Is our privacy more at risk with some Chinese mobiles?

That is what they indicate from Lithuania, and in my opinion their decision is a risky and brave decision, and as they explain they do it with data in hand.

The announcement has been made by the Lithuanian Minister of Defense, indicating that they had verified that some Huawei and Xiaomi models censored communications and therefore recommend not using any mobile phone of Chinese origin.

As is logical, the spokespersons of the companies have quickly denied these facts saying that they comply with European regulations, but we all know very well that they cannot say otherwise, and that lying presents absolutely no problem to them at all.

China is an iron dictatorship and the Chinese Communist Party is embedded in all companies and imposes its criteria and political interests, and many of them are included in the devices they manufacture.

In Lithuania they have found that the Xiaomi Mi 10 T 5G mobile has software that detects and censors terms such as “free Tibet” and many others. Mobile phones sold in Europe have this function disconnected but it can be activated remotely whenever the manufacturer wants. So whoever has one of those mobile phones is in the hands of the Chinese government.

And that is not acceptable.

What happens is that the “problem” may be more fundamental for the Android eco-system and also has to do with the APP’s that come pre-installed in Andoid mobiles. These APP’s are placed by the manufacturer, they are complex to eliminate, and the device manufacturer has total control over them and can modify them at will.

Partly that’s why there are so many low-cost and sometimes very low-cost Android phones. These mobiles have pre-installed APPs that send data to the manufacturer, who can sell them and earn additional income. Something that almost no one knows, and what is worse than anyone seems to worry about.

Anyway, Lithuania is a small country that is demonstrating an independence of action that is an example for all, and the majority should follow and support them.

Those of us who live in a democracy have an obligation to defend their values and not allow anyone to trample on top of them, no matter how powerful they may be.

But let’s not be too naive either. The more we use mobile phones we will have less privacy, since those devices are true data captors of our private life.