If you were under the impression that buying a Pixel and installing a private version of Android, think again. According to law enforcement in Catalonia, you’re probably Pablo Escobar.
Yes, this is real. The Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s regional police, are apparently haunted by the specter of privacy-focused smartphones.
In a bizarre media cameo, a spokesperson for their anti-narcotics unit told DiariAra that “every time we see a Pixel we think it could be a drug trafficker.” A line that would be funny if it weren't the official posture of people who carry guns and can arrest you.
The bogeyman in this story is GrapheneOS, an open-source Android fork built for privacy and security. It’s being pitched by Catalan authorities and some press stenographers as the go-to tool of criminal syndicates. Their logic is that Pixels are easy to unlock and reprogram, and GrapheneOS doesn’t come with Google’s surveillance-friendly apps. You can even remotely wipe the phone or set it to auto-nuke after a few failed PIN attempts.
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