Cops in [Spain] think everyone using a Google Pixel must be a drug dealer
67 comments
·July 5, 202515155
One random cop makes one ignorant statement and now all "cops in Spain" think something.
munchler
> “Every time we see a Google Pixel, we suspect it might belong to a drug dealer,” said a police official leading the anti-drug operation in Catalonia
Not a random cop, but the leader of an entire operation.
adolph
A less than random cop but still anecdata of one. Maybe an RCT of Spanish police attitudes towards crime-associated tech brands would be more convincing of a thesis broader than “one journalist heard one cop.”
munchler
You do understand that he speaks for a number of cops at once, not just himself, right?
yorwba
I think he just made a self-aware observation: noticing a trait being unusually common among criminals he investigates makes him subconsciously associate it with crime even in the general population. Then somebody decided to translate "puede ser" as "must be" and put it in the headline to bait Pixel owners, and now the self-aware cop just looks ignorant instead.
mistrial9
this comment seems to indicate a tip of the iceburg situation in law enforcement-at-scale versus crime-at-scale! human (and tech) evolution demand innovations, yet self-motivated predatory peoples also can be quick to benefit and adapt new tech. lots of quick corollaries available from this..
42lux
I've seen news shows at my grandparents that talked about the rage of the masses while quoting three tweets for hours.
ysofunny
the police in spain act like anybody using cloudflare is pirating something, so it kinda checks out
anthk
s,police,laliga,g
prmoustache
Isn't it the justice system enforcing La Liga's bullshit? I don't think the police is involved in this.
elnatro
ClodFlare does not want to comply with court rulings. Not in Spain, nor in France.
throw123xz
Which court rulings in Spain Cloudflare doesn't want to comply with?
skybrian
The headline is exaggerated to make the cops sound like idiots. If they suspect someone might be a drug dealer (fair - it's a clue), that's very different from thinking they "must" be a drug dealer.
devwastaken
their opinion is from their dept reflected in their meetings and street corner conversations. if there were accountability that officer would not feel safe saying that.
varelse
[dead]
netsharc
If they're wearing a Casio F91W, then they're a terrorist AND a drug dealer!
Many years ago: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-13194733
Gigachad
I have one as part of my Melbourne rave outfit.
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anthk
For Gen-Zers, that's the watch everyone's dad and older millenials used to wear everywhere in the world.
seabrookmx
'90 kid here. I have one on my wrist 90% if the time. Cheap, practical, and if I crash on my MTB or scratch it up while I'm gardening, it's no big deal.
ls-a
we found him
prmoustache
my 11 year old daughter has one too. And she asked for it.
I think that was because of Shakira's song against her ex.
croisillon
I'm worth two 22-year-olds
You traded in a Ferrari for a Twingo
You traded in a Rolex for a Casio
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torbid
[flagged]
Mr-Frog
In other words, drug dealers are privacy-conscious and the Google Pixel is one of the strongest hardware platforms for privacy-aware configurations.
bapak
> GrapheneOS boasts particularly secure and well-executed full disk and metadata encryption, a security feature
So, the default iPhone experience?
SoftTalker
Yeah I would have guessed it was more the easy availability of cheap android burner phones than Google Pixel specifically.
lazide
Maybe they can also sideload custom apps that would never pass App Store review?
bapak
Being in Europe, I think that's not an issue for iOS anymore.
lazide
They can use alternative AppStore’s now, but that isn’t sideloading. It still is a centralized place to track/attack/control what I can do. Which would be a problem for someone doing something illegal in that same jurisdiction.
Also, if I was doing something illegal, the other controls Apple has over iOS would make me reconsider using it, even with the ‘other AppStores’.
At least if I’m flashing my own OS, and installing things directly and locally, I can think I’m bypassing most factory level spyware and without centralized monitoring. In theory at least.
subroutine
This "Almost Friday" skit about the Google Pixel is comedy gold...
zczc
The primary source seems to be https://en.ara.cat/society/technological-warfare-the-drug-tr... (autotranslated from Catalan)
kace91
Both the translation and the original news are like one paragraph long with 0 context or source.
It’s also quite ridiculous, I’m from Madrid and pixels seem to be the phone of choice for most of my (non tech) friends.
Pixels used to be quite unknown, as most people go for budget Chinese brands, now they’re getting popular. “Get an iPhone-level camera for 300 bucks” is a massive selling point.
k4rli
Latest Pixels are nearly 1k EUR though. Slightly too expensive but still a top pick for me.
prmoustache
Latest highest end model. The "a" model are more in the 550€ area and still have super decent camera, especially if you aren't a selphie addict.
Being the models with the longest firmware support, it is not uncommon for people to buy them second hand at around 300€. I bought my Pixel 6a last year for around 200€.
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amelius
Or a GrapheneOS user ...
metalman
The police in Spain can thank there lucky stars that they are not dealing with the drug gangs in Mexico and South America, where they are flying militerised drones, and are trying to build narco drone subs with starlink
https://maritime-executive.com/article/colombian-navy-captur...
pier25
Spain is one of the biggest gateways of drugs into Europe (if not the biggest one). They've been dealing with LATAM mafia for decades.
lupusreal
They have been, at least a little. They've captured narco subs crossing the Atlantic, including to Spain specifically. The cartels must have trusted associates in Europe to receive these shipments, and that probably means violent enforcers of the cartels in Europe. With unmanned narco subs making longer voyages simpler, this is likely to become an even bigger problem.
tiagod
They've actually caught one of those subs being built in Spain! https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/span...
anthk
They tried, but the Europeans Mafias know that if the violence hits the fan and craps out civilians (non-gang related members), these would be crushed down in miliseconds.
The CNI is no joke and it has -ahem- nonstandard methods to deal with these scum. Spain has grown a huge counterterrorism wisdom over decades.
grg0
Now we just need every other citizen to understand the benefits of GrapheneOS. Glad to see some people are catching up.
noman-land
We also need a better boot screen experience.
There's an opinion that it's part of coordinated campaign, not just slow news day.
https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/114784469162979608 thread lists same activity in Swedish-speaking parts of the internet.