Are you reporting users to google?

Using /e/OS Troubleshooting
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I would REALLY like to be given a full explanation of this popup.

Upon resetting my /e/os for a fresh install, I went to settings to add a google account. I pressed Add Account and this popup appeared in the settings app.

Pixel phone.

/e/os newest release, I’ve had no problem using /e/os otherwise and had no problem installing and flashing everything.

At one point I did have magisk installed (which obviously changed the boot img) and I had the pixel rooted with a few modules. I recently removed them all and uninstalled magisk.

Currently the only modifications to my /e/os are that I uninstalled (through flash script) microg and associated microg assets; and instead flashed a custom version of NikGApps, this way whenever I wipe&reset my /e/os it boots with Google Play and Google Play services installed instead of microg. (Don’t tell me this isn’t possible. I clearly accomplished it and it has worked fine with more app comparability than default microg)

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I actually demand to understand fully the implications as well as the developers’ intentions here. AOSP as well as FOSS in general , including /e/os , is supposed to be open for community development and this popup raises serious questions.

Today, I had a google account be disabled by google on this phone. Luckily, it was a throwaway account i made after I initially saw the below popup on the app lounge about using a burner account.

“(On App Lounge app)

We recommend using a dedicated Google account to mitigate microtargeting and limit impact in case this account is restricted by Google”

However, when adding a google account through the app lounge or google play or settings→google (for Gapps users), the first popup mentioned (“Murena reports fake devices…account[s]”) does NOT appear. To repeat, it does not appear when adding a google account through the first 3 methods in this paragraph. That Murena warning ONLY appears when adding a google account through settings → accounts .

This is a serious issue I believe especially if you got a burner google account banned by reporting it without first warning the user. I don’t care about the account.

But I care about getting an explanation as to the implications and intentions as mentioned. Please do not DELAY with response, because I need to know this now if I am to continue with /e/os testing, development, and usage. I don’t want you to lose a skilled developer from your community.

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just find the commit (51a34d2173) of the string and evaluate? Implement Google Check-in (#51) · Issues · e / os / AccountManager · GitLab

imo you got the verb “report .. to” wrong. No one is reporting users to google. A device string is sent with the request to conform to the API

I had a google account be disabled by google on this phone

any reason given?

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It doesn’t mean they are reporting you. It means the device model that is reported to Google will be a fake one.

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I don’t see a way to edit my post, but yes, I MISREAD the popup and MISUNDERSTOOD it. Murena is not reporting users to google at all.

Instead, the popup is just informing the user that Murena obfuscates or hides user information away from google during server xommunication.

Also, I believe that the google account being suspended/banned was due to using old, nonupdated NikGapps for google play. There hasn’t been developments or updates in a long time, so I don’t recommended anyone using NikGapps or Gapps in general with /e/os. Hopefully, /e/os eventually offers default configuration with Gapps instead of MicroG one day.

Edit: to answer the question, google simply stated that the account violated the terms of service and they believe it may be a bot account. Shortly before banning the account, google was sending 10 notifications a day requesting that the phone re-login to google along with increasingly difficult Captchas until the end of the day when they banned it.

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account closure: to confirm your theory, you could ask in forums where nikgapps users are for similar experiences.

the translation isn’t ideal, even if unrelated to your issue. Maybe there should be a follow up with alternatives. This here?

A generic device model identifier is used when logging in to Google to protect your privacy.
You can check which one on Google’s Device Activity after you log in.

indeed, the warning (and what user-agent cromite uses) came up before:

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