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"Here is the rest of the network activity, all of which is TLS-encrypted by keys buried in the stock Google operating system, and thus not controlled by the device purchaser:

   Hostname Downloaded to phone Uploaded from phone
   storage.googleapis.com 383 MiB 8 MiB
   fonts.gstatic.com 137 MiB 3 MiB
   afwprovisioning-pa.googleapis.com 18 MiB 1 MiB
   www.gstatic.com 8 MiB 287 kiB
   googlehosted.l.googleusercontent.com 8 MiB 345 kiB
   ota-cache1.googlezip.net 3 MiB 175 kiB
   dl.google.com 3 MiB 86 kiB
   instantmessaging-pa.googleapis.com 1 MiB 300 kiB
   www.google.com 46 kiB 24 kiB
   ssl.gstatic.com 25 kiB 3 kiB
   ota.googlezip.net 17 kiB 6 kiB
   digitalassetlinks.googleapis.com 17 kiB 4 kiB
   clients.l.google.com 14 kiB 7 kiB
   gstatic.com 13 kiB 3 kiB
   mobile-gtalk.l.google.com 8 kiB 1 kiB
   mobile.l.google.com 5 kiB 1 kiB
   lpa.ds.gsma.com 5 kiB 4 kiB
   connectivitycheck.gstatic.com 3 kiB 3 kiB
   app-measurement.com 1 kiB 0 bytes
   time.android.com 180 bytes 180 bytes
Only Google knows precisely what all that data is and what it is used for."

Why should the owner of the computer be allowed to see what is being sent to Google? (Maybe the strange folks at Google cannot think of any reasons.)

Who pays for transport of the data to Google? (Is there any reason Google should not pay?)

Putting the data sent aside, there is the question of whether the computer owner should have a choice in whether they want to send it, and there is the fact that these unauthorised connections are all pings to the mothership.

Using NetGuard, it's possible to block all these connections without rooting or installing GrapheneOS. It's also possible to log all the DNS lookups and attempted connections, without rooting or installing GrapheneOS. The log will indicate which software is making the connection attempts. One can also create PCAP files showing the patterns of network activity, again without rooting or installing GrapheneOS. It's relatively easy to determine what connections are actually necessary for the computer to work as desired.

After installing GrapheneOS, I wonder if it is possible to selectively stop connections to GrapheneOS servers. There are probably some connections to Graphene servers enabled by default.

Would be fun to compare PCAP files from a device running NetGuard versus one running GrapheneOS.



I'm generally not a fan of bigger government, but we need to legislate to death the practice of companies sending your data off without transparency and consent.


> After installing GrapheneOS, I wonder if it is possible to selectively stop connections to GrapheneOS servers. There are probably some connections to Graphene servers enabled by default.

This is actually extensively covered in the GrapheneOS FAQ:

https://grapheneos.org/faq#default-connections


Who gives a shit? If it's a new phone it has none of your data on it, and you're just about to wipe the OS and install one which respects you much more. No harm done.


"Who gives a shit?"

Google does. That's why the Google's code is forcing a computer owner to connect the internet using a Google OS before installing an OS that the owner chooses. The customer has paid, title has been transferred, the computer is no longer Google's or the carrier's property. If Google or a carrier does not get to collect some data after purchase, then no harm done.




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