Lithuania tells its citizens to throw Xiaomi mobile devices in the bin Lithuania's National Cyber Security Centre has told its citizens to get rid of Xiaomi-made mobile devices amid fears that the Chinese company could remotely enable censorship tools. In an audit it published yesterday [PDF] the agency called out Xiaomi's Mi 10T 5G phone handset firmware for being able to censor terms such as " …
"In Fascism, the corporations control the govt"
Incorrect. Fascism is tricky to define, but an easy method to start is to look at those countries which undoubtedly represented it: Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. In each case, corporations did hold more power than in Communist countries, as they continued to exist. They did not control the government. The government got its power through its own force and it used that force to control the nation as it wished, including limiting, changing, or destroying corporations if they didn't do what the government wanted. You have demonstrated a lack of knowledge of what Fascism is, and therefore the rest of your comments do not need further rebuttal.
Fascist Italy was the closest thing to a true corporatist state. Germany's Nazism had populist roots but relied on corporate money and eventually became more corporatist after the Nazis took power. The Nazis had a lot to offer corporations -- plenty of work through rearmament, a disciplined workforce (you got to work where you were told, no unions or anything socialist looking like that).
A lot of effort has gone into trying to conflate Fascism with Communism over the years, starting mostly in the 1980s. The process had to wait till the 1980s because you had to start losing older people -- Depression era, WW1 and WW2 veterans -- because they'd laugh at the suggestion that the two were the same. So far I've found that people who swallowed that line find it very difficult to get their heads around the notion that from a Nazi perspective Bolsheism was a Jewish ideology, part of the Zionist plot to take over the world.
I dispute that, Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd, collates the experiences of a range of foreigners in Germany through the 30s and 40s. Many of them recount asking what the difference was between Fascism and Communism and not getting a satisfactory answer. So conflation of the two didn't start in the '80s.
Of course they're different, in the sense that one of the things most attempts to define fascism can agree upon is that, if you're going to be fascist, you have to dislike communism. In execution, they're also different--one allows private corporations, one doesn't. In many other respects, they're very similar in their authoritarian governing methods. These differences are clear, but they don't change the fact that both are very bad, nor do they change the fact that defining fascism as corporate control is completely wrong. Corporate-controlled states are possible, undesirable, and different from fascist ones.
The only robust distinction I've ever been able to find between Fascism and Socialism is that if they're honest or explicit about their power&social structure then they're fascist, if they're dishonest or implicit then they're socialist.
Otherwise, both are identical : necessarily totalitarian states with the power restricted wholly to an elite/cadre.
Socialism could _theoretically_ exist in the form that the ingenuous insist it always _must_, but only so long as critical preconditions exist. These include: modification of human DNA and/or cloning, in order to achieve an absolute homogeneity of citizens and of a wholly selfless nature and precisely zero inclination among anyone towards parasitism or even social loafing: costless teleportation of resources ; and long-range telepathy to enable immediate, whole-of-country, and frictionless adjustment and coordination of resourcing.
In the absence of at least these preconditions, socialism and fascism differ only in their public honesty.
Cite one single similar instance of such an egregious breach of freedom of speech perpetrated by an EU, UK, Japanese, or US firm to back up your baseless accusation. Don't just spout contrarian bullshit you anonymous coward.
Thank you to Lithuania and their contribution to international freedom of speech.
The claim was "Cite one single similar instance of such an egregious breach of freedom of speech perpetrated by an EU, UK, Japanese, or US firm to back up your baseless accusation. "
Here is a story about Apple, an American company, censoring freedom of speech at the behest of an authoritarian government.
Does it really matter if it is only in China or do we only give a shit when it affects us?
"Here is a story about Apple, an American company, censoring freedom of speech at the behest of an authoritarian government.
Does it really matter if it is only in China or do we only give a shit when it affects us?"
No, what matters is my original statement, facts, and semantics.
Apple's cooperation with China's government was done under color of law, and therefore isn't similar AT ALL to what Lithuania has discovered.
Yes, the situations are different. I don't like either, but one which Apple did because China required it of them is different from Xiaomi doing it despite there being no legal requirement to do so. In Apple's case, they're distressingly willing to do what China says, but if China stopped saying it, Apple would turn it off.
The censorship also works in the West, but it has been outsourced to private companies.
Just a random example how it works:
Article on Joe and Hunter Biden Censored By The Intercept
You may want to read those books: "Woke Inc." by Vivek Ramswamy and "American Marxism" by Mark R Lewin.
Cite one single similar instance of such an egregious breach of freedom of speech perpetrated by an EU, UK, Japanese, or US firm to back up your baseless accusation. Don't just spout contrarian bullshit you anonymous coward.
cisco, m$, google, amozon, the list is so long why did you even ask?
If you consider LineageOS to be "raw android" (it's probably about as close as one can get), It looks like a lot of them can be, yes!
Or, since the Chinese Tibet has many of those things but with different people getting the rewards, you could have a Tibet where the citizens decide what they wanted. A democratic one with liberty, or maybe it could be called free. Advocating for freedom doesn't mean we want to return to a situation which occurred several decades ago, nor do many Tibetans want that either. A feudal dictatorship and a modern dictatorship are both unacceptable.
Instead of banning a specific manufacturer or just asking people to throw away equipment that they're not going to trash, make software like this illegal, big fines for selling it. Then they will either remove it or your government gets a big fine and they stop selling it. That also helps when you find some other manufacturer has started to include that.
But scanning local messaging using, say AI, might help detect children being grOOmed by pedofiles and SAve De chIlDreN or might detect tErRYwRFIsts FRoM ANotHeR 911 or drOOg dealers, dEAling drOOgs or somethink else bad.
They pushed this on Apple FFS, Apple's scanning plans included spying on their customers messaging with the claimed intent that the customers might be grooming children and so needed to be watched at all times. Of course they just wanted to bypass end to end encryption, and needed the wedge issue to get the initial foot in Apple's door.
So I wouldn't hold out hope for any kind of law that would close that door shut.
Xioami put everything into their data-cloud, and require logins for everything, and I think they're best avoided not just for this, but because they try to turn their customers into datapoints.
Google maintains at least nine different blacklists that impact our lives, generally without input or authority from any outside advisory group, industry association or government agency. Google is not the only company suppressing content on the internet. Reddit has frequently been accused of banning postings on specific topics, and a recent report suggests that Facebook has been deleting conservative news stories from its newsfeed, a practice that might have a significant effect on public opinion – even on voting. Google, though, is currently the biggest bully on the block.
Something that came to light late last year: Google is now proactively editing information based on its preferred Messaging vs current political memes and its tagging of individuals.
The Great Barrington Declaration came out. The left wingers I read were all ranting about its evilness and stupidity and right wingness. (It's a simple statement of commonsense response to epidemiological reality re Covid's exponential risk profile vs age. But it does not require a vaccine, and that apparently is currently a left wing requirement for Virtue. Or something.) The right wingers I read all mentioned that it was nonexistent if they searched for it on Google -- not in their search results no matter how many pages they went down. I tried it myself: it was #2 on my search results on Google, but via Tor was #1. So apparently Google tags me personally as very slightly right of centre.
The point is: this is the OPPOSITE of how all these standard algorithms work. A right-wing-tagged story should have been ELEVATED for the right-wingers. That's how Google's bubble works, had always worked, on the principle of: more of the same, more of what you like. Passive heterodyning. Positive feedback. Now, they're proactively intruding on an activist basis. Negative feedback in the model for identified topics, and apparently asymmetric.
Get rid of all that crap, bloatware, spyware, censorware.
Install a custom-ROM such as LineageOS, available here: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/apollon
There may be others; I didn't investigate further. LOS normally is sufficient. The one who needs GSF (Google Services Framework) installs OpenGApps or MicroG in addition.
I do this since my first Android smartphone Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro (slider physical keyboard!) that came with Android 2.3 then, ten years ago. It got a CyanogenMod (predecessor of LOS) from me. I have since *improved* ;-) and/or revitalised many smartphones from OnePlus and Sony with LOS or derivatives. My standby old (2015) Xperia Z5 is out of support from Sony but still runs fine on an up-to-date LOS 17 (~Android 10).
So this is my advice: Go for custom-ROM!
you can NOT install a custom rom on a majority of current handsets, regardless of their price (I would like to see a clear chart of what's rootable, by the way!) because the bootloader is locked, and it's locked because
a) manufacturers don't want to be sued by some owners, who are idiots are look for easy money
and
b) banks don't want likewise result, so their apps won't run on 'compromised' (rooted) device
and
c) manufacturers see no gain, but loss of extra income (every little helps) when people start mass removing the 'partner' apps, pre-baked and unremovable - as happened on desktop market when people have finally realized the power of adblockers. Not on our handset, they won't!
...
On one hand it baffles me that BILLIONS of people put up with paying serious money for a slab in their pocket that gives them only superficial control of 'their' phone. On the other hand... I look down at MY own (unrootable) handset, and then, in the mirror. Yes, I did allow myself to be fucked, albeit gently, unnoticeably, in exchange for 'conveniance'.
sad to see how widespread this misunderstanding still exists.
With root you get administrator privileges inside you OS, be it stock android or a custom-ROM.
You don't need root to flash a custom-ROM! For that you need to unlock the bootloader, for which in turn you need a code from the manufacturer. Some of those support that, some don't.
The reason why they don't? My suspicion is that they try and achieve a vendor-lock-in.
The article indicates the problem is with Xiaomi's firmware, which would not necessarily be affected by the installation of a custom ROM. It's difficult to be sure, as the distinction between the OS and firmware is extremely blurry on modern phones.
Having said that, I have a Chinese phone running LineageOS, and it works very well for the most part (although when it finally dies, I'll probably get a PinePhone).
"The article indicates the problem is with Xiaomi's firmware, which would not necessarily be affected by the installation of a custom ROM. "
I unfortunately bought a Xiaomi Note 8 and after only 3 months or so ended up rooting it and putting on a custom Rom. The amount of phoning home is non stop.
I also installed AFWall+ to stop parts of the Linux kernel and the Android system plus others from accessing the internet/data even though not allowed.......
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You've never been to Lithuania, have you. I have. Be aware that the Baltic states are more digitally savvy than even San Francisco. Estonia in particular.
Lithuania has the world's worst drivers, though. Think Vietnam market town but fast and aggressive and completely dismissive of consequences. The only place I've ever driven past an upsidedown semitrailer. With all the constant stream of traffic merely swerving around it casually. "Routine."
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