If someone scanned that QR code, it means they have a copy. If they, or someone else then scanned it (or copied the text from it and pasted in a browser), it would function as if they scanned it.
I mean really, this is how QR codes work. It's shorthand for text, typically used to URL's.
You can easily get far more privacy with Android than iOS, even using a factory, unrooted, rom.
Though I'd say iOS is more private out of the gate than Android.
Once you start installing apps, it's arguable which is worse - while Apple restricts a lot of stuff, I've had apps on iOS that eat battery to pull ads constantly (specifically one Solitaire game, but others too) and lots of Android apps are notorious for wanting every permission and to run at boot. "Free" games on both platforms are notably guilty.
At least with Android you can choose a lot of apps that don't collect data, and don't even want a network connection. Unrooted, you can use a VPN full time, that can block network access for apps, or even specific network connections (NoRoot Firewall is one, and ThinkDNS can do this too, IIRC). Like free games - on Android (even unrooted), I can block their network access. And I know it's effective because it breaks some games.
I've used a stock, unrootable phone, and stripped down a lot of stuff using the Universal Android Debloat Utility. It can disable bloatware like all the Facebook components.
Though if OP wants to have a more private and more secure device, I'd go Android with a custom rom, especially Graphene, but Lineage and DivestOS can get you close to Graphene, especially is you manage your layers of privacy and security.
Yea, I've moved to DivestOS on a couple phones, and I really like it.
Some things it does differently, like allow you to choose your Internet Heartbeat provider, so your phone isn't constantly pinging Google to check the internet connection is up. There are about 10 options, including none.
I was thinking the same thing, till I read why they do this-to prevent It attracting bears, which can be unsafe.
I'm thinking the lime wouldn't drive them away.
Still, it's 55 lbs of explosives they have to use. Holy smokes. Couldn't you just douse it with keresoene and.... Oh, yea, wildfire prevention, lol.
Double something something.... I feel like there's a pun in there, just can't make it out.
Oh, wow, never thought of using I2P as a way to "tunnel" your own VPN traffic into your network.
So do you host an I2P proxy at the edge of your network, or does the traffic simply come through one of the outproxies into your public IP?
Your blood is poison to matin' bitches. Haha
The 90's? Locked bootloaders would've meant people woukdve simply bought different machines without a locked bootloader.
See the IBM/Phoenix BIOS war - it's essentially the same thing. IBM didn't want to license their BIOS to everyone, so Phoenix reverse engineered it. If I remember right, IBM was trying to lock everyone to using their OS.
Early Android (circa 2009) didn't have locked bootloaders.
Google wanted people to experiment, which was basically free research for them. Pixel's today are unlocked when purchased from Google.
Even my earliest Verizon phones weren't bootloader locked - they didn't start doing that for a few years (my last Verizon phone in 2012 wasn't bootloader locked). And Verizon is arguably the worst vendor when it comes to bootloader locked phones.
But it's not standard.
What made PCs take off was the BIOS war, which occurred because manufacturers were dependent on 3rd party OS's, which were still competing for dominance.
Sigh.
Palm was brilliant in so many ways. My Treo keyboard was the best. How I hate on-screen keyboards.
And yet by KWH produced it's the safest by a large margin (safer than solar and wind), and that includes Chernobyl happening, arguably pretty close to "worst case".
Potential is meaningless. Real-world experience has demonstrated it.