Top all-time · #3247
Blog + Microblog
Personal blog · kuketz-blog.desecuritypolitics
Blog + Microblog is a personal blog at kuketz-blog.de about security and politics. Since 2016, 24 different Hacker News readers have linked it 37 times, most often “Android: GrapheneOS, CalyxOS und Co. unter der Lupe (2023)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 4 of 31 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this German-language IT security blog for its detailed reviews and comparisons of privacy and security in Android alternatives, messengers, browsers and search engines.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 31 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
IT-Security Blog: Eine Plattform für Menschen, die sich kritisch mit den Themen IT-Sicherheit und Datenschutz(recht) befassen möchten.
Most-linked posts?
- /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/5 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2023-12-21
- Android: GrapheneOS, CalyxOS und Co. unter der Lupe (2023)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-12-21
What Hacker News says?
> I'd like to switch phones soonish and was looking at the fairphone 6 with /e/OS but feel deterred by its mid range specs which would probably limit its longevity. I would like to get away from google. Fairphones lack proper security patches and OS updates from day one. /e/OS makes this substantially worse compared to Fairphone's own OS. Fairphone tends to lag 1-2 months behind on Android's standard partial securit…
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “Graphene OS: a security-enhanced Android build”Submitted NordVPN transfers data to tracking service as a story · 49 points
HN discussionThere is a German article, that goes in depth on how to disable pretty much all of them and explains what they do: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/mozilla-firefox-datensendeverhalt... A few of them actually do make sense for a normal user (i.e. the Wifi portal stuff). But you can disable it if you spend some effort on it or you can also use an alternative build of Firefox without it. Not great, but also not terrible imo.…
Comment linking /mozilla-firefox-datensendeverhalten-desktop-version-browser-check-teil20/
on “Windows 11 Officially Shuts Down Firefox’s Default Browser Workaround”Submitted UnplugTrump: Free Yourself Digitally from Trump and Big Tech as a story · 4 points
HN discussionEdge shares literally every single website you visit with Microsoft, even in InPrivate (= Incognito) mode. [1] The worst part is that you have to disable a genuine security feature (i.e., SmartScreen) to prevent this. No other browser makes you choose between security and privacy in this manner. Even Chrome attempts to protect your privacy by doing hash prefix computations for their Safe Browsing feature. Also, at l…
Comment linking /microsoft-edge-datensendeverhalten-desktop-version-browser-check-teil4/
on “Last Windows 11 update changed all default browser settings to Edge”Submitted DDG Android app has tracking protection disabled on well known websites (German) as a story · 4 points
HN discussion>Aurora is a lot less invasive while achieving that same goal, but they recommend installing Googleware instead... GrapheneOS vehemently opposes 'for security'.. It's more accurate to say they suggest improvements not vehemently oppose. The community/project have opened issues with the Aurora Store project to get them closer to that goal of making sure the app downloads cannot be intercepted https://gitlab.com/Auror…
Comment linking /grapheneos-der-goldstandard-unter-den-android-roms-custom-roms-teil7/
on “Play Store blocks AuroraStore, hurting GrapheneOS users”Submitted New Signal groups resolve to Google-owned IPs as a story · 4 points
HN discussionhttps://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm https://www.kuketz-blog.de/lineageos-weder-sicher-noch-daten... (use browser's or google's translate) GOS developers have many numerous comments about this, if you google "LineageOS grapheneos" you should also find plenty of them.
Comment linking /lineageos-weder-sicher-noch-datenschutzfreundlich-custom-roms-teil4/
on “GrapheneOS is ready to break free from Pixels”Submitted Android: GrapheneOS, CalyxOS und Co. unter der Lupe (2023) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI think in this context it's fair to call out /e/. In some ways /e/ and GOS are trying to achieve different things (/e/ is not hardened and does not claim to be), but /e/ is severely lacking security wise compared to AOSP. This [0] is, in my opinion, a fair review that mentions many of the issues. That Fairphone is ok with these is telling about their position on privacy and security. [0] https://www.kuketz-blog.de/…
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “GrapheneOS' rewritten Messages app is released”Submitted Blue Mail: Android Mail-App Sends Login-Password for E-Mail-Account (german) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionOriginal blog: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/lastpass-android-drittanbieter-ue...
Comment linking /lastpass-android-drittanbieter-ueberwachen-jeden-schritt/
on “LastPass Android app has got 7 trackers in it”> They have different priorities, granted. They do not provide current privacy and security patches. They don't do the bare minimum to protect user privacy and security. > That's going to depend on your threat model. Many people don't feel that having an unlocked bootloader is a significant threat. Not supporting verified boot is a small part of how they reduce privacy and security. Lagging many months and even year…
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “Introduction to GrapheneOS”GrapheneOS provides much better privacy, stability and app compatibility than /e/ rather than only security. GrapheneOS entirely exists as a privacy project and focuses on security too in order to protect privacy. GrapheneOS is a privacy project aimed at being highly usability. There's a good third party comparison between them here: https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm /e/ regularly lags many weeks an…
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “Introduction to GrapheneOS”GOS developers have said on multiple occasions that they think LineageOS is worse for security than the stock OS on multiple devices, as it doesn't keep up with current privacy/security patches or provide all of the standard protections. The comparison also does bring up these faults. See also https://www.kuketz-blog.de/lineageos-weder-sicher-noch-daten...
Comment linking /lineageos-weder-sicher-noch-datenschutzfreundlich-custom-roms-teil4/
on “A theoretical way to circumvent Android developer verification”If you understand German, then I recommend the review by Mike Kuketz ( https://www.kuketz-blog.de/briar-anonymitaet-und-sicherheit-... ). Maybe you get a decent translation with Deepl, though I stay wary. There is also a comparison to other messenger systems on https://www.freie-messenger.de/systemvergleich/ . They have a PDF in English available, but it doesn't really tell much.
Comment linking /briar-anonymitaet-und-sicherheit-gehen-vor-messenger-teil8/
on “Briar Desktop for Linux”Here is the blog entry of the Journalist Mike Kuketz, explaining in detail how he uncovered the fraud, unfortunately only in German. This includes samples of the questionable GET and POST Requests, as well as a link to a commit to the WOT sources on GitHub, which introduced the necessary changes ... https://www.kuketz-blog.de/wot-addon-wie-ein-browser-addon-s... The commit referenced in the blog: https://github.com/…
Comment linking /wot-addon-wie-ein-browser-addon-seine-nutzer-ausspaeht/
on “Mozilla stops distribution of WOT addon”As far as I know, Signal is hosted on a mix of Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Cloudflare. https://www.kuketz-blog.de/signal-jegliche-kommunikation-erf... Threema is hosted on bare-metal servers in Switzerland. https://threema.ch/en/faq/server_location
Comment linking /signal-jegliche-kommunikation-erfolgt-ueber-tech-giganten-wie-amazon-microsoft-google-und-cloudflare/
on “Threema – Secure and Private Messenger”There are several banks, especially over here in Europe, that have their own implementations of contactless payments, if that's what you mean. Here's a German article outlining this and mentioning a few examples: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/nfc-datenschutzfreundlich-bezahle...
Comment linking /nfc-datenschutzfreundlich-bezahlen-mit-dem-android-phone/
on “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple”https://www.kuketz-blog.de/grapheneos-der-goldstandard-unter...
Comment linking /grapheneos-der-goldstandard-unter-den-android-roms-custom-roms-teil7/
on “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple”e/OS is a joke: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-... and https://community.e.foundation/t/service-announcement-26-may... are sufficient to conclude that Lineage is better and Graphene is obviously the gold standard which provides better privacy and security for normal people. The author is wrong in thinking you gotta be some journalist to use it. GrapheneOS is for everyone
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “Comparing Android Alternatives: Lineage OS, ∕E∕OS, and Graphene OS”I would never recommend this article for anyone looking for comparison. It's wrong in so many ways. Your opinions are highly biased and it's an extremely poor attempt to make GrapheneOS look bad. For a factual and technical comparison, I would suggest this blog post series: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/android-grapheneos-calyxos-und-co... It's well written and focuses on facts rather than poorly made assumptions
Comment linking /android-grapheneos-calyxos-und-co-unter-der-lupe-custom-roms-teil1/
on “Comparing Android Alternatives: Lineage OS, ∕E∕OS, and Graphene OS”https://www.kuketz-blog.de/vero-die-naechste-social-network-...
Comment linking /vero-die-naechste-social-network-sau-wird-durchs-dorf-getrieben/
on “Vero – An ad-free social network”I have phones with both, but I don't necessarily agree that /e/OS is easier. E.g. things like doing or restoring in-app purchases often do not work, even when logging in through microG. Want that nice backup option that Signal is now offering? Well, good luck, you cannot purchase it on /e/OS (at least I couldn't). In general when it comes to compatibility, my experience is that GrapheneOS is better because it can us…
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “/e/OS is a complete "deGoogled", mobile ecosystem”Uploading speech-to-text to OpenAI? Regular communication with Google? Using Google for assisted GPS? Giving a bunch of Google apps privileged access (if you need them for e.g. Android Auto)? https://www.kuketz-blog.de/e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-... https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/GmsCore/-/blob/a9e102567518... https://forum.fairphone.com/t/e-os-betrays-users-privacy-ope... https://eylenburg.github.io/android…
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “/e/OS is a complete "deGoogled", mobile ecosystem”> open-source means auditable privacy This is what that auditing actually reveals: * /e/OS sends user speech data to OpenAI without consent [1], and thought this was ok until they got caught [2]. * /e/OS massively delays security patches, and calls this a "standard industry practice" [3]. Meanwhile, GrapheneOS' opt-in security preview releases provide early access to security updates prior to official disclosure [4]…
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “/e/OS is a complete "deGoogled", mobile ecosystem”GrapheneOS leaks less data to Google by default and otherwise than /e/OS and is also a privacy-focused project. I believe places like https://www.kuketz-blog.de/ and https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm will attest to that. App compatibility should also be better with sanboxed-play-services compared to microG since almost all apps/features that don't require meeting certification requirements (e.g. Goo…
Comment linking /
on “Fairphone 4 with /e/OS by Murena now available at fairphone.com”And, according to the The Register [0], KeePass has zero tracking, too. Don't know about KeePassX and other variations. And the original blog is this: https://www.kuketz-blog.de/lastpass-android-drittanbieter-ue... [0] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/25/lastpass_android_trac...
Comment linking /lastpass-android-drittanbieter-ueberwachen-jeden-schritt/
on “Security researcher recommends against LastPass after detailing 7 trackers”They literally include Google Widevine DRM and Google EUICC: https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/devices/android_device_fairpho... https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/devices/android_device_fairpho... microG itself connects directly to Google: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/wiki/Google-Network-Connec... and /e/OS default enables those connections: https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/android_prebuilts_prebuilta... including the…
Comment linking /e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/
on “A closer look at e/OS: Murena's privacy-first 'deGoogled' Android alternative”
