is cyanogenmod the same as android without spy features?

[okppko]

http/www.cyanogenmod.org/ is it the same as android, but does not send userdata, geo location, addresses, contacts, whatever, from the phone to google or anyone else? So if you use cyanogenmod and you are aware of what apps you install, then you get a reasonable degree of privacy on your phone? Thanks.

 

[okppko]

Thanks.

It is up to you to wrap this thread up. Write if you think it is enough. I keep asking because I want to know about this.
If you have thought about that 100 of millions of phones have closed microcode, that may already be able to spy on the user, or may remotely be reprogrammed to start spying, you must be concerned if you support privacy. As mentioned not one free or open source software phone is on the market. You cannot buy one, if you want one. You can get replicant, and not get all hardware features.
These days you may have noticed, that later ios versions have build in software to circumvent almost all encryption on iphones. What surprices me is, that apple had not this access on earlier versions. If they did not want that spying capability from the beginning, what made them chance their mind?

If reverse engineering cannot be used on closed software, then when does reverse software engineering apply?

 

[Avalok]

The consensus in this post is wrong. Cyanogenmod offers a lot more privacy. It doesn't send anything at all unless you opt in for usage statistics and/or network based location and/or you install an extra app which does send your data to its remote servers. On the contrary, the default Android has numerous Google services running constantly in the background, and, assuming the worst case scenario, Google will collect a LOT: https/myshadow.org/google-collection

It should be noted that if you choose to install Google software on your CyanogenMod, the privacy benefits will be gone or at least reduced. I personally have APK's which I gathered from several sources on the net, and I install my apps from my own APK's without ever needing Google Play Store or any other Google product. This means I am 100% Google free and I gain all the privacy benefits of Cyanogenmod. The drawback is not having Playstore, but for me it's worth it.

My Google apps replacements:
Google Maps > Osmand
Google Talk > Xabber
Mail > Cyanogenmod 7's stock IMAP client

An interesting related read: http/forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/28109-cyanogenmod-from-a-privacy-point-of-view/

"Is Cyanogen talking back to any mothership? I think not, but I would like to be sure."

ciwrl@cyanogenmod.com (admin)
Simply: No.

Less Simply: All source is available on our github, peered reviewed and tested.

Thank you. I have been looking for a cogent solution to the same problem for a long time, and you have articulated the issues and solution for a good if not perfect solution. Very useful.

 

[asogzx]

Here's a small followup.
Before I start, I would like to point out again that installing Google Play services on Cyanogenmod kills the extra privacy or at least diminishes it greatly.


starting from Cyanogenmod 11 Privacy Guard was integrated into the system. It is a protection mechanism based on Android 4.3 App Ops. It allows the user to selectively allow/deny specific permissions for specific apps. e.g. preventing WhatsApp from accessing the microphone.
Here is a screenshot of Privacy Guard:

Image source: http/www.androidcentral.com/cyanogenmod-updating-privacy-guard-20-new-features-coming-cm102

Note that Privacy Guard does not prevent apps from accessing the network. For that, I use AFWall+, which has the added bonus of blocking inbound connections.

Image source: https/play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.ukanth.ufirewall

If reverse engineering cannot be used on closed software, then when does reverse software engineering apply?

Software can be reverse engineered, but the result is only pieces and bits of the original. It's like looking at a crashed airplane: it might be useful for a thing or two, but it doesn't show you how the original plane works exactly and doesn't show you how many doors (or backdoors) the airplane has. Some applications of software reverse engineering:

1. Cracking software by bypassing payment validation systems. (e.g. getting Photoshop for free): This one is "easy", because it's about disabling pieces of machine code without actually knowing what they do.

2. Extracting bits of code and using them elsewhere: e.g. Craftbukkit was a Minecraft Server alternative with many enhancements. Some of the code in Craftbukkit was extracted from the Minecraft Server (Which, by the way, led to a Bukkit DMCA takedown a few weeks ago), the rest was re-written from scratch.

 

[Sanket Uchil]

Yes, same as android but better in terms of feature it is the best. Yu shall use it to believe it