Feds in Catalonia, Spain think everyone using a Google Pixel must be a drug dealer

I've used Samsungs for years, but they have gotten too expensive for what I need, so I went for a Pixel this time around. I got issues with it, but mostly because I'm so used to the Samsung universe. Still way better than an Apple.

I guess I'm a Spanish drug dealer now.

Can confirm. Own pixel, deal drugs.

Isn't it likely the police is kind of right?

I mean, how many people in that community used grapheneos phones before the drug dealers figured out how good they were for their purposes? So in that community, it's indeed very likely that a grapheneos user is in a drug gang.

Does that mean that grapheneos is an issue, or bad? Not at all. But i see a lot of digs at the police here at how dumb they are. But if literally most grapheneos users there are drug dealers, is it dumb? It's just a plain observation that's pretty correct.

And it's kind of logical that proper open source tools that are not full of spyware are better for also such purposes. Doesn't make these tools a problem. If a politician would now start a crusade against such operating systems, that i would agree is dumb.

But i don't see an issue with police somewhere realizing that drugdealers use a specific tool, and focusing on that. Of course sucks for the couple of regular users there that just do it to have control over their device....

Update, July 3, 2025 (11:45 AM ET): The crew behind GrapheneOS is understandably none too pleased about their good name being dragged through the mud, and members are speaking out about these reports from Spain. Over on X, the official GrapheneOS account posts:

European authoritarians and their enablers in the media are misrepresenting GrapheneOS and even Pixel phones as if they’re something for criminals. GrapheneOS is opposed to the mass surveillance police state these people want to impose on everyone.

Security is a tool, and can be wielded just as much for good as it can for bad. While some people may see this as an indictment, we’d say it’s more the inevitable consequence of GrapheneOS just being very, very good at what it does.

Yeah, when the media is wrong, GrapheneOS out here correcting the media!

Solid cop logic. Of the exact level you'd expect.

Well I do use a Pixel (for lineage OS) and I do make my living selling drugs... wait wait this is a bad example.

This is a weird advertisement, but I kind of want grapheneOS now.

Reminds me of when the US tried to fight "terror" by kidnapping people and shoving them in Gitmo because they were wearing Casio watches, which is apparently a brand favoured by terrorists.

Police are not the brightest in any society.

So I guess somebody needs to tell them that they need to focus their efforts a little better if their current plan is 'anyone with a Google Pixel is a drug dealer'.

Can I suggest they start with the people with drugs, rather than the people with the -- not uncommon - google phones in their search for drug dealers?

Reminds me of getting a notice in Middle School, decades ago, about how a pager was considered "drug paraphernalia"

There was also a big Bloomberg-Era push by the NYPD to arrest any woman carrying condoms on her person, on the grounds that a woman carrying a condom must be a sex worker.

This is the best recommendation for a phone I've seen yet.

Thanks catalonian police

"Feds"

checks Wikipedia page for Spain

Government: "Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy"

🧐

(Sorry for nitpicking lol 😅)

But serious tho:

I kinda hate these weird associations. Its like arresting people who wear glasses because intellectual rebels wear glasses? (Pol Pot?)

Like can't someone just use a phone in peace? Most Pixel users don't even use Graphene OS.

Hey you know what, drug dealers drink water. Lets arrest people who drink water!

Hey, the security is nice, but I really like the detailed control over notifications, GMS prompts, and network access. When I used PixelOS, my phone did things I didn't want it to, and it was hard or impossible to make it stop. On GrapheneOS, the defaults are a pretty good experience. I even recommend it to non-techies since they can use it with the Google apps and its still a more respectful experience, even if they don't need or want the level of control that I like.

Sounds like a good recommendation.

They're mad they can't use cellbrite to snoop on properly configured GOS phones and that they actually have to do real police work to catch drug dealers

Glances at my new Pixel, Welp, I guess I ain't ever goin' to Catalonia. Not that I was planning to go there anyway.

***Tinfoil conspiracy: Maybe this a scare tactic to keep the British out of Spain.

What's wrong with drug dealers?

Doesn't a Google Pixel device come with its own OS image by default, independent of Graphene OS? Is there some kind of step that we're missing here?

Merci per la idea de negoci. (/s)

Feds???? WTF!

The cops quite obviously don't think owning a Pixel makes somebody a drug dealer. But if they arrest or detain a suspect then owning a Pixel flashed with GrapheneOS isnt exactly a sign of innocence. Even if nothing could be extracted from the phone, I'm sure a judge and jury could be convinced what they were doing if they have such a device in their possession.

Also, regardless of the security the OS claims to have, most criminals are not the brightest and I bet some can be squeezed to hand over the key or the phone can be unlocked with a face id or fingerprint. It also motivates the cops to do what they've done in the past where they have compromised supposedly secure operating systems or apps and installed backdoors.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Dwight+it's+true&t=fpas&ia=images&iax=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tenor.com%2FnUAI99Pq-4sAAAAC%2Fits-true-dwight.gif

TLDR: Drug dealers in Catalonia have started to adopt GrapheneOS

Gonna guess that's probably a lie.

How it used to be old GSM phones like those from Nokia that were then the thing for the underworld.

How's Catalan independence going

Spain can get fucked. They hate tourists and air conditioning too.