If I need to replace the screen, yeah I’ll take it apart. But modern phones are usually glued together and a huge pain in the ass to disassemble. So I avoid it unless I really need to.
Best way to destroy any waterproofing what was in there.
But seriously, the paranoia is a bit silly- ok so let’s pretend they’d put a camera inside to get a great selfie when you open it. Then what? Straight to jail?
Ok but if you do truly sensitive work, you probably cant trust any phone you didn’t fully audit. A hidden camera inside isn’t needed when you have one outside and a persistent internet connection- what would a secret camera do that the obvious camera, mic, Bluetooth, wifi, gps, nfc, etc etc etc not already do?
I’m just saying a secret camera isn’t necessary if what they wanted to do was spy- you’re literally carrying an ultimate 007 dream spy device with you all the time unless you’re rocking an analog burner- and even then, it’s not 100%.
I agree with what @carl_dungeon wrote. If you’re really that paranoid about your privacy then you shouldn’t even use a cellphone in the first place - never mind a smartphone. Look at Richard M Stallman for example - he avoids cellphones completely for this reason.
And that’s because there’s no fully-open cellphone out there, and even if there is, it doesn’t prevent your carrier or government from snooping on you, as long as you’re using GSM communications (which is btw very vulnerable). The moment you’ve decided to carry a cellphone around with you, you’ve signed away any expectations of privacy.
So you either live the Stallman way and avoid cellphones and other modern conveniences, or just say fuck it and use them like everyone else. Otherwise, you’re just a hippocrite, fooling yourself into a false sense of security, because prying open a modern smartphone and checking it’s internals is a completely pointless exercise.
People absolutely do teardowns of new phones. Between sites like ifixit and various tech YouTubers it would be almost impossible to have some hidden hardware in a device.
Good point. but I cover the cameras I know about most of the time. Mics, there isn’t much you can do about that. They’re pretty sensitive and can pick up very slight sounds.
The very privacy focused might but it’s not a matter of inspecting the device for hidden devices but removing them. I remember people opening iPhones a few years ago to disconnect the microphone.
If I get a new device and it’s relatively easy to open (no heat and suction cups) I typically look inside. My Pinephone has kill switches inside for various features and even if I don’t use them. They are pretty neat.
It was Apple that talked about doing that. I wonder if it’s now too expensive to do that and people just root their phone. The only thing weird about that, is that Apple is involved in every step, couldn’t they hide info being sent?
Apple was talking adding kill switches? I feel like the cost compared to how many people would actually use it would be a big factor but there’s also a multitude of other things that would go along with that like how it would effect water resistance.
The only thing weird about that, is that Apple is involved in every step, couldn’t they hide info being sent?
Do you mean with encryption or if they wanted to send information away maliciously?
I imagine most mainstream devices are torn down and inspected by reviewers at some point. I’d be significantly more concerned about the OS versus some 1950s style wiretap in your cellphone.
I feel like we are going in circles here. My point was you should be more concerned about your OS than a physical addition to a device. Especially if it’s a widely purchased consumer device.
He's talking about physical switches that cut power to the hardware.
I think what you're referring to with Apple is that the camera (on MacBooks) is wired in a way so that it's impossible for the camera to be on without the indicator light also being on. Software can't do anything because it's not controlled by software.
Yeah, but you should be able to access those via root and/or there are ways to see what kind of information is being sent where. You really don’t need to open it to get at these things. Hell, you can completely change your phone OS if you want.
It’s not quite that simple. If it’s a piece of hardware that’s not intended for public use, then there certainly are not gonna be any drivers provided. There will be drivers hidden in their proprietary software, but installing your own os won’t include those. And if nobody knows they are there, who’s going to hack the hardware and write a driver?
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