To begin with, yes, you could flash it with a custom rom and that'd get rid of os based spyware. Not being able to flash custom rom on a phone is not about the country you get it from, but the phone itself.

TRA ID, or Telecommunications Regulatory Authority ID, is a unique identifier found on devices, particularly Samsung phones sold in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It serves as a confirmation that the phone unit is genuine and appropriately imported. The TRA ID is used to ensure that devices meet the regulatory standards set by the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) in the UAE.

TA, which stands for Type Approval, refers to the type of approval granted to devices. It indicates that the device has met the necessary technical and regulatory requirements to be sold in the UAE market. The TA RTTE, specifically, stands for the type of approval, and it is part of the certification process that ensures devices comply with local regulations.

Sources:https://www.cms.gov/tra/References/TRA_Acronyms.htmhttps://r2.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S/What-is-TRA-TA-ID-in-s21-fe-UAE-official/td-p/15448933https://tra.go.ke/https://www.tra.go.tz/https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/tra.asphttps://www.tra.gov.om/En/https://r2.community.samsung.com/t5/Others/TRA-UAE-Privacy/td-p/5540365https://www.reddit.com/r/dubai/comments/t08i9y/tra_id_telecom_regulatory_authority_on_phones/https://xdaforums.com/t/how-to-remove-tra-id-from-samsung-s8.3752030/

Thank you for your helpful comments. I'll look into Canoeboot more, but will probably still flash GNU Boot.

I took into consideration what you said about security, and overall, I believe you're right.

In conclusion, I appreciate your advise and will look further into canoeboot, security, and the framework Risc V motherboard in addition to Risc V in general.

I tried searching up what hardware they run, but I got nothing. Do you know what hardware they run?

Lots to cover so let's start one by one: Firstly, even trying to put my GNU biase aside, canoeboot is just libreboot with the non free stuff removed. The problem with that is it has been shown to allow some non-free firmware in a recent version, and so, I feel like using a more independent free bios would be better atleast for me. I understand the fact about the chip itself being non-free, but as for a laptop, that's just the most free you can get right now (do correct me if I'm wrong), so it's better to use the most free option rather than using a less free option because the most free option isn't fully free. I completely agree and can't emphasise that enough: The FSF and GNU are not made for security. A lot of people especially the ones complaining how not allowing microcode updates allows for security risks don't understand that the FSF's and GNU's goals are to protect user freedom. I don't believe in a society without phones, it's just if those phones exist, they should be free, transparent, and respect user privacy. Finally, I did know about riscv, but as you mention, I also knew that there were no 100% free boards. By designs, they still need the proper tools and need to be done by a proper computer engineer right? The framework board isn't 100% free right?

The spyware was reported in 2022 according to the article by a person asking how to delete the spyware confusing it for bloatware. It's extremely hard to tell if it was present before the initial post on the forum, or not. Though, it's important to keep in mind that your phone, even if it doesn't have aura / appcloud spyware, is still spyware until a fully free phone is developed.

I'm simply providing an alternative. We all know ultra-processed food is bad, but that alone doesn't help anyone be healthy. They need to know what to eat (in this case) use instead. Yeah I carry it by putting it in the same light and small backpack I put my other stuff in when going out. I do not use WhatsApp and do not have a phone number. Counterintuitive to go through all the troubles of being as free and as private as possible and then use WhatsApp spyware and a phone number

Whenever I go to Germany it's the same thing! What is it with european bakeries and wasps? Wait a second... the europeans must be undercover wasps and they let and don't mind the wasps eating their food because they're their kind! It all makes sence now!

I'm totally against what companies are calling "AI", but I understand that many men still have a negative feel on therapy inherited from society, their family, their friends, and the people around them. Now add that with the fact that therapy sessions cost a kidney, I don't blame them. Even mental health has to be monetized in capitalism, and the capitalists (more specifically liberals) are still wondering why suicide rate is so high, I wonder 🤔

Palantir

I completely agree with you. I can't believe how people still worship Torvalds, while Stallman, an open capitalist, has done more radical socialist things than Linus by miles. I used to ask myself why people praise Torvalds yet reject radical contributors that started, spread, and work on free software that include BIOS and full on operating systems with a developer team consisting of a few contributors living off of donations and advocating against surveillance, non-free software, DRM, and other capitalist dystopian practices, but now I clearly know that people will do anything they can to avoid being even the slightest of radical. Wether it is with software, technology, economic systems, governments, and more, people don't want to change as change is uncomfortable, so, as a result, you have people like Torvalds, movements like democratic "socialism", and corporate whitewash like "open source".

They might know about free software's corporate term "open source", but surprisingly, most lemmy users are actually unaware of free software as they often confuse it with the corporate whitewash of open source. As for your claim, yes, I also do believe most lemmy users already use GNU+Linux, but it's also important to go further than that by actually understanding the importance of software freedom to not only use free software, but also contribute to it in addition to teaching. Most people just stop at using another os and some free software, but it's important to go down the more radical path by replacing all non-free software, using a fully free distribution like parabola, using a fully free bios like GNU Boot, and using ryf hardware.

The problem with centralized social media is it replaced all aspects of free speach and public opinion with algorithms that keep you hooked while all your personal information is being sold and given away. It doesn't have to be that way. Learn about free software, what it means, it's history, and it's impact on the world today. Learn about the fediverse. Most importantly, don't expect things to change if you don't. https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software

If it's not in the fediverse, I'm not using it Even youtube which I used to use in addition to the fediverse is now completely replaced by peertube

Yay another LLM! That's definitely what the world needs and don't let anyone make you think otherwise. This is so fun guys. Let's fund the surveillance, stealing, misinformation, harmful biases, and destruction of the planet. I can't believe some people think that humanity is more important than another "open source" crazy pro max ultra 8K AI 9999!

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/bfc-revolt-guide

I personally don't own a phone. My solution to messaging, recording, and navigation is my Thinkpad X200T running parabola GNU+Linux-libre as the os and GNU boot as the bios. It's as anti-surveillance pro-piracy pro-freedom you can get. For protests, just turning off bluetooth and wifi on it pretty much gets you off the radar. The only problem is that it's camera really sucks. Photos are doable, but videos might not. Also, for protests, physical privacy is important too, so I hope you are wearing bandana to protect you from being identified in addition to protection (helmet, knee pads, and maybe a gas mask depending on how big the protest is)

Nah it's liberal propaganda. Anyways let's storm the capital