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The problem with all of this is that you would need to swap SIM cards on the cellular-wifi router almost every time you change locations -- and that's if you ca
by exelius 11y ago
The problem with all of this is that you would need to swap SIM cards on the cellular-wifi router almost every time you change locations -- and that's if you can even find a data vendor willing to sell you a prepaid data plan without a credit card on file.
Practically, this solution you've come up with is too fragile to be relied upon. It's only secure if you can maintain this level of care with every operation you perform on the phone. This is why the NSA's data collection is so insidious -- it only takes one slip-up to connect everything you ever did anonymously to your "profile".
With the type of data collection that is done today, it's nearly impossible to avoid unless you use the Internet in a very different way than the average person. Avoiding data collection through technical means is a futile exercise at this point -- if you object to the data collection, public policy is the best avenue to prevent it at this point.
- hackuser 11y ago> you would need to swap SIM cards on the cellular-wifi router almost every time you change locations Assuming the user can get an anonymous pre-paid service (which I agree isn't certain), why would they need to change SIMs? The cellular provider only sees an unknown person sending encrypted data to a VPN hosting service.
- Retric 11y agoAssuming there selling your home address to stores you visited. If you carry the same phone to the same house every day for a month they can guess your home address.(1) boom targeted direct mail. Let's take this a step further, they link your phone's location to when you leave the checkout line, now they know where you live and what your buying. (1) They may or may not be doing this, but at a technical level it would be easy.
- seabee 11y agoIdentifying home or work location is something Google Maps does for your convenience. It would be trivial for cell operators.
- Swannie 11y agoYes, I assume that a store could very easily link WiFi MAC addresses to CC numbers, and then loyalty cards. The probability that someone checks out and leaves the store at the same time that you do is high. But two times in a row? Lower. 5 times in a row? Extremely small.
- rizwank 11y agoCarrier don't have data that specific, cell phone triangulation isn't that precise.
- e12e 11y agoI'm not sure how any of this will help, if there's a chance they can link the phone/router IMSEI[1] to your person in some way. It's reasonable to assume, that any network provider will, for billing, internal use (eg: document/fight network abuse) and/or as mandated by data tracking laws store IMEI, MAC and IMSEI numbers, along with connection meta-data (tower, exact location if available, timestamp etc). I don't think it's possible to get meaningful privacy from an attacker that either a) is your service provider, or b) works with your service provider (eg: NSA, buyers of data for "advertising")? You could use TOR - but you'd have to use it for everything -- which pretty much rules out real-time voice/video chat AFAIK. Perhaps a VPN that crosses jurisdictions and corporate ownership would help against "commercial" attackers (eg: the ad networks). I'm doubtful how effective such a "single-hop" defense would be against state actors. Not that I necessarily think all threat models should try to circumvent illegal government wieretaps - just pointing out that if that is wanted in addition to just un-linking meta-data on data/communication from meta-data/data on shopping/banking -- the needed security measures are likely to be inconvenient. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Station_Equipment_Identity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Station_E...