New cell phone

[sorinsimnic]

Can I buy a new cell phone from Public Network?

[darlicious]

@popping  Of course warning about reading the contract carefully was the intent but the suggestion that you could use the gc to pay off the device subsidy makes it sound like a good idea....after reading the contract you would have to pay both back. Adding the gc idea just confuses the OP. I wanted @sorinsimnic  to be clear on the concept being flawed.

[GinYVR]

@darliciousI would not recommend adding memory cards to phones, since Android is phasing out the support for it. I would caution against buying phones from entities that don't have a presence in Canada, since Canadian privacy laws will not apply and there is no recourse if they decide to pilfer your information.

[Karnbot13]

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@GinYVR wrote:

@darliciousI would not recommend adding memory cards to phones, since Android is phasing out the support for it. I would caution against buying phones from entities that don't have a presence in Canada, since Canadian privacy laws will not apply and there is no recourse if they decide to pilfer your information.

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Where did you hear android is phasing out support for memory cards? 

[cavemantoronto]

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@Karnbot13 wrote:

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@GinYVR wrote:

@darliciousI would not recommend adding memory cards to phones, since Android is phasing out the support for it. I would caution against buying phones from entities that don't have a presence in Canada, since Canadian privacy laws will not apply and there is no recourse if they decide to pilfer your information.

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Where did you hear android is phasing out support for memory cards? 

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They've been saying that for years and use the security argument.  Manufacturers keep installing them and buyers still want it.

[darlicious]

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@cavemantoronto wrote:

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@Karnbot13 wrote:

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@GinYVR wrote:

@darliciousI would not recommend adding memory cards to phones, since Android is phasing out the support for it. I would caution against buying phones from entities that don't have a presence in Canada, since Canadian privacy laws will not apply and there is no recourse if they decide to pilfer your information.

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Where did you hear android is phasing out support for memory cards? 

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They've been saying that for years and use the security argument.  Manufacturers keep installing them and buyers still want it.

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I'm a little confused about the memory card issue here. The phone was bought from London drugs, imported by a Canadian company from a well known American company and made in China but pretty much everything is made there. The micro sd card is solely to boost the 8gb memory of the phone which was also used in my flip phone for music storage and now used additionally for app support. How does does a removable sd card become a security and privacy issue? Would it not be more of an issue having the same information in the unremovable memory of smartphone be a bigger concern? It's a common selling point of phones that a dual sim or micro sd slot feature in a phone or conversely a memory card slot in a tablet to boost memory is an advantage. Have I completed missed something here?

[cavemantoronto]

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@darlicious wrote:

How does does a removable sd card become a security and privacy issue? 

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When a phone is lost or stolen,  internal storage can be remotely wiped. Most don't encrypt their memory cards.  There's also issue with peformance.

[Korth]

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@GinYVR wrote:

I would not recommend adding memory cards to phones, since Android is phasing out the support for it. I would caution against buying phones from entities that don't have a presence in Canada, since Canadian privacy laws will not apply and there is no recourse if they decide to pilfer your information.

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I actually disagree with this advice.

Memory cards (and the data stored on them) can easily be transferred from device to device. This is a great convenience to end-users, easy to move data around, easy to share data by making it portable, easy to migrate your off-cloud stuff when you replace or upgrade your device.

I don't view it as increased security threat because thieves would have to already have your phone to get the storage card out of your phone. Data on the storage card can be encrypted just like data on the phone itself. Data on the storage card remains intact even if the phone itself gets bricked or burned or broken. Data in your pocket is isolated from all the hackers and predators which threaten the cloud (let alone the untrustworthy promises of greedy or technically incompetent corporations who own the cloud storage hardware).

I personally have a lot more confidence in common sense and strong encryption than I have in nebulously defined and unenforceable laws. And Canadian privacy laws have never provided me any comfort before, lol, especially when it comes to internet and to wireless communications, I've seen agencies like the CRTC wibble-wobble after money and fold when confronted by lobby groups often enough. 

But your claim is still interesting. Can you point at your source? 

[darlicious]

@cavemantoronto  Aha...now I see the point. That doesn't explain the pilfering of info by the manufacturer.....? That could definitely be a concern when it comes to the apps. And a concern when it comes to the bf as he has a habit of losing/smashing screens. That was part of the reason for the purchase of a cheap phone so the loss of it would not be in the pocketbook as well. It's only intended as a back up....the real replacement is under the tree. Then the cheap one will be there when the inevitable happens.....

[darlicious]

@Korth  Your response is in line with what I was thinking that it is safer but encryption is a smart move. How does one do this?

[Korth]

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@darlicious wrote:

Your response is in line with what I was thinking that it is safer but encryption is a smart move. How does one do this?

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Some phones have the feature built in, an option like "Encrypt Storage Card" buried somewhere in Settings. This is likely the easiest way but I think it's insecure (because anyone can buy the the same phone model to attempt decrypt) and it's inconvenient (because you be stuck needing the same phone model to decrypt it yourself).

Some file manager apps allow you to Encrypt/Decrypt specific files or folders by click-selecting them. ES File Explorer is free and uses a strong proven crypto. Many similar apps exist which could be as good (or better), but I haven't tried them.

But if you aren't comfortable manipulating file and folder stuff in the operating system then this isn't a good option. 

AESCrypt is probably the best commercial crypto app available. Boxcrypter is arguably the best free crypto app available. They're both easy to use, both use vastly overkill cryptography, and both offer multi-platform support (so you could encrypt or decrypt the contents of your SD card on any phone, tablet, laptop, or PC which you can plug it into).