FPOOS calls google?

I installed Net Monitor on my FP2, and besides showing some connections to hosts I know I also see that com.codeaurora.fmrecording, which is part of the FP2 Android system, called cache.google.com (unencrypted connection).
I found the code here and it seems that it has to do with the radio. Anyone knows what this code does and which data are transferred? AFAIK, FP is using parts of CodeAurora but I wouldn’t like that it is connecting around in the internet without my knowledge.

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I don’t know anything about the specific stuff you are talking about, but if you are using FP OS which comes with G%§$e “Services” you are constantly sending all kinds of data to G%§$e.
To avoid that you’ll have to install #software:fp-open and use FLOSS apps from F-Droid.

Bad news, “smart” devices do that all the time these days without your consent. And Google like it. Even Android Marshmallow doesn’t require special permissions to apps for connecting to the internet. I minimise this impact to my privacy with NetGuard (no root required), allowing apps to connect on a per-app basis (whitelisting, even system apps).

Even FP Open calls Google. Total tinfoilization from Google it’s almost impossible over a codebase they maintain. When Android pings the internet for connection check, figure yourself which domain it calls… (dial *#*#4636#*#* in the phone dialer for the answer, but be careful which things you tinkle tinker with!)

Obviously, FP Open (and avoiding Google Mobile Services in general) is a step in the right direction for reducing your digital fingerprints.

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Thanks for that explanation.

Is that a typo or a trumpian slip?

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Which typo? :confused:
Didn’t want to talk about that person in any way, though

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I believe you meant “tinker”.

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Agree with that. Maybe something like Sailfish provides a more advanced tinfoil hat, but still, whenever you surf the web tons of data flows towards Google servers (I once created rules for adblock blocking everything containing the word “google” and I was basically unable to even open most of the web sites).

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Oh, right! I meant tinker, yes. Thank you, :slight_smile:

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@Roboe thank you for this information. I had forgotten to add that I already use FP Open, that’s why such a connection was unexpected for me. And thank you for the NetGuard suggestion - I will see if it does it for me.
Still, it would be interesting to see which information it sends or receives, at the end it is open source (besides some binary blobs, but I guess those are rather “drivers”).

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Well, if it is indeed an

(and the data is not being encrypted otherwise) you should be able to read the traffic by using packet analyser on a computer on the same network. Wireshark comes to mind as FOSS solution to do this, but other options are available…

Not only drivers, though. The list of FP2 blobs is the greatest I’ve ever seen. It includes APKs as well as build scripts and libraries. They are quite invasive, but Fairphone can’t do much about that right now. Bussiness rules, you know.

Qualcomm thingies calls home too, of course. We live in terrible times for privacy.

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Because of switching you will only catch broadcasts if you have the sniffer connected as an ordinary WiFi client or plugged into a port of your broadband router.
I am using one of these Throwing Star LAN Tap - Great Scott Gadgets together with two USB ethernet adapters to capture ALL traffic between a WiFi access point and the internet. It is a very eye opening exercise to see how much unwanted traffic an ordinary (non OpenOS, no firewall etc.) Android phone creates.

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NetGuard is easy to use, but I can only recommend AFwall+ on a rooted phone if you want to be really sure to block all unwanted traffic. While NetGuards VPN architecture can still be bypassed by system apps, AFwall+ uses IPtables - the rule based kernel level packet filter.

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You may start a tcpdump on the router itself. At least on AVM routers that’s easy.

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