#Disconnection#CellPhones#Migrants#AsylumSeekers: "This article investigates online connection and disconnection practices among migrants and asylum seekers. It draws from an ethnography of three Sicilian reception centres that hosted migrants and asylum seekers between September and November 2020. We show how migrants, driven by different migratory motivations, enact different mobile connection and disconnection practices. We argue that these are characterised by the different affective meanings that migrants and asylum seekers attach to mobile connection and disconnection and by the different value they place on the public and private dimensions of their lives. By offering a multifaceted portrait of the mobile connection and disconnection practices of different categories of migrants, this article also contributes to: (1) media and migration studies, by showing that there are substantial differences in online connection practices and smartphone use between asylum seekers and migrants and (2) to disconnection studies, by highlighting the nuances that exist within disconnection practices among non-privileged social groups, such as migrants and asylum seekers. We show that they cannot afford to practise typically Western, urban and elitist forms of disconnection; however, they too are able to practise specific forms of disconnection, paradoxically afforded by staying connected. The article aims to contextualise and situate disconnection studies within different social, political, cultural and geographic contexts." https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14614448241249371
#Mobile#Cellphones#Surveillance#CyberSecurity#Spyware: "We’ve all been there before: You’re traveling abroad, and as your plane lands and is taxiing to the gate, you reach for your phone, wait for it to connect to the local network, and then you are greeted with a text message: “Welcome abroad, you’re now roaming!” Beyond the exorbitant fees, few of us are likely to give the matter much thought.
However, hidden within this seemingly routine transaction lies one of the most extensive, yet lesser-known surveillance risks of our age: the technical vulnerabilities at the heart of the world’s mobile communications networks. Accompanying the complex arrangement of global networks, international roaming service providers, and financial agreements are surveillance actors who access and covertly manipulate decades-old protocols to extract your sensitive personal information from the mobile network. Human rights and national security risks abound. A new report by the Citizen Lab (a research center with which we are affiliated) details how it all works."
Spanish parents are rallying to ban cell phones for children under 16.
A series of incidents linked to schoolchildren's social media usage and parental efforts to curb unrestricted smartphone access have sparked a major national debate.
Just got a security update on my "new" Pixel 4a refurbished phone today. Officially, Android no longer provides security updates for this specific phone. But LineageOS, a fork of Android, does still provide such updates.
Disclaimer: because it's an old phone, it won't be as secure as a newer phone with official support from Android. But, I feel it's a good harm reduction strategy for older phones.
Okay, after my last failed attempt with a Samsung Galaxy S9 (I returned that phone today), I'm now going to try to install LineageOS on a Google Pixel 4a.
#Apple#iOS#Cellphones#MobilePhones#WalledGardens#GateKeeping#OpenWeb: "Mobile applications are shaping information sharing, cultural expression, and social engagement. Employing a walkthrough methodology, this study examines the handling of user requests to access Web content via hyperlinks within 27 mobile apps operating in the Apple iOS ecosystem. The research reveals notable distinctions: traditional news media apps like CNN and BBC facilitate users’ direct access to Web content through their preferred mobile browsers with a single click, whereas many social media platforms confine users to in-app browsers. Tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft trigger banner advertisements for their browsers when users click on a hyperlink within their e-mail apps. This approach allows them to capitalize on their dominant positions in one market to drive the visibility and adoption of products in adjacent markets. Moreover, emerging social media apps like TikTok adopt a policy of rendering hyperlinks unclickable, indicating a broader trend toward tightened control over information dissemination. These gatekeeping choices have far-reaching implications for user privacy, the equitable distribution of value between content creators and app administrators, and the future of the open Web."