France is taking state actions against GrapheneOS?
52 comments
·November 20, 20254ndrewl
gowld
The laws already exist. Graphene team is accusing the French law enforcement of this:
https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/115584160910016309
> This doesn't have anything to do with how French journalists have responded to the state actions against GrapheneOS but rather the actions and statements by France's state agencies and law enforcement which are highly concerning. They're making highly inaccurate and libelous claims about GrapheneOS while clearly actively trying to justify taking actions against us. They've shown their hand so we're leaving France including OVH prior to anything bad happening rather than waiting.
and more in the thread.
blueflow
Which state actions? A police raid? Some mean papers delivered?
4ndrewl
That link references the newspaper article but there was no mention of any law in it. Will take your word for it, thanks.
herbertgreen
French newspapers are mostly french republic propaganda paid by the state, and laws and political decisions are tested with headlines like this.
This is public data, it's not a conspiracy. Lots of newspapers would not exist without the taxpayer money: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/thematiques/presse-ecrite/tablea...
chris_wot
If they consider the country is making laws they can't accept, then the honourable thing is to no longer allow participation within that country.
metadope
The honourable thing?
More importantly this is the smart choice, the only thing, to do: Shake the dust from your sandals, walk away, don't look back.
This is the ongoing horror of the overbearing state, which wants to rule efficiently by knowing everything that everybody is doing all the time. Those who focus on and value law enforcement before freedom.
perihelions
> "Particularité de GraphèneOS : on peut se le procurer autant sur le darknet que sur des sites grand public." ⇒ "A distinctive feature of GrapheneOS is that it can be obtained both on the darknet and on mainstream websites."
aussieguy1234
You could probably get normal android roms on the darknet also. Maybe not a good idea, but this is not unique to grapheneos.
bigfatkitten
You can get Windows ISOs from the dark web. Maybe they’ll shut down Microsoft next.
neilv
> > I am preparing an article on the use of your secure personal data phone solution by drug traffickers and other criminals.
I think GrapheneOS needs a really good PR expert volunteer, or funding to pay for a non-volunteer.
My non-PR-expert guesses are... If the journalist is in bad faith or flaky, that might need to be handled. But if the journalist is in good faith, this might be an opportunity, to promote GrapheneOS and/or to start to head off adverse gov't actions there.
(GrapheneOS does some great technical work, and has given me what seems to be a more respectful and trustworthy smartphone than I could get from Apple or Google. Right now, I'd think many countries in Europe and elsewhere should be looking at something like GrapheneOS as a possible interim measure on their way to greater digital sovereignty. I understand that the French people especially value liberty.)
max_
This hostility towards privacy all over the world signals that there is a co-ordinated change happening in the world.
Unfortunately we still don't know what it is or what its goals are.
boxedemp
Specifically, we don't know the goals. Generally, we know it's about control and fear of losing power.
It's a stolen quote but rings true:
Those with power fear one thing above all else; losing said power.
danparsonson
Authoritarianism is doing well all over; it doesn't have to be deliberately coordinated, so much as people being basically the same everywhere, and the world sharing some serious problems. What works in one country works in almost any other.
lovich
Personally I’ve grown hostile to the concept of anonymous speech but I readily admit that I can’t imagine a way to deanonymize without also losing privacy as most people describe it.
Anonymous posters like what looks like a troll bot that the GrapheneOS account is arguing with have flooded the zone with so much noise its fracturing society imo
kridsdale1
Wow, that guy in the thread attacking them is an asshole.
dingdingdang
Or simply.. drumroll.. THE STATE
frenchie4111
Does it read like AI slop to anybody else?
WJW
Mostly just reads like a mentally ill person to me TBH. Don't see why you'd think it was AI.
caminanteblanco
The referenced article: http://archive.today/I65wv
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stego-tech
Another empire throwing a tantrum because it believes itself to be bigger than its citizenry. Lot of that going around lately, but still no real state actors seemingly willing to give sanctuary to these sorts of security and privacy projects beyond Switzerland, and even they seem keen on weakening protections.
If I had Android, I’d absolutely be using GrapheneOS.
hopelite
Is it just a coincidence that the recent action against archive.today and all its other TLDs is also based out of France? It also at least tangentially involves state action against an element outside of state control, i.e., being able to keep records out of the regime memory hole.
I did not follow up with whether there was any kind of understanding or resolution of what was going on with the Archive situation, but it seems oddly coincidental that these types of actions would be going on effectively simultaneously.
aussieguy1234
Since smartphones were invented, seizing a persons phone and going through their private life on it has become a substitute for real police work.
Of course they will hate it if a particular OS and phone combination make this impossible.
tonyhart7
GrapheneOS is a project with really good intentions, and we should definitely give them credit.
But here’s the thing: criminals end up exploiting tech like this, and that makes the project an easy target for law enforcement. We’ve seen the exact same thing happen with crypto.
We need to just accept that any technology designed for security and privacy is always going to be a double-edged sword.
Iolaum
The problem is not that security solutions are a double edged sword, it's that such solutions stop mass surveillance.
When Ross Ulbricht was arrested, they made sure to do it in a way that they got access to his laptop while logged in. I'm sure competent investigators can figure out the login method used daily by someone on their phone if they follow them because they are committing a crime. Just like they did with Ulbricht. But they can't do that for everyone whenever they feel like it, and that's the problem.
IlikeKitties
> We need to just accept that any technology designed for security and privacy is always going to be a double-edged sword.
I agree, therefore it should be my legal right to use such technology. Like a 2A for encryption and privacy
anthk
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, but just for a few. Remember the French goverment banning encryption in the 90's. The French elite hates science and math because it was modernly developed by the Brits, and they love to put Arts/Humanities bullshitters like Derrida on top as if they mattered something over Francis Bacon and Newton. Just watch any TF1 talk show and you'll understand what I mean. Or, well, any state supported Homeopathy based "pills" (which is mostly snake oil being sold as sugar). Or the Sokal affair...
I can go on and on...
The newspaper article referenced contains insinuation (linking GrapheneOS to the darkweb, criminal gangs etc), and unnamed sources quoting a police investigation.
But that sort of thing sells newspapers. There didn't appear to be anything about the French state taking specific action (eg passing a law) against Graphene.