Daniel Micay and the GrapheneOS-Techlore drama

Following are my thoughts on Daniel Micay, the founder of GrapheneOS, and the drama that ensued between Henry of Techlore, Micay and the GrapheneOS team.

Let me state up front that i highly recommend GrapheneOS. I'm not technically adept enough to read the source code or understand all of the terminology, therefore i must trust those who are and my research indicates, without a doubt, that GrapheneOS appears to be superior to all other Android-based computer operating systems in terms of both security and privacy. To gain an understanding of why that is, see the following table: Comparison of Android-based Operating Systems. If you want to go the extra mile, i would also strongly suggest considering putting your phone on Cape's network.

Daniel Micay is the stated founder of GrapheneOS, a security and privacy hardened mobile operating system based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) that is recommended by many knowledgeable people. I don't think there's any doubt whatsoever that Micay is an ethical, generous and talented developer, but he can be abrasive, childish and rather paranoid at times in his public comments and such traits don't necessarily instill confidence in his handling of the project. In 2023, Micay announced on Twitter that he was stepping down as the lead developer of GrapheneOS and wouldn't be posting on social media anymore, though it appears his promise to quit social media was short lived. Micay remains a director of the project and Wikipedia still lists him as the primary developer. Maybe being paranoid is a net-positive when coding for a secure operating system, however Micay's public antics have not always yielded a good look for the project and have almost certainly hurt it in terms of lost patrons and donations.

I'm currently running GrapheneOS on my phone, so learning about Micay wasn't a warm experience. There's no shortage of examples of his odd behavior, such as threatening to ban people from GrapheneOS platforms because they posted something he didn't approve of on other platforms. Criticism of GrapheneOS is often met with rabid adherence to the project rather than open-minded discussion. Henry from Techlore, as well as some other people, have highlighted many instances of Micay's uncouth behavior, as well as the toxicity that sometimes exists within the GrapheneOS community, something which i experienced myself when i apparently asked the wrong question. Henry's video linked below is from 2021, but i think it's still relevant because it provides an insight into the mind of Micay.

GrapheneOS: Documenting Numerous Attacks Against CalyxOS, Seth Simmons, Techlore, & More - YouTube

An issue we've been quiet about for months...this video shows the leadership put forward from GrapheneOS, certain members of their community, and their lead developer - Daniel Micay.

After falling victim to Micay's wrath, Louis Rossmann also felt compelled to post his comments in the video, Why I deleted GrapheneOS, wherein he confirms Henry's general perception of Micay.

Following is the response to my criticism of Micay by 'spring-onion' of the GrapheneOS team after we exchanged several emails:

The video is frequently cited as evidence that Daniel Micay is unreasonable and to try to persuade people that they should not use the operating system, support its development or promote the project. While on the surface it may appear to draw together lots of evidence supporting a compelling narrative, closer examination reveals huge amounts of bias in how Henry presents the information.

On numerous occasions Henry rushes from one screenshot to the next in the span of just a few seconds, commenting quickly about how they support his overall narrative while avoiding giving a detailed or balanced overview of what he is presenting. Closer examination of these screenshots reveals that there is a lot more to the story than Henry touches upon, or that he is misleading in the way he indicates their significance. Much is either pulled out of context, completely ignored or straight up false. This has nothing to do with a fact based investigation he claims to have done. It's a vicious disinformation campaign intended to harm Daniel Micay.

Henry never provides any sources for the content he presents, which makes working through the matter independently ever so difficult.

While Henry may not have gotten everything right in his video according to 'spring-onion', he didn't get it all wrong either and the claim that he failed to provide any sources is simply untrue. 'spring-onion', who may or may not be Danial Micay himself, has largely presented a meta argument wherein he avoids what i see as the core issue, that being Micay's public behavior, the underlying reasons for it, and how it might affect the GrapheneOS project. In that regard, Henry provides more than enough evidence and sources to make the case that there may be reason for concern. 'The Hated One' seems to agree that Micay may have some personal issues, but he presents a very strong case for using and supporting GrapheneOS in a video that i think is well-worth watching:

Delete GrapheneOS? WTF?! - YouTube

The most private... no scratch that. The only private phone on the planet is under attack. For years, I've been biting my tongue, but I am done. This is my truth about GrapheneOS. Because I am done being polite to fragile egos with failed ambitions.

When you can't take down a security project because it's open source and thus will live forever, what do you do?

When you can't take down a security project based on the merits of security because it's by far the very best available anywhere, what do you do?

The only thing you can do is to vilify the very existence of the project. You try to convince people that only criminals would want privacy and security. This is already happening.

Another way you can do this is to portray the project itself as a fruit of a deranged crank of paranoid anti-social despots who can't be trusted. This is also happening. I was holding back from telling you the truth but no more. The damage that's being done to what I think is the most important project of our lifetimes, is unacceptable. I am the Hated One after all. So here is the tea. Bridges can't be burned if they don't exist, right?

This is where I draw the line. I am not here to tell you you have to like Daniel Micay. But I am not gonna let you pretend you can just discard his work because of his personality traits. Daniel Micay has done more for security and privacy than all of his critics combined. Literally. No other security project comes even close to what GrapheneOS offers.

GrapheneOS has security hardening features unavailable anywhere else. It has a hardened memory allocator, hardened SELinux polices, hardened webview and web browser, hardened sandboxing and exploit protections, better defaults, better privacy, it is actually the only fully anonymous device in existence and it is the only phone capable of completely sandboxing Google without any privileged permissions. The list of improvements goes on for many pages.

Most people though don't understand any of the technicals I just mentioned. But they do understand the drama. The problem is that it is these technical facts that should convince you that all these people who are disparaging GrapheneOS and Daniel Micay's work are all wrong. Anyone recommending against a privacy project because of drama is a fraud and shouldn't be taken seriously.

And despite his character flaws, Daniel Micay has been a principled leader of his security project. He made the right decision to sever ties with CopperheadOS. He made the right decision to keep his work open source. He made the right decision to repel corporate interest in his project and keep it non-profit.

This idea to repel corporate interest appeals to me too. I am inspired by Micay's decision here because I too reject corporate interest. I refused lucrative sponsors because they would introduce a conflict of interest to my privacy videos. The same can't be said of those that sought to kill Micay's character. So like Micay, I too am funded by donations on my Patreon.

I think you should honor that. You should support GrapheneOS and you should support my work. People like us are fighting for your privacy and your freedom with principles. What I do pales in comparison to what Daniel Micay does. I am giving it my all. The ball is in your court.

In the end, i find it a bit odd that people on the GrapheneOS team are bothering to address a 4 year old video from Henry of Techlore rather than let the whole affair die, but apparently a detailed response is being prepared according to 'spring-onion'. Is that a good use of the team's time? Have they considered the Streisand Effect? And what might Henry's response be? I don't particularly like Henry, but he has quite a large audience and reigniting this flame might not work to Graphene's advantage. My feeling is that the team is being overly protective and reactive regarding how people view a free, open-source project. I suggested they relax a bit and allow freer discussion and criticism.

There is no doubt in my mind that Danial Micay has some personality issues and, were he not an active developer of GrapheneOS, all this drama would amount to nothing more than curious entertainment, however Micay remains active in the project and thus his public behavior has a bearing on how it's perceived.

My discussion with 'spring-onion' was cordial and essentially ended with me wishing him and the GrapheneOS team well, including Micay. GrapheneOS has no equal in Android world regarding security and privacy. We need it. And we need talented and reliable people administering it.