Our phones do texting and calls, that’s it. Hub disabled everything else, and we have no wifi. I’m a Luddite.
JUST IN: The wife of the elderly "Trump House" owner who was attacked in California says her husband is not expected to survive.
Maria Sheron says there is "no hope" for her husband, Kerry, who was brutally beaten outside his home.
Sheron, a 69-year-old Army veteran, is known…
pic.twitter.com/TreeZEXVOX— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 21, 2026
Hard to know just how to protect oneself. {I had to look up 'Luddite' 🙂 }
That's a valuable skill set. I've done what I can on my phone to disable things, especially google apps, but when I look at the unrevokeable "permissions" that so many of the system executables have on my phone (android), I'm sure it's got leaks.
A while back, for a time, my tagline here on FR was "Your phone is your cattle tag."
"Google Play Services" seems to be the most evil app. Despite it's "playful" name, it seems to be the primary vehicle to "spy" on my phone usage, collecting data at every turn, maybe even using the cameras. I keep that app on a very short leash, almost always disabled and in "forced stop" mode. It doesn't require any permission from me for anything if it's enabled; I have no way to control it - it has free reign to use any sensor the phone has if not forced off.