this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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Vulnerabilities in Sogou Keyboard encryption expose keypresses to network eavesdropping.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 years ago (8 children)

And gboard or SwiftKey don't?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Gboard doesn't at least. It does send some stuff but not keystrokes

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It sends whole words instead!

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Any data you submit to Google is stored and analysed. That's different from sending keystrokes as they happen though.

I'm all for criticising invasive data use and collection which Google is definitely guilty of. It's not the same as keylogging though which is not just a privacy concern but a pretty serious security one as well. Also we have actual evidence here of Tencent doing this which makes a difference to me at least.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

I’m not sure if that’s true. You know, it’s Google. Every keystroke in your gmail email is analysed, so can’t imagine gboard is any different to them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

We can't know for sure if they're not open source

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

While GBoard is closed source, they have documented that they use federated learning. Meaning their model is generated on-device and only the inferences are sent to Google.

That being said, I use OpenBoard.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Plus it also has the feature where you can drag on the space bar to move the letterhead!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I prefer OpenBoard, it doesn't send keystrokes to any server

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The fork even has support for swipe, autocorrect, word prediction, clipboard management, etc, and is way more lightweight than Gboard and the rest. Zero reason to use anything else at the moment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What's the fork? I've been using Florisboard beta (ehich is also opensource) and pretty happy with it. The only things I miss is swipe for dictionary words

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

https://github.com/Helium314/openboard
Important to note that you need to install a library from inside the app's settings to enable swipe typing. Ctrl+F "enable gesture typing" on the Github page to see where to get it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I loaded the library but couldn't see a toggle to turn it on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Uhhh it's pretty blatant.
OpenBoard Settings > Gesture Typing > Enable Gesture Typing

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

No, it's the fork I've linked. You got it from here, yes? Also, the option only appears after you successfully load a library by going to Advanced > Load gesture typing library. Since you said you'd already loaded it I didn't mention that. You might've loaded the incorrect file or something.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not if you block internet connection at system level. I think it can be done if GBoard in installed as an user app, not as a system one.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Might as well just use Open Board.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Of course. My "problem" is that I need to write in 3 languages at the same time and switching languages manually in Open board is a bit cumbersome, while in GBoard it happens automatically.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This "they're all bad" shit aimed at the Chinese government makes me so sad. How many of you dullards have even heard of Tienanmen square

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The downvotes tell me some people need to Google Tienanmen square. From outside China. Inside china, it didn't happen. Erases from history

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago

It's not called the 'Tiananmen Square' by the Chinese - that's just the name of the place. Either 六四屠殺 (June 4 massacre) or 六四鎮壓 (June 4 crackdown) would be more likely. And yes, expect loads of downvoting on Lemmy if you're ever critical of China.