#boost

What this server has with the tag: posts by people here, and posts from elsewhere that reached it. There's more of it on mastodon.de, chaosfem.tw.

@adbenitez@mastodon.de

🚨 is collecting phone numbers /SIM from your phone by default now without asking for consent, here is how to disable it

I have a test phone with stock Android (and hence Google services) to test how the apps I develop behave there etc.

The other day I woke up with a notification in that phone, out of the blue Google was telling me they "verified my phone number" basically they stole/collected my phone number from my phone and sent it to their servers without any consent.

I know the trust bar is very low, but even then I didn't expect Google to do this.

Here is how you can disable the collecting of your phone numbers which is on by default:

Go to Settings -> Google -> All services -> Privacy & security -> Phone number verification. See attached screenshot.

Or even better: switch to or other systems

Please boost and spread with your not-so-techie friends that might be using stock Google phones

EDIT: corrected typo: it is "all services" not "all devices"

@Willow@chaosfem.tw

Call to action to cis people: be assholes anytime you get asked for your sex assigned at birth. Write letters, complain to staff, refuse to answer. Make it impossible to collect sex assigned at birth. Be really offended that anyone would ask you. Make enough noise that if trans people want to quietly not answer or give whatever answer feels correct to them, no one will notice.