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Ask HN: Windows phone vs. Android privacy issues?

4 points by threesixandnine ↗ HN
Hello all, I just bought Windows Phone and am astonished by the lack of privacy I receive. The phone is pretty much useless without live/outlook account and am thinking of returning it.

My biggest issue is that once I imported contacts from my sim card all those contacts/people appeared in the freaking cloud and there is no workaround for this. Now, for the majority of people this might seem like a good idea and a feature.

I do own Android tablet and it seems less intrusive. I am not sure if I should even try Android phone since I suspect that sooner or later these kind of things will come to Android (or are even there at this moment??)?

12 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 24.0 ms ] thread
Zekio
You do know Mobile Carrier can actually use your sim card to get all your contacts anyway if they wanted to, also on any phone OS pretty much all apps wants access to your contacts anyway.
threesixandnine
I realize that but what about contacts stored in the phone itself.

Even on "dumb" phones I had options to store to sim or in the phone for example. Now I only have options of use or not use the phone.

Another thing. I used Explorer to download pdf. No way of opening it. Downloaded PDF viewer but files in "downloads" folder I guess are not indexed. I assume MS would want me to upload it via one of their apps to the cloud and read it there.

I feel like I have no options. I mean I do but it's ither put up all my info out there and accept defeat or not use newer phones at all.

Are these things better on Android phones?

Zekio
well, when windows 10 come to phones everything will change I think
threesixandnine
I am not quite sure if you are kidding or not. I am just reading on Windows 10 horror stories about privacy.
Zekio
You can opt out of most of it during install, and pretty much the rest of it afterwards, they are just trying to scare people from using windows 10 in my opinion, its not like your privacy isn't violated when you use an apple device or a chromebook.

If you really want privacy install basic(not a distro of a bunch of packages) Linux and verify all packages in source code before installing them

jmnicolas
It's not better on Android or iOS either. If you want a smidge of privacy you may want to use a dumb phone but let's be clear : nowadays we are tracked like cattle.
Zekio
Carriers track which Cell tower you are connected to when you send/receive texts and calls and often even when doing nothing, so yeah we are tracked more than cattle, dumb phone with a prepaid card is probably best way to not get tracked too much and remove battery when not using it :P
threesixandnine
I know we are tracked it's just that I never thought it will come to this. There is no choice but to sync contacts to the cloud. I mean, there is choice....not using the phone. In my experience using Android tablet it's a little less intrusive. I guess with Android phone it's the same thing. You probably give right to access contacts to many apps, etc...
choudanu4
To be clear, all this data sharing is on by default, but all the settings to turn this data sharing off do exist, they're just buried in settings (as they should be). Indeed, cutting ties with google is quite possible (just don't sign in with a google account when setting your phone up).

There is another more involved approach that removes the connection altogether, instead of simply closing a valve between your data and Google.

Indeed, what may be alluring would be getting an easy-to-wipe phone (like a Nexus 5) and install a ROM (aftermarket OS) sans Google Play Services (the suite of apps on Android that hooks into Google's Cloud). If you were to do this, you would obtain many of the smartphone's advantages, but still be able to clearly control where your data goes.