#GrapheneOS PSA

[elena@aseachange.com]

#GrapheneOS PSA

I've seen a lot of social media posts going around claiming things about #GrapheneOS and the French government that I simply could not verify. Lots of misleading news headlines too.

I'd like to take this opportunity to hopefully bring some clarity... from the POV of a new GrapheneOS user in France, who cares deeply about the project.

Here are the facts - as far as I can tell.

The French newspaper Le Parisien published an article about GrapheneOS on November 19th which was filled with inaccuracies and boasted that GrapheneOS was a safe haven for drug traffickers.

The GrapheneOS team was alarmed about the headline and reactions... and decided they no longer felt safe operating servers in France. So they terminated their OVH server contract / usage... and moved their servers overseas, mostly outside of Europe.

French GrapheneOS users can still use it. I installed it last Friday and see regular updates...

I haven't seen any official French government announcements about police/officials going after GrapheneOS - as far as I can tell.

Please feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong!

I just see a lot of fearmongering going around and I hope this won't dissuade people from using it. Its sandboxed profiles and advanced security settings (automatically turning off Wifi and Bluetooth for example) are really amazing.

/fin

[rasmus@oslo.town]

@elena The GrapheneOS team's constant paranoia-fueled accusations about everyone and everything attacking them is what is dissuading me from using it. I saw a screenshot from a Matrix- or Discord-channel (albeit unverified origins of said screenshot) accusing the French government of coming after them, and accusing /e/OS and iodeOS of attacking them. If it was just a newspaper article attacking them that triggered that, well... that says a lot.

[rasmus@oslo.town]

@elena I also don't want a Pixel.

[shollyethan@fosstodon.org]

@elena I've also been following this closely and the only thing I'd add is that the person interviewed in the Le Parisien article is also the head of the cybercrime unit that arrested the CEO of Telegram last year for similar accusations (see Reuters article below).

Whether the accusations against GrapheneOS are true or not, I can't say I blame them for taking action.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/behind-arrest-telegram-boss-small-paris-cybercrime-unit-with-big-ambitions-2024-08-30/

[elena@aseachange.com]

@shollyethan Ah yes that’s an excellent point Ethan, thank you! 🙏

[elena@aseachange.com]

@rasmus I understand! As soon as I unboxed the Pixel I immediately flashed GrapheneOS on it… and of course I haven’t installed Google Play Services…

[nathan@ublog.hurel.me]

@elena@aseachange.com this thread summarized the situation : https://ublog.hurel.me/notes/afawszm8m1bi23vg
Basically french government not understanding anything about technology and considering privacy as suspicious.

Another good article by serious french journalists here : https://next.ink/210495/accuse-doutil-pour-criminels-grapheneos-rompt-avec-la-france/

But why are you on grapheneOs if you have nothing to hide ? 😛

[elena@aseachange.com]

@nathan Thank you for these links!

[korkeala@hachyderm.io]

@elena Thanks for the info (and others in this thread). I don't understand French so can't verify those claims, but it's good that @GrapheneOS takes it seriously and protects them and their users. There are users with different threat models, for some journalists or activist it might be the difference going to jail or worse.

[grapheneos@grapheneos.social]

@elena No, this is a highly inaccurate overview and should be retracted. Le Parisien was contacted directly by leadership of a French law enforcement agency. They published 2 articles nearly entirely based on the claims directly from law enforcement with a mix of direct quotations and paraphrasing it. Here are those 2 articles:

https://archive.is/UrlvK
https://archive.is/AhMsj

People can see from themselves that these articles contain many direct statements from French law enforcement about us.

[grapheneos@grapheneos.social]

@korkeala @elena It's a highly inaccurate overview and should be retracted. Le Parisien was contacted directly by leadership of a French law enforcement agency. They published 2 articles nearly entirely based on claims directly from law enforcement with a mix of direct quotations and paraphrasing it. Here are those 2 articles:

https://archive.is/UrlvK
https://archive.is/AhMsj

People can see from themselves that these articles contain many direct statements from French law enforcement about us.

[grapheneos@grapheneos.social]

@korkeala @elena French law enforcement sent out an alert notice about GrapheneOS to police throughout the country and paired that with contacting a bunch of news publications. Le Parisien rushed to publish a story simply taking the law enforcement claims at face value with a mangled version of our response to their vague query at the bottom. Other newspapers, radio stations and television channels then aired stories about it based on information from French law enforcement, not Le Parisien.

[grapheneos@grapheneos.social]

@elena French law enforcement sent out an alert notice about GrapheneOS to police throughout the country and paired that with contacting a bunch of news publications. Le Parisien rushed to publish a story simply taking the law enforcement claims at face value with a mangled version of our response to their vague query at the bottom. Other newspapers, radio stations and television channels then aired stories about it based on information from French law enforcement, not Le Parisien.

[grapheneos@grapheneos.social]

@elena You should look at the stories on franceinfo and elsewhere which are very similar and make it clear they were directly contacted by French law enforcement too.

In Le Parisien's interview at https://archive.is/UrlvK which mostly consists of direct quotes, law enforcement brings up their mass arrests and server seizures targeting SkyECC and Encrochat while portraying it as similar to us and implying they will do the same thing if they decide we're not cooperating with them.