[zn0]

On March 1 in Sweden there will be a new law passing allowing police to legally "hack" phones, all that's required is a suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal activities. The reason for the new law is because drug-dealers are using encrypted chat-apps like Telegram, Signal, Wickr, etc. How they are going to do this is not really clear, but I'm guessing they'll stock up on 0days in some of the most popular apps used. I've also heard they could install malware on your phone, either through physical tampering or by having the targets ISP remotely do it through some form of MITM attack.

My threat-model hasn't really covered a national entity like this before, but I've bought two new Android phones for me and my friend and was thinking of securing it as well as I can. I'm planning on unlocking the bootloader on both, rooting them and installing LineageOS. LineageOS comes with the standard Android 10 encryption. I was thinking we start using XMPP with a self-hosted XMPP server using OMEMO, I could just download a good client on both our phones and set it up for him. As for internet you can simply buy prepaid surf with cash and get a new SIM card after each payment. This way they wouldn't know which phone to target, if they were theoretically trying to install malware through the ISP. Then locking the bootloader again once I'm done.

Maybe unrooting it after I've done the changes I want to (like removing pre-installed bloatware) is a good idea as having root access on your phone could be a huge security flaw. Also I'm not even sure if a MITM attack like this would work if the ISP is compromised. Do you guys have any other suggestions?

[Drako]

I don't know how something like that could even pass as a law. I'm not politically invested in Sweden, so I'm completely unfamiliar with their politics. A law like that definitely wouldn't pass in the U.S.

I've considered flashing a new ROM to my phone for various reasons, but I can't. The bootloader is completely locked. What more can you expect from LG? I'll be getting a Samsung A series phone some time in the future though. They look like really good phones for the price.

[zn0]

I don't know how something like that could even pass as a law. I'm not politically invested in Sweden, so I'm completely unfamiliar with their politics. A law like that definitely wouldn't pass in the U.S.

I've considered flashing a new ROM to my phone for various reasons, but I can't. The bootloader is completely locked. What more can you expect from LG? I'll be getting a Samsung A series phone some time in the future though. They look like really good phones for the price.

It's pretty crazy, it's like our government have been using the book 1984 as an instruction manual for the past 10 years.

I was thinking of getting a Samsung A series phone too because of the price. I went with Motorola G7. They have good phones that are cheap. Hard to find a cheap phone that can be used with LineageOS in stores though.

[mothered]

What more can you expect from LG?

This applies to most of their products.

After my LG cell phone, TV and fridge died shortly after the warranty expired, I'll never touch LG again. Their customer service, Is also a representation of their products- very poor.

[Drako]

What more can you expect from LG?

This applies to most of their products.

After my LG cell phone, TV and fridge died shortly after the warranty expired, I'll never touch LG again. Their customer service, Is also a representation of their products- very poor.

For some reason my parents are absolutely brainwashed with LG. I've never seen the both of them without an LG phone. The one I currently have is more than capable of running a 64 Bit ROM and or an OS higher than Android 8.1. LG just doesn't put any effort into updating their products.

[mothered]

What more can you expect from LG?

This applies to most of their products.

After my LG cell phone, TV and fridge died shortly after the warranty expired, I'll never touch LG again. Their customer service, Is also a representation of their products- very poor.

For some reason my parents are absolutely brainwashed with LG. I've never seen the both of them without an LG phone. The one I currently have is more than capable of running a 64 Bit ROM and or an OS higher than Android 8.1. LG just doesn't put any effort into updating their products.

If LG serves both yourself and your parents well, then there's no need for change.

As per above, I've had bad experiences with LG, which Is enough to stop using their products. This was quite a number of years ago, so perhaps they've Improved since then.