2d ago

Feds in Catalonia, Spain think everyone using a Google Pixel must be a drug dealer

www.androidauthority.com Cops in this country think everyone using a Google Pixel must be a drug dealer (Updated)

Pixel phones are criminals' top pick in Spain's Catalonia for their strong security and mod-friendly design.

TLDR: Drug dealers in Catalonia have started to adopt GrapheneOS en masse leading to Catalan police suspecting anyone with a Google Pixel is a drug dealer

17 comments

machine translation of a paragraph of the original article:
The police's solution: It's none other than a Trojan. Unable to break the encryption, they infect the traffickers' phones with malware, subject to judicial authorization. This way, they gain full access to the device: apps, images, documents, and conversations. Obviously, GrapheneOS isn't capable of protecting itself (like any Android) against this malware.

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Of course they would get GrapheneOS phones but does not make user a suspect, they also carry cash rather than credit cards, but not all people with cash should be a suspect!
The mayor problem in Barcelona is being the pickpocket capital of the world and the unregistered Airbnbs! Both are relatively easy to address (in conjunction with the legislative and judicial system), but are have not been tackled for 2 decades already. And please, don't start suspecting guys with Nike sneakers and cross bags as pickpocketers now too! There are plenty, plenty of genuine methods to go after the bad guys than cheeking their phones or shoe wear... gosh, even civilians are tired of pinpointing at them to end up being completely ignored by that police!
- After the big shooting earlier this year I believe they're more worried about drug dealers than pickpockets ... plus there was a bunch of raids just a couple of months back where they found the organised crime was very organised.
  I agree about the mossos not tackling pickpockets, but it's fair to say there's things they're doing that are good too.
  
  The Catalan police (Mossos), and I had always supported its creation and certain independence from the rest of police forces in Spain, has growth to become a bit too militarized for my taste.
  I am not following their work on drug dealers, but the job they are doing with "terrorism" is appalling. There are cases of genuine terrorism but the majority, overwhelmingly majority, are not what they are selling to the media, and they have been doing this for more than a decade already... in brief portrayed disgruntled Muslim immigrants as "terrorists" for sharing files. I presume is half malice, half in a competition drive with the other police forces in Spain to gather recognition and medals. But I should not complain, in the US there is a lot of that too, I was just expecting better of that young and, supposedly, modern and agile police force.

Nice, that'll help people deGoogle I hope.

Have you ever seen someone in public use GrapheneOS? Of course they would suspect them if the drug dealers they caught all use the same niche custom operating system.
- How often are you staring at the screen of strangers’ phones to the point you can determine what operating system they are using? That’s really fuckin creepy, dude.
- Lol what? Yeah, ton of people in public use GrapheneOS.
  
  How many people have you seen use GrapheneOS in public?

At least half.

17 comments

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