I’ve received a xiaomi phone as a present, a 2022 redmi 10c 220333QNY, but I’ve read in several sources that this is a brand that systematically eavesdrops everything the user does. There’s also the fear they pass this information to the CCP, which, if you are a Taiwanese, Tibetan, Uighur or Hongkong democracy activist or a foreigner promoting multiparty democracy in China might be used to spy on you and incarcerate you.
Other brands, western if you want to call them that, might do the same, I don’t know. That’s why I ask these questions:
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Are all phone brands the same, meaning they all eavesdrop on me and no matter what brand I use some personal information will end up in their servers?
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If all brands are equally bad, what can a quite ignorant end user like me do to minimize the information transmitted to the manufacturer? I cannot even root this device and last time I tried getting rid of another phone’s bloatware I bricked the device.
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If some brands are better privacy wise, which ones?
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Am I protecting my privacy if I don’t use any default application and disregard any ad to use products from google and use exclusively f-droid?
I don’t mind voiding the warranty and I wouldn’t mind installing a FOSS OS on this redmi model, as I won’t bank or pay taxes using this device, but I don’t find anything that works. Suggestions welcomed.
That’s a redmi 9c if that model number is correct. No official lineage support, but there are a lot of interesting roms on xda: https://xdaforums.com/c/redmi-9c.10999/
This seems good, official, gapps is optional: https://xdaforums.com/t/rom-12-1-official-nusantara-project-4-5-unified-for-redmi-9a-9c-9-activ-garden-sinila-updated.4374805/
Afaik if you replace the rom they cant really do much. Also MIUI or whatever they call it nowadays is the worst android experience i’ve ever used.
you are right, I wrote a false model number. The device is a 2022 redmi 10C 220333QNY