Linus Tech Tips Video about GrapheneOS

domnru

The big tech youtube channel Linux Tech Tips uploaded a video about GrapheneOS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDR6V5OdnYg

In my opinion its awesome to see more "mainstream" channels talking about GrapheneOS to get more attention to this awesome project.

grayway2

domnru this video will give GrapheneOS more visibility but the title " I Tried the Criminal's Phone of Choice for a Month " is also damageable for the project.

It's like if GrapheneOS was directly and intentionally helping criminals because it was built for them. It's literally telling people this OS will help people to do bad things and break the law.

domnru

grayway2 Im totally with you with this one. I would even go that far that GrapheneOS saves lifes of people in totalitarian countries because of its security and privacy. GrapheneOS is an awesome project not only for people which are hobbiest or trying to get rid of big tech and spyware but for the people who depend on it because of their jobs, political activities and other things. I wish LLT knew better and choosed a better title than this.

bellaph

grayway2
The video is actually kind of a fair overview of GrapheneOS for the regular person who wants to try it. The title indeed is bad but typical clickbait, something LTT always does and almost always doesn't reflect the video. They are known for changing titles and thumbnails, and I'm sure they (are willing to) do it after a few days or weeks to a more reasonable and reflective one.

grayway2

I suggest the people behind the project to directly contact Linus, explain him what it wrong with the title and ask him kindly to change it.

ElliesSurviving

grayway2 i suggest also the community try to do whatever possible to not only fight the misinformation but try to get linus attention to the matter and change his mind, going by one of the comments he liked on youtube it might take a bit to convince him

Litedrive

grayway2 Linus knows. He pretty much said on the WAN show "yeah I know it's not accurate, but we gotta clickbait to get people to watch it, we explain the joke in the first minute of the video".

I'm not very happy about about it, as others have said, there will be people who only look at the thumbnail and title and never watch the video, and other people who do watch the video, don't pay attention enough to understand that it was a joke. But I think it's probably still better than the video not existing at all.

Eirikr70

I really like that video. It gives an excellent overview of GrapheneOS. And I also like the title. Congrats to @spring-onion

domnru

My opinion on the video is splitted. LTT shows things like banking apps or apps like "Ebay" do not work on GrapheneOS (Ebay does but PlayStore blocks the download without a direct reason). They could, and do but its the bad or the negligent implementation for banking apps for giving a "false sense of security" to ban custom roms. It sounds a bit like that GrapheneOS is the problem, but the problem are the developers not implementing the api GrapheneOS provides to check for device integrity.

vodka

domnru It sounds a bit like that GrapheneOS is the problem

I think they made it quite clear that it was the apps needing "extra google stuff" at fault.
And for that matter, it IS an issue when using GrapheneOS, it not being the "fault" of GrapheneOS doesn't mean that somehow makes the issue go away.

Delaney

bellaph The title indeed is bad but typical clickbait, something LTT always does and almost always doesn't reflect the video. They are known for changing titles and thumbnails

Exactly. This isn't as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be. LTT is a content creator first and foremost and the fact he is mentioning GrapheneOS at all is great for publicity.

daris

bellaph Just because they do it all the time doesn't make it okay. Quite the opposite. With such an important topic as Graphene OS, you should refrain from making money with clickbait. It damages the project when it is associated with criminals by such a major content creator. Most people see that he has uploaded a new video and then read the title. How many even notice afterwards that he changed the title? The damage has already been done.

fever2

What surprised me was how apparently call screening just worked, it really is the last bit I'm missing from stock.

ElliesSurviving

the video itself is ok, but the thumbnail and title are completely misleading and misrepresent the GrapheneOS project in all the wrong ways

linus himself liked a comment that said about how people getting mad over the title havent watched any part of the video, but in reality people will scroll youtube and take away information just based on the thumbnail and title, where me misrepresnts the project, so if he actually cared he would rectify this, time will tell to see if he does

if linus was to apologise and rename the vid with a different thumbnail i wouldnt have complaints myself

grayway2

ElliesSurviving that's right, the thumbnail and the title are enough to create a bad image of the project for the majority

naibed

Good, even-handed review from a mainstream channel. No complaints on my end.

Litedrive

I found the WAN show segment, here is a timestamped link https://youtu.be/wlS9ist2qrk?t=11724

geckofish52

In defense of the title, most mainstream coverage of GrapheneOS is in fact about how "criminals use it". To reference that in the title is simply an effective hook. If the tone is jarring, you're unfamilar with popular YouTube content. The fact that the content of the video is a fair, overall positive description of GrapheneOS is more of a win than you might realize.

EnragedBoot

While the video overall is actually quite good, I find the title, thumbnail, and intro to it to all be problematic, and the fact that they were greenlit are prime evidence why I find Linus (and therefore the whole LTT/LMG project) to be untrustworthy; I don't believe they are capable nor willing to see why this might be damaging to GrapheneOS.

chinook

EnragedBoot I mean, it's quite defamatory to be honest.

But it's Linus Tech Tips - I didn't expect integrity: https://earlygame.com/entertainment/the-linus-tech-tips-allegations-explained-gamers-nexus-and-ex-employee-expose-misinformation-harassment-sexism-more

But I think it's probably still better than the video not existing at all.

I don't know.... maybe? But any positive effect will be negated by his stated claim this is the OS for criminals.

n3t_admin

I find some of these comments hilarious.
LTT (or rather LMG) is a business - a profit driven company that wants and needs to make as much money as humanly possible.
To reach that goal, they will use every tactic in the book, even if it revolves around clickbait and misleading thumbnails.
I can't believe there are honestly people who think that they have some personal moral obligation or responsibility or believe in the values they represent publicly themselves.
Dude is invested in Framework and everyone thinks he's some right-to-repair advocate. No, he just detected a business opportunity.
Some people are able to observe current trends and cash out on it.
It's amusing how shocked people here are that he would use clickbait in a way that is damaging to the project, when that is the exact tactic that is used most of the time. If you've missed all of the other "drama" they had in the recent past, you're in for a ride.

EnragedBoot

n3t_admin Just because it's not surprising to see, that doesn't make it not worth mentioning.

Just because it's within their best interest to use clickbait to garner views to boost profit, doesn't mean they shouldn't be called out for it.

I never made my comment because I believe they have some moral imperative to operate differently, but because bullshit is worth pointing out.