TLDR: Drug dealers in Catalonia have started to adopt GrapheneOS en masse leading to Catalan police suspecting anyone with a Google Pixel is a drug dealer
Can confirm. Own pixel, deal drugs.
But do you live in Catalonia?
I’ve used Samsungs for years, but they have gotten too expensive for what I need, so I went for a Pixel this time around. I got issues with it, but mostly because I’m so used to the Samsung universe. Still way better than an Apple.
I guess I’m a Spanish drug dealer now.
Isn’t it likely the police is kind of right?
I mean, how many people in that community used grapheneos phones before the drug dealers figured out how good they were for their purposes? So in that community, it’s indeed very likely that a grapheneos user is in a drug gang.
Does that mean that grapheneos is an issue, or bad? Not at all. But i see a lot of digs at the police here at how dumb they are. But if literally most grapheneos users there are drug dealers, is it dumb? It’s just a plain observation that’s pretty correct.
And it’s kind of logical that proper open source tools that are not full of spyware are better for also such purposes. Doesn’t make these tools a problem. If a politician would now start a crusade against such operating systems, that i would agree is dumb.
But i don’t see an issue with police somewhere realizing that drugdealers use a specific tool, and focusing on that. Of course sucks for the couple of regular users there that just do it to have control over their device…
Pixel has a market share of 1.5%, so they kind of stand out. Also, there is no such thing as “federales” in Spain. Spain is not a federation. If they are talking about National Police or Guardia civil, they go through a pretty hard entrance exam, and then have a minimum of one year instruction. Executive ranks must have a university degree. Generally reasonably competent. Mossos (regional) and local police are another story. They are quite a bit less competent.
That really depends on what they do with that information. If people get arrested for having a pixel, that’s a huge issue. If someone merely gets a closer investigation if they’re suspected of another crime, that’s fine.
The article is light on details.
I think most of the criticism towards police is because they are discriminating based on Google Pixels, which is a completely normal car that you can install GrapheneOS on. It would be like targeting anyone driving a Kia because of the Kia Boys
Solid cop logic. Of the exact level you’d expect.
Update, July 3, 2025 (11:45 AM ET): The crew behind GrapheneOS is understandably none too pleased about their good name being dragged through the mud, and members are speaking out about these reports from Spain. Over on X, the official GrapheneOS account posts:
European authoritarians and their enablers in the media are misrepresenting GrapheneOS and even Pixel phones as if they’re something for criminals. GrapheneOS is opposed to the mass surveillance police state these people want to impose on everyone.
Security is a tool, and can be wielded just as much for good as it can for bad. While some people may see this as an indictment, we’d say it’s more the inevitable consequence of GrapheneOS just being very, very good at what it does.
Yeah, when the media is wrong, GrapheneOS out here correcting the media!
Reminds me of when the US tried to fight “terror” by kidnapping people and shoving them in Gitmo because they were wearing Casio watches, which is apparently a brand favoured by terrorists.
Guess they’re gonna throw my kid into Gitmo then…
There was a guide to craft a timed bomb with the f-91w and other common materials. Uploaded by the terrorists. It worked
Well I do use a Pixel (for lineage OS) and I do make my living selling drugs… wait wait this is a bad example.
Well in that case two marijuanas please
As long as you are in my province then sure! Gotta obey the law after all.
Original or hot n spicy?
1/2 and 1/2 with extra cheese pls
You too!?
Oh crap, are they onto us?
Shhhh! They don’t know yet.
Gotta some of that good ket?
No not a veterinarian, sorry.
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Police are not the brightest in any society.
So I guess somebody needs to tell them that they need to focus their efforts a little better if their current plan is ‘anyone with a Google Pixel is a drug dealer’.
Can I suggest they start with the people with drugs, rather than the people with the – not uncommon - google phones in their search for drug dealers?
Police are not the brightest in any society.
It’s a literal job requirement. If you’re smart, you’re not going to blindly follow orders. Police cognitive testing literally discards candidates that perform well in intellectual tasks. This is not a conspiracy or a joke, it’s how police works.
This is a weird advertisement, but I kind of want grapheneOS now.
Been on it for ~2 years and never going back, fuck Google, fuck the government.
I’ve also been using it for like 2 years but I really want the hardware of something like the Fairphone. A fairphone or something similar with Graphene would be amazing
The Graphene OS people have always been talking about how they eventually intend to develop their own hardware. So, possibly they will make something good eventually.
Would be sick. If they also make it open enough to try out mobile Linux, I’d totally buy it and try to transition (esp. if it can dual boot).
Not develop their own hardware, but contract an established manufacturer to do it for them. Which is good, they have no business doing hardware!
Epic
Well you still bought a Google phone
True, with the intention of installing Graphene OS on it. No other options.
They’re easy to get used!
Strange that google is the only option for the only “secure” operating system.
Hey, do you know what is Ring Level minus One ?Strange that google is the only option for the only “secure” operating system.
The have their reasons: https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices
Hey, do you know what is Ring Level minus One ?
I know you’re only trolling here and I’m feeding into it, but you nerd sniped me just right to explain why your question is stupid on multiple fronts.
First of all, “Ring -1” is the hypervisor, at least on virtualization-capable devices (which modern Pixels are), and the hypervisor will be Linux’s KVM in this case, which is open source and compiled by the Graphene team as part of the kernel from source.
Secondly, Arm (which is the architecture basically all phone chips use, including Pixels) has a slightly different model of security, where apps are Exception Level 0, the OS is EL1, the hypervisor is EL2, and the “secure monitor” (or management firmware) is EL3 (and is probably what you were trying to refer to).
So yeah, I don’t think you know what “Ring -1” is. At least not enough to warrant a snarky comment.
“-1” is not just hypervisors, things like Intel Management and AMD Platform Security Processor can peer into system memory. I have no doubt similar system exist on ARM, I suspect the radio transceiver can also read system memory and read secrets out of the security devices.
I don’t think modern phones are trustable devices. They are opaque blackboxes, pretending to have high security but this security only really protects the spyware operators from being notices.
I don’t think it’s coincidence that the most “secure” and “private” operating system only operates on a very narrow model selection of phones from just one manufacturer. Probably because they have the best technology to keep the inherent backdoor invisible and implausible. A backdoor to a system nobody trusts wouldn’t be very useful.
The original post is about how it’s so secure the piggies can’t get in. Unless the super secret backdoor is only for the shadow government to disappear dissidents with no trace, thus keeping their super secret backdoor secret.
Been on it for about 19 months now, it’s what Android should be.
I have an iPhone since the first one and I wanna try it to.
Reminds me of getting a notice in Middle School, decades ago, about how a pager was considered “drug paraphernalia”
There was also a big Bloomberg-Era push by the NYPD to arrest any woman carrying condoms on her person, on the grounds that a woman carrying a condom must be a sex worker.
Everything I hear about Bloomberg make me question how he ran as a democrat, and then I remember he fits the democratic party better than anyone else…
NYC’s greatest act was tricking everyone into thinking it’s a progressive city. I am interested in Mamdani at least.
Hey, the security is nice, but I really like the detailed control over notifications, GMS prompts, and network access. When I used PixelOS, my phone did things I didn’t want it to, and it was hard or impossible to make it stop. On GrapheneOS, the defaults are a pretty good experience. I even recommend it to non-techies since they can use it with the Google apps and its still a more respectful experience, even if they don’t need or want the level of control that I like.
TL; DR-- There are many good reasons for regular people to prefer GrapheneOS
I wouldn’t exactly call the people that run a non-stock OS “normal”
Sure, but they’re also not especially likely to be a drug dealer. I’m a GrapheneOS user and bought the Pixel specifically for it, and I’ve never done drugs in my life, much less traffic in them.
The police: ‘We’ve encountered a difficulty with our paid spying software. Welp it must be just the criminals.’
Edit: Missed the R and hit the T on our.
pretty much. The original article says that if they have a pixel they have to ask for a warrant
This implies searching other phones don’t require warrants?
Yes. Yes it does.
Or more accurately, they can’t search your phone without you knowing with GrapheneOS, so they have to get a judge to force you to willing unlock it.
So they follow the laws only on GrapheneOS users. Iirc other up to date phones are also hard to crack especially if it’s on first unlock
I don’t really know. I operate under the assumption that my phone is always a piece of spyware and minimize what’s actually on it or what it can hear.
You are a smart person. We need more people like you.
Without? Even with paid spying software is hard, as far as data forensics go. Going with Pegasus and the likes, you never know, just reboot every 2 hours if you don’t mind the hassle.
I’m pretty sure they just misspelled our as out
Technically I didn’t misspell. This is me missing the correct key.
Basically, if you don’t have a phone the cops can easily backdoor, you must be a criminal.
“What do you have to hide?” taken to it’s logical conclusion.
Humans are apes desiring power, there’s no excuse under which you can give it to them. They’ll invent authority giving them right to judge you and think they are in the right.
Also why I absolutely despise the Silicon Valley - it’s many such people who think they are the elite now. I want that place detroited as soon as possible. Zuckerberg prosecuted for all the murders he’s committed (I’m certain there are plenty, a person with ASPD with such power just can’t be anything else) which are now unknown, Brin and other jerks playing “cooperating with legal elected authorities” while giving them something with no mandate whatsoever feeling themselves powerful - prosecuted for high treason, all these playing censorship and recommendation - prosecuted for scams on the scale of billions, yadda-yadda.
Cops saying this should be immediately sued for inciting hate or defamation or whatever against people who don’t want to be backdoored.
I have a right to not be surveilled, they don’t have a right to surveil me.
Anyway, I might all the time fly a weird trajectory between various ideologies, but they are all anarchist and Silicon Valley bosses are all thieves.
they are all anarchist and Silicon Valley bosses are all thieves.
Nothing is ever absolute, but Silicon Valley has been going in a consistently bad direction for 20+ years now.
Basically, if you don’t have a phone the cops can easily backdoor, you must be a criminal.
… and if it’s an obscenely expensive one.
Normal people either can’t afford these devices or don’t have time for all the hassle of installing and using a rare operating system on a phone.
I paid $350 or so for my Pixel 8 refurb. New wasn’t that much more. I put GrapheneOS on it the day I got it, and it took maybe 15 min? The install process was really smooth.
Pixels are way less than top phones, like iPhones or Samsungs.
Pixels are mid range if you buy a generation back. I have 6a and paid $250 two years ago.
No one forces you to root your Pixel, you are allowed to use it with stock android.
I paid $350 or so for my Pixel 8 refurb. New wasn’t that much more.
And yeah, the Pixel is fine without a different ROM, I just like what GrapheneOS offers, so I specifically bought it instead of an alternative.
I have 6a
Well shit. Guess I need a battery
Oh my, I hear Google is going to brick the batteries of the 6a just like they did with the 4a phones. Due to worry about them catching fire. So good luck!
Yeah, it needs a battery
Batteries are a part of the device that will wear down over time anyways. The real problem is making them inaccessible. I have no idea how hard it is to replace on a pixel though.
It looks to be a pain between the tools needed and the hassle. It supposedly takes between 30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on your skills and some luck.
Minimum wage in Spain is €1,300 per month. A Pixel 9a is under $500 and under €550 and currently on sale for $449 and €500. A couple of hundred can get you a Pixel 9. What exactly is a not obscenely price for a flagship phone to you?
And I don’t even understand your second comment. People spend over an hour a day on social media alone.
So the normal person in Spain could buy this phone and the normal person in Spain does have the time to figure out how to install a “rare” operating system. A “rare” operating system that’s free and easily copied.
Yup, install process takes a few minutes, it walks you through it on a pretty friendly web page.
Rare is a matter of popular practice, not difficulty.
It’s rare to walk around with an actual tinfoil hat, but not difficult or expensive to do.
When someone says “rare operating system”, the word “rare” describes “operating system”.
Here is the statement again:
Normal people either can’t afford these devices or don’t have time for all the hassle of installing and using a rare operating system on a phone.
In your sentence, “rare” is used to describe “it”, a pronoun, which refers to the action “to walk around with an actual tinfoil hat”.
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I commented a user’s use of “rare”. Then you did the same to my comment.
I didn’t think how the initial poster use of the word “rare” meant to describe “a matter of popular practice, not difficulty.” So I replied back to you.
You can install Graphene from the browser, it’s really not a huge hassle to install especially if you do it right when you get the phone.
You can buy a Pixel with Graphene already installed, and they’re by no means obscenely expensive.
Now THAT is something I wouldn’t ever trust.
LET ME HANDLE YOUR PRIVACY FOR YOU MY GOOD SIR!
Supply chain attacks? Never heard of 'em. /s
I get the instinct but that is why GrapheneOS only runs on Pixels. Pixels have hardware needed to verify you are running the genuine GrapheneOS. Still safer and cheaper to buy stock and spend 10 mins installing Graphene of course.
From whom? That sounds inadvisable
rare operating system
android
🤔
maybe they dumbed down “a custom ROM” or just didn’t want to name GrapheneOS
GrapheneOS is most used on old Google Pixels which are anything but “obscenely expensive”
Pixel 9 pro with 512Gb is obscenely expensive. Pixel 8a, with minimal storage is pretty affordable. 7a dare I say cheap.
Interesting, at least four people in my closer circle aren’t normal people. Including myself.
What sorts of drugs do you and your gang sell?
Mint?
Maybe Arch or even Ubuntu?
Only one of those.
I use Arch, btw.
I am not allowed to tell you. I don’t want you to buy a Google Pixel.
I’m more of a Fairphone guy myself.
Do you live in that region?
No. Do I have to, to be a “normal people”?
Yeah. Only Spanish people are normal. Found that out today. /s
The refurbished pixel 8 I bought cost a fraction of what I’d have paid for a new phone and the installation took 5 minutes.
The A series lines have been the best value smartphones generation after generation. I would not say theyre expensive. I have bought each current gen for about $350 or less (excluding tax), no trade in.
Normal people either can’t afford these devices or don’t have time for all the hassle
Had a friend who was getting by on $2k/mo and got herself a $1400 top of the line iPhone, because her carrier gave her a reduction in her monthly payment plan (for an obscene amount of debt and locked-in service on the back end). Her brother jail-broke it for her and did the normal “cleaning off all the bloatware” due-diligence.
This is just something we all put up with in the modern day. “Normal people” have a harder time navigating the bullshit, but its a lake we all have to paddle through.
This is the best recommendation for a phone I’ve seen yet.
Thanks catalonian police
Be wary since as of Android 16, Google no longer provides device source for Pixel phones.
I’ll keep in mind thanks
