De-Googling your phone! Retired forensic investigator gives tips on protecting your privacy

• By Tamara Ugolini

PETITION: Let Our Kids Go Back To Class

Ontario students who suffered from the devastating effects of school closures due to government-mandated COVID restrictions will be locked out of their classrooms again as the education workers' union announces a strike. If you agree that kids must remain in the classroom, sign this petition.

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Secure

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It’s no secret that the Public Health Agency of Canada tracked 33 million mobile devices during lockdown, using this information to “better understand the possible links between movement of populations within Canada and the spread of COVID-19.”

Prior to this admittance, Rebel News Chief Reporter Sheila Gunn Reid reported on the tender posted by the Public Health Agency of Canada requesting indiscriminate access to cell-tower and operator locations to assist in the response to COVID-19.

In this interview, I discuss the ramifications of such public health overreach into the Big Tech surveillance space with retired Ontario Provincial Police officer, Vincent Gircys.

As a former forensic investigator with a degree in electronic engineering technology, he shares his concerns and provides tips to help preserve your data and take other measures to protect your privacy.

Vincent gives us an overview on the Big Tech conglomerates such as Alphabet Inc, Palantir, Pegasus and the NSO Group. We briefly discuss mesh networks and the impact that such broad interconnectivity can have.

Referring to what he calls “de-Googling” your phone, Vincent points to a conversion program called GrapheneOS. He also shares some surveillance free software applications for Android (noting that you cannot “De-Google” an iOS system) such as F-Droid and Aurora Store.