing, and thank you for it, it just feels like it's maybe not the whole story.

@leo vriska @Nazo

Unbekannter Ursprungsbeitrag

Panicz Maciej Godek

Unbekannter Ursprungsbeitrag 3 Monate her

@wildebest
the fact that some company can install an app without your consent means that no, it wasn't ;]
@nullagent @jack

@jack @nullagent @Wildebest

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Ange des ténèbres 🐈

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

I checked and I confirm it was installed on m'y phone.

Now removed 🐱

@jack

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Kaito

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

I'm more concerned about what app allows it to be installed in the first place.

Gaysis mag das.

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Simon Brooke

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

@jack thanks, removed. At the same time I disabled (you can't remove) 'Android System Intelligence', which I presume is

a: what's giving all the annoying 'google assistant' stuff, and
b: what's burning up my battery so fast since the last update.

@jack

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friendica (DFRN) - Link zum Originalbeitrag

Gaysis

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

@nullagent I have been using an Ubuntu phone for a while now, despite it still being very niche and a lot of things not working properly yet. Now, for the first time in a while, I am grateful that I got rid of Android in time and have entirely stopped considering to get it back. We need to invest a lot more into Linux for smartphones, and we need to do it fast.

@nullagent

mögen das

Gaysis hat dies geteilt.

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GrapheneOS

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

See grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/….

GrapheneOS

2025-02-08 17:17:03

The functionality provided by Google's new Android System SafetyCore app available through the Play Store is covered here:
security.googleblog.com/2024/1…
Neither this app or the Google Messages app using it are part of GrapheneOS and neither will be, but GrapheneOS users can choose to install and use both. Google Messages still works without the new app.

5 new protections on Google Messages to help keep you safe
Posted by Jan Jedrzejowicz, Director of Product, Android and Business Communications; Alberto Pastor Nieto, Sr. Product Manager Google Messa...
^{Google Online Security Blog}

Unbekannter Ursprungsbeitrag

GrapheneOS

Unbekannter Ursprungsbeitrag 3 Monate her

@jinx @jack See grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/….

GrapheneOS

2025-02-08 17:17:03

The functionality provided by Google's new Android System SafetyCore app available through the Play Store is covered here:
security.googleblog.com/2024/1…
Neither this app or the Google Messages app using it are part of GrapheneOS and neither will be, but GrapheneOS users can choose to install and use both. Google Messages still works without the new app.

5 new protections on Google Messages to help keep you safe
Posted by Jan Jedrzejowicz, Director of Product, Android and Business Communications; Alberto Pastor Nieto, Sr. Product Manager Google Messa...
^{Google Online Security Blog}

@jack

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Xoa Gray

Als Antwort auf nullagent 3 Monate her

@jack Honestly at this point we should just function under the assumption that any internet connected device, especially smartphones, is going to do something like this. If it's not doing it already.

It also wouldn't shock me if just removing them wasn't enough, as I'm assuming they'll reinstall themselves.

@jack

⇧

nullagent 3 Monate her • •

nullagent
3 Monate her