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submitted 3 weeks ago by icegladiator@lemy.lol to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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

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[-] edel@lemmy.ml 39 points 3 weeks ago

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!

[-] SharkWeek 11 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] edel@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] SharkWeek 1 points 3 weeks ago

I agree with you over all (however when I've spoken with Mossos it's been much better than with the Guardia Civil, so they are not all bad)

I was thinking of their motivations. Regarding terrorism, they missed one guy who planned an attack, so it's not surprising they want to chase all Muslims now. I think a lot of it is to do with protecting their backs.

[-] edel@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago

I hear you.

[-] HowAbt2day@futurology.today 8 points 3 weeks ago

At least half.

[-] utopiah@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 weeks ago

Nice, that'll help people deGoogle I hope.

[-] lock@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

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.

[-] BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Lol what? Yeah, ton of people in public use GrapheneOS.

[-] lock@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

How many people have you seen use GrapheneOS in public?

[-] BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

See two everyday. Chatted up a 3 other pixel users last weekend, 2 were using GrapheneOS.

[-] lock@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

Not people you know, a random civilian. Highly doubt that you have walked past a random civilian who uses GrapheneOS. It just makes you stand out way more and is extremely rare to find a random person using GrapheneOS

[-] communism@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not looking at strangers' phone screens close enough to figure out if they're using GOS but I've noticed strangers using GOS a fair few times. Likely would a lot more if I were looking for it but I'm not trying to read everyone's phone screens...

It's a fairly common OS and it's fairly widely acknowledged that GOS is a big driver for Pixel sales.

[-] BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Those three from last weekend were literal strangers lol.

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

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.

[-] cypherpunks@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

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.

original text in Castilian

La solución de la policía. Esa no es otra que un troyano. Ante la imposibilidad de romper el cifrado, infectan los teléfonos de los traficantes con software malicioso, previa autorización judicial. De esta manera, consiguen acceso total al dispositivo: apps, imágenes, documentos y conversaciones. Evidentemente, GrapheneOS no es capaz de protegerse (como cualquier Android) ante este malware.

🤔

this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2025
182 points (100.0% liked)

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