been running linux and bsd for 15 years, and now I’ve realized that my phone and the services I use have been a blind spot.
Exactly! Few months ago a friend was home and I was proudly showcasing my HomeAssistant on RPi, all ZigBee, no non-standards IoT, no vendor lock-in, SteamDeck to play on Linux, streaming videos with VLC on my video projector via miniDLNA, etc. He was impressed… then asked “Right, and what’s your phone?” to which I, quite ashamed, had to confess I was relying on an iPhone. It was secure, no Android, etc. On that day I thought “Ok… ok I got PinePhones, I got other gadgets but somehow this specific part of my digital life is wrong!” and thought I should try, even if it wouldn’t work, something else. I also wanted, due to geopolitics (sadly), a non American solution so checked https://volla.online/ which looked wonderful but too expensive for a test. Noticed Murena, French based, refurbished or even new phones but much lower price but still paying for service and I hope for /e/OS maintenance and voila, found a compromise that works for me for now!
S,T,U are build versions, where S and T are official and U is community. You can see a discussion on https://community.e.foundation/t/difference-between-e-os-builds/60585/7
IMHO it goes deeper than getting your biometrics, namely do you trust your government? If you do not … then finding “tricks”, technical or legal, will not help in the long run. You need a new government either by changing the one you have or if in feasible becoming citizen of one you do trust.
So… yes necessary “evil” but I’d argue the question is rather how to held the government holding your data accountable, not how to find ways not to have your government hold data. Your government having your data is precisely what let you legally exist and it’s hard to imagine, but maybe it’s just my own shortcomings, being able to exist in a legal system without identifying you as an individual. Note though that this is NOT the same as surveillance.