[OnePlus 6T  Questions & Answers] ..Cory..:
Hmmm... don't want to start drama as I'm sure you didn't intend to, but I'm one of those "paranoid" or conscious as I prefer.

I'm huge on keeping up with geopolitics and some of us should really research the history of China, and I don't mean reading modern, watered-down history literature. China's CCP is the biggest and most vast "Big Brother" in the world except for intelligence in the US/Europe. Not only that, but they are VERY open about the intrusion of privacy amongst it's own people along with the current controversy on China's LONG history of Intellectual Property theft. Read anything re: China's (state owned and funded) Huawei these days (also, notice Huawei's focus on high quality cameras.. eyes everywhere), I will never own anything they produce and I'm sad to say I may be skeptical of this phone now, sadly. And here's a fun-fact.... I'm a Chinese-American, no joke lol ;)

This is very concerning and I think these questions should continue to be asked higher up. I will definitely research this and watch this thread closely.

Please post any finding on it's nature and update us on if we can remove/block the apk. I will do some testing after work.

- Former GE Engineer and Chinese Businessman Charged with Economic Espionage and Theft of GE’s Trade Secrets - An indictment unsealed today charges Xiaoqing Zheng, 56, of Niskayuna, New York, and Zhaoxi Zhang, 47, of Liaoning Province, China, with economic espionage and conspiring to steal General Electric’s (GE’s) trade secrets surrounding turbine technologies, knowing

- The future of the smartphone camera is here, it’s not Apple and it’s disturbing - "Mashable’s Stan Schroeder snapped this picture that, while grainy, gives a sense of the potential spy-power of the phone’s camera."

- Chinese Infiltration in US Reaches ‘Extreme’ Levels - "There are a minimum of 50,000 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spies at U.S. companies, government agencies, and U.S. military."

- China Infiltration Into U.S. Education System - "Chinese government has infiltrated nearly every sector of the U.S. education system via a package of programs and monetary schemes that seek to indoctrinate American children and bring the Communist government’s propaganda into the classroom, according to a new report by a Senate investigatory body."

- Why Chinese Steel is Unsafe For Your Next Steel Building Project - Weak steel flooded into the market by the Chinese creates weak infrastructure and military components in rival countries... along with destroying the steel market itself.

Edit: After some initial research, OnePlus is a little more distant than Huawei when it comes to state relations.. but keep in mind that China announced last year a new law that "requires cloud services offered to Chinese citizens be operated by Chinese companies and that the data be stored in China". Why do you think that is....? NEVER EVER EVER trust ANYONE/ANYTHING that says they're from/with the government and that they are there to help you. REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

This is a tech/dev forum, so I'll stop here to stay on that topic. But please... understand that there's always a threat to your freedom, it's up to the masses to protect it from the >1% of those working tirelessly to take it.

WWG1WGA!!!