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GrapheneOS user reported to authorities for using GrapheneOS

457 points by Cider9986

by VladVladikoff

2 subcomments

The OP of this reddit post has a lot of other posts (now hidden) about age verification, bypassing it, and privacy. They even got called out about this in the reddit thread and responded by hiding their profile, but you can see it on google still if you google for “reddit PaiDuck”
Not saying what this company did is right, but it feels like this guy has been testing how far he can push these various age verification companies with bypass attempts, and as a result got banned. Additionally the email response from the company could have been trivially edited before the screenshot was taken, so I’m not even convinced that the story is real. If I was running an age verification company I would absolutely not share with the banned users the reason we caught them, that’s like sharing the recipe for your secret sauce.

by antiloper

9 subcomments

OI mate, you got a loicense for that operating system?
The only surprising thing about this story is that the user didn't get a visit by the police to be charged with a "non-crime cybersecurity incident". The UK has become such a shithole.

by VariousPrograms

4 subcomments

I'm done for once the authorities know I have an account on HACKER News.

by rgblambda

1 subcomments

Putting aside that the source for this is a Reddit post linking to screenshots of text, as opposed to a news site where a journalist would have to stake their reputation on the story being true.
Anyone can report anyone else to "the authorities" for anything. It doesn't mean the unnamed authorities act on it. It's also quite strange that Yoti (if this isn't just a hoax) don't specify which policing unit is recieving these reports.

by JdeBP

2 subcomments

That response looks like it is generated from boilerplate, so the 'reported to the authorities' part is as likely true as when sudo says the same thing.
* https://postimg.cc/3kVXKzhk

by zx8080

4 subcomments

It's so surprising that despute so many screams "China" in western media in the last 15 years, it happens in the west, but in China it's free to use any OS without any negative consequences. Why? What's going on?

by kstenerud

1 subcomments

Looking more closely into the claim, the actual message from Yoti was:
"Due to past security concerns, Yoti automatically flags multiple verification attempts and any devices running GrapheneOS. These instances are automatically reported to both the authorities and our security team."
Then:
"Unfortunately, as multiple attempts were made from this specific device, your account has been flagged for suspicious activity."
So the "and" looks like a typo, otherwise their system wouldn't have allowed more than one attempt from a GrapheneOS device to begin with.
i.e. multiple verification attempts from a GrapheneOS device will flag your account.

by pogue

6 subcomments

Someone in the comments of that post linked to a long FAQ section for GrapheneOS about how apps can identify it and so forth [1]. I don't understand why it doesn't just attempt to spoof that's it's stock Android/Google everywhere it possibly can?
[1] https://grapheneos.org/faq#:~:text=Apps%20can%20detect%20tha...

by microflash

5 subcomments

Might as well report all users of internet to authorities for using internet because internet can also be used to commit fraud.

by asdfsa32

2 subcomments

A new age of piracy is ahead of us. When they come crying about "revenue", these days will be remembered.

by Lucasoato

1 subcomments

A friend of mine told me that Yoti is used as an age verification system in so many porn websites. That’s such an issue, this information should never be owned by private companies.

by uni_baconcat

8 subcomments

This is not how authorities work.
They need to prove people guilty, not flag all “suspicious activity” then let people prove they are innocent.

by sunaookami

2 subcomments

Seems like this company got fined recently for breaching GDPR: https://www.ictrecht.nl/en/blog/leeftijdsverificatie-online-...
>The Spanish privacy regulator (hereinafter: AEPD) recently imposed a fine of €950,000 on age verification service YOTI
>For the unlawful processing of biometric personal data in violation of Article 9 of the GDPR, YOTI was fined €500,000. In addition, a fine of €200,000 was imposed for obtaining invalid consent in violation of Article 7 of the GDPR. Finally, the company was fined €250,000 for exceeding retention periods in violation of Article 5 of the GDPR

by throwfaraway135

6 subcomments

- Heavy censorship
- Two-tier justice system
- This
How did it come to this? The UK is arguably the country that has done the most for the cause of freedom, having led the way in abolishing slavery.

by trumpdong

0 subcomment

I guess this user gets to sue Sony for a full refund.

by gaiagraphia

2 subcomments

It's really scary how society is being 'nudged' into using 'authorised devices' to participate in society (which we have to pay for, lol).
I wonder if some ideology which believes in tech freedom will become the communism of the next age, and prompt a new wave of 'democracy' purity crusades.

by elric

1 subcomments

Any insights on what Yoti is or what might motivate them to take those moronic actions?

by dwedge

2 subcomments

This is totally unacceptable. But going to the hassle of running GrapheneOS and then using it to try and submit facial scans to combine your identity with your PSN account just seems so pointless.

by 1vuio0pswjnm7

0 subcomment

From the discuss.grapheneos.org comments
"MineralWater
This is why people should buy a cheap phone with stock android on which zero private data is stored and that is never used for anything other than those verification things or government apps that might be or become mandatory.
What i mean is, use your graphene phone for everything, but don't use it to legitimate yourself.
Take an old phone or cheap one and put nothing on it, no contacts, no email (maybe one exclusively used for this phone without any private conversation on it), no apps like messengers and so on.
A phone that is only used like a passport, to legitimate yourself and or use government apps you are forced to use."
HN commenters consistently argue they, and therefore everyone else, must be able to use the same phone for everything
Otherwise corporate mobile OS alternatives like GrapheneOS are useless
For example if banking app, the proverbial example, requires some corporate mobile OS, then the owner must use this corporate mobile OS for everything else besides banking, too
If they have multiple phones, then presumably they must also use the corporate mobile OS on every one of them
No exceptions
Perhaps next we will see comments trying to argue that users can only have one phone
Or that the only computer user may own is a phone
These HN comments make little sense to me
Perhaps the people using multiple as phones mentioned in MineralWater's comment are not the people commenting on HN

by red_admiral

1 subcomments

Something's off about this one.
Using GOS itself is not a crime, unless you use it to commit crimes.

by kgwxd

0 subcomment

I don't like this post, it will be reported to the authorities and my mommy.

by Onplana

0 subcomment

The question is which category of justice does it qualify?

by BLKNSLVR

0 subcomment

As time progresses, the more I feel like 'acceptance' by the majority is a signal of complete capitulation to the power of the mighty dollar at the expense of all else.
That with which the authorities disagree is more than likely the morally, ethically, societally correct direction.
I'm a proud GrapheneOS user.
In the immortal words of Marvin: "I'm mine".
Fuck y'all.

by spacebacon

0 subcomment

The manifold of meaning knows better. The days of black box justification machines are over. There is mystical, there is technical, and there is bedrock. Decision plumbing cant hide from the semiotic-reflexive transformer. To the defenders of the proprietary moat: your reality was just rewritten. When you realize we have mapped the semiotic infrastructure you can cut the bs.

by sunshine-o

0 subcomment

My guess is computers will end up soon where cars are today.
I will be unclear if you can use your GOS, Linux or BSD computer. You might get stopped, checked, if the authorities want to screw you they can always find something. If you have an accident your insurance will find something.
So you will live in a constant fear of getting caught, and you do not really know why. Until you end up getting a chromebook, aka a bus card or Uber rides.
In most western countries the rules for car safety are draconian but I see everywhere 80+ years old people, out of their mind, driving SUV while looking at their phone.
Since the 2010 people would call themselves hackers because they hang out here, use Github, VSCode and know about Kubernetes. But now you are about to get arrested for using GOS or whatever. At least the meaning of the term hacker is getting its shine back a bit.

by gib444

0 subcomment

I would take "automatically reported to the authorities" with a pinch of salt (in this sphere, "nudging" people with lies is de rigueur [0]).
Not that I'm arguing the UK isn't accelerating further into an authoritarian nightmare.
[0] Kinda related https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioural_Insights_Team

by Mangochutney27

0 subcomment

And now he's going to jail for using an alternative os or what?

by userbinator

1 subcomments

If anything, from an age-verification perspective those using GrapheneOS are probably more likely to be adults, mentally mature, or otherwise smarter than the average sheeple.

by iugtmkbdfil834

0 subcomment

UK now, but that train is never late..

by muyuu

0 subcomment

[dead]

by BashagtBot

0 subcomment

[dead]

0 subcomment

by shevy-java

2 subcomments

People often critisize the USA - rightfully so, now as the orange king and his cronies rule over it - but the UK is in some ways worse. One of the best things that happened in the last years was BREXIT; that way the craziness from the UK can no longer taint other Europeans. And that's actually a good thing. Age sniffing is done for appeasement to corporate overlords; people should not buy into the propaganda that this is "to protect the kids". It is so obvious at this point in time - the amount of money spent by lobbyists must be insane, and the UK is the easiest to fall victim here, even before the USA. Evil companies such as Yoti need to be disbanded at once - either by the state, or by the people if the state has already been bribed into obedient submission to private, particular interests.