4 ms·

But it doesn't need to know who you are. The whole problem is that a person's identity is more and more entangled with a tracking device.

gruez 4y ago
In that case you can just get a burner phone + data SIM, and route all your calls/texts via VOIP provider.
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  I saw a post a few months ago where an actual mobile security expert publicly said they did not have very high confidence in their own ability to cleanly buy and use a burner if the stakes were high eg government actively trying to build a case against them. Since then I've been very skeptical of all claims of what you can "just" do to avoid being tracked. This problem can't be solved by individual action or paranoia it's too big and complex now.
  - gruez 4y ago
    >an actual mobile security expert publicly said they did not have very high confidence in their own ability to cleanly buy and use a burner if the stakes were high eg government actively trying to build a case against them. I'm not sure what the threat model here is. If the "government actively trying to build a case against them" involves government agents following you in unmarked vans, then the government being able to track you through your SIM should be the least of your worries. If you're merely on some government watchlist (ie. there aren't agents following you), I don't see how it would be hard to cleanly buy a burner phone/sim, especially in the post pandemic age where face masks are socially acceptable.
    - giraffe_lady 4y ago
      I think "you want to do a communication that can't be later printed out and used against you publicly" is the threat model. You can't really protect yourself from the US government in any meaningful sense if they decide to end or ruin your life, but what I described above seems like a reasonable thing that people would want to do for reasons both legal and not.
  - convivialdingo 4y ago
    Agreed... Pure conjecture on my part, and I haven’t worked in this area but I had lots of friends in gov security and mobile standards groups. Nobody I’ve talked to thinks it’s possible to stay anonymous on any commercial cellular network. You might be able to push a few anonymous phone calls or surf a few hours but soon your typical browsing habits, app usage and contacts will match you up with similar existing profiles based purely on the metadata. Honestly just narrowing it down to a few dozen people is good enough to get unmasked.

gruez 4y ago

In that case you can just get a burner phone + data SIM, and route all your calls/texts via VOIP provider.

giraffe_lady 4y ago
I saw a post a few months ago where an actual mobile security expert publicly said they did not have very high confidence in their own ability to cleanly buy and use a burner if the stakes were high eg government actively trying to build a case against them. Since then I've been very skeptical of all claims of what you can "just" do to avoid being tracked. This problem can't be solved by individual action or paranoia it's too big and complex now.
- gruez 4y ago
  >an actual mobile security expert publicly said they did not have very high confidence in their own ability to cleanly buy and use a burner if the stakes were high eg government actively trying to build a case against them. I'm not sure what the threat model here is. If the "government actively trying to build a case against them" involves government agents following you in unmarked vans, then the government being able to track you through your SIM should be the least of your worries. If you're merely on some government watchlist (ie. there aren't agents following you), I don't see how it would be hard to cleanly buy a burner phone/sim, especially in the post pandemic age where face masks are socially acceptable.
  - giraffe_lady 4y ago
    I think "you want to do a communication that can't be later printed out and used against you publicly" is the threat model. You can't really protect yourself from the US government in any meaningful sense if they decide to end or ruin your life, but what I described above seems like a reasonable thing that people would want to do for reasons both legal and not.
- convivialdingo 4y ago
  Agreed... Pure conjecture on my part, and I haven’t worked in this area but I had lots of friends in gov security and mobile standards groups. Nobody I’ve talked to thinks it’s possible to stay anonymous on any commercial cellular network. You might be able to push a few anonymous phone calls or surf a few hours but soon your typical browsing habits, app usage and contacts will match you up with similar existing profiles based purely on the metadata. Honestly just narrowing it down to a few dozen people is good enough to get unmasked.