Not sure where your getting your information but the Pixel 5 has not gotten Android updates or security updates in over 7 months.

There are tons of examples of exploits being used to target EOL phones as its common for people to not care about these updates, or be misinformed, so they are easy targets.

If OP or anyone else wants to use an EOL phone that’s fine but, don’t pretend its a smart security practice. Although even if I were to use an EOL phone, LineageOS doesn’t have the greatest background and isn’t really degoogled

I am not sure if there is an example of that specific situation as it would be pretty odd for a phone to be receiving security patches but not firmware updates.

Anyway its not super relevant as the Pixel 5 does not receive firmware or security patches anymore.

OP also seems to be inferring he suggested to his friend to use a very specific security / privacy OS that does not recommend using that model phone anymore for the exact reasons I mentioned. Plus the model is only receiving partial support as a stop gap for users to have time to get a newer model and won’t be supported much longer anyway.

Its always better to try and get firsthand knowledge through the FAQ then rely on, possibly inaccurate, Lemmy users. I would also seek answers on their official forum over Lemmy as well.

Did you try reading through the FAQ?

Pixel 5 is end-of-life and shouldn’t be used anymore due to lack of security patches for firmware and drivers.

I understand if your friend is on a budget and simply can’t afford a non EOL phone but, they should really consider a 6th gen Pixel or better if they care at all about their data security.

That’s not how end to end encryption works.

Your scared of a slide to the right but already falling for their propaganda to undermine privacy by destroying encryption.

Here you go:

“Google makes the most secure phone. Including for securing your phone against Google.”

Its better then explaining you rather risk your data security then buy a phone from Google.

I like grapheneos the product.

The staff is super abrasive and they constantly attack other privacy projects. See the recent attacks on Jonah from privacy guides, or the attacks on calyx, or the bs with rossman that forced micay out of the spotlight.

They need to hire an outside professional to manage their PR. The way they communicate is their biggest flaw.

FYI- Its not a ROM.

EDIT: for the person down voting a fact - https://x.com/GrapheneOS/status/1588599635337445377

The app was bought out 9 months ago by some mystery company, isn’t actually open source, and you have not switched or made backups? I’m sorry, this is as much a user error as an issue with Raivo.

Let be honest, If your threat model is truly to escape the NSA you probably shouldn’t be risking being on social media.

I think part of the reason people dismiss the idea that someone could have that big of a threat model is in most cases it would be unbelievably bad opsec to risk talking about your threat model on social media or something like the privacy guides forum.

I really appreciate privacy articles that talk about threat modeling as it seems like its the biggest part of privacy people miss.

You shouldn’t be installing extensions on mullvad browser anyway. This completely ruins it’s anti fingerprinting measures, which is one of the biggest reasons to use the browser. If your going to install extensions use Firefox or Brave.

If someone can identify you through your lemmy username an admin isn’t going to save you from your terrible opsec practices.

Lemmy is a social media service. Act accordingly.

Why would “community vetted” imply FOSS?

Microsoft has a massive community of users and sysinternals is highly regarded amongst amateur and professional users alike. The term “community vetted” makes perfect sense in this context.

Another case of a user with terrible opsec that proton will end up being blamed for.

Mullvad, IVPN, Proton, AirVPN, or Windscribe are all fine. Depending on how much stock you put into audits the first three are probably a tier above for privacy.

What don’t you like about IVPN? Audited, open source, great reputation. I don’t even use them but seems odd to count them out.

“I’ve searched the web for my name, home, and phone number. Haven’t found anything on myself yet.”

All this means is your not very good at finding that info. You even stated there are 53 pending brokers, meaning that info is available online.

“Your information is already out there”

This is kind of an odd line of reasoning to hide behind. One one hand you are willing to pay to have your data removed, on the other hand you don’t mind a service actively handing over data because its “already out there”

Again this isnt specific to easyoptouts. Other data removal services do this as well. It would be less of an issue if once your data is removed its permanent but there is nothing stopping brokers from re-adding you, and now your on the radar of new brokers.

The only concern with easyoptouts is they will send requests to brokers they are not sure of, which can lead to data brokers who had no data on you now being sent it. This is not a specific problem for them, as other services do this as well.