4 ms·

This is what I have done for years: Cellular is always off anywhere near my house. I only turn on cellular when needed. I use Graphene which allows WIFI to be u

This is what I have done for years: Cellular is always off anywhere near my house. I only turn on cellular when needed. I use Graphene which allows WIFI to be used without cellular for my VOIP calls on voip.ms or jmp.chat. I have been using prepaid cash purchased SIMs but might switch to silent.link. The only way for the carrier to know where I am is if they do something funny on the proprietary baseband modem.

dmbche 3y ago
Doesn't your phone ping off the tower regularely anyway? I've always understood that without a physical switch to the antenna there's no way to actually know
- kornhole 3y ago
  Yes that was my caveat about the proprietary baseband modem that we cannot totally control. If I was in a different threat model category, I would use a phone with physical switch to the baseband. Those devices like Pinephone and Librem that only run Linux are not quite mature enough to fit my needs. They may be my next choice.
  - dmbche 3y ago
    Very cool! I looked into it a little bit, a good option depending on your threat model is to simply leave it in a faraday container (read: aluminum foil envelope - or the more sophisticated stuff) when you don't want it to be visible. But then, you kind of have to let go of having that phone usable at home at all, and end up having a "dirty" and a "clean" phone. Then again, just useful depending on your threat model.
its_ethan 3y ago
I gotta ask... why? It's your house, anyone who could get your info from a teleco and wants to know your location almost certainly knows your home address, so this is just to protect from know when you're at your house? If you're still turning on cellular around town too, a decently useful map of your location history would exist anyway? I'm not trying to be snarky or anything, I'm genuinely curious here what the benefit is to you.
- codethief 3y ago
  > anyone who could get your info from a teleco and wants to know your location almost certainly knows your home address I think OP might be in a jurisdiction where you don't need to provide your address (yet) when > using prepaid cash purchased SIMs
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Even then, your house would be the location you spend most of your time. You'd have to be really vigilant to switch off your cell functions when you go near your house most of the time, and not always at the same place (otherwise a clean gap in the map will reveal where you live). If you want to be untraceable you don't use cellphones, simple as that. Of course modern life is ridiculously difficult that way so it's pretty impossible.
  - its_ethan 3y ago
    Right, but surely he had to prove identity when buying/renting the house? Maybe the telco doesn't know - but if someone could've gone through them to get his home address, they could also have gotten it through other means?
    - adastra22 3y ago
      There are plenty of cash rental options out there.
  - mycall 3y ago
    On that note, it is legal to give crossroads as home address in the USA.
    - ridgered4 3y ago
      Really? Where do they deliver all the ads to in that case?
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  I don't have a link handy but the last time I interacted with the user you're replying to, it was also about cell phones, and they were doing dumb things like swapping SIMs with their wife, thinking it would make things more private....somehow. Guess what a SIM card does when it's put into a new phone? Includes the last IMSI it was installed into when it joins the carrier's network. They're not very well educated on digital privacy and engaging in a lot of cargo-cult privacy stuff that is almost certainly making them stand out like a giant red thumb. Very few people do things like switch SIM cards on a regular basis, at least ones who aren't engaged in criminal enterprises. Their behavior reminds me of a former partner's ex, who was [paranoid-delusional | obsessed with] cell phone tracking. I really have no idea why they're so concerned about their cell phone carrier "knowing" their home address.
codethief 3y ago
> This is what I have done for years: Cellular is always off anywhere near my house. Do you disable cell service manually when you're going home?
- kornhole 3y ago
  Yes. I only turn on cellular away from home and when needed. I don't need to be always connected.
  - MichaelZuo 3y ago
    If it pings the towers anyways, what's the point of turning it off?
achairapart 3y ago
But, your WiFi may still leak your location, eg: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1807.05716.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1807.05716.pdf
- kornhole 3y ago
  Right. I forgot to mention that when I leave my home, I turn off WIFI and bluetooth. I turn it on only when at home or on a friends home network.

dmbche 3y ago

Doesn't your phone ping off the tower regularely anyway? I've always understood that without a physical switch to the antenna there's no way to actually know

kornhole 3y ago
Yes that was my caveat about the proprietary baseband modem that we cannot totally control. If I was in a different threat model category, I would use a phone with physical switch to the baseband. Those devices like Pinephone and Librem that only run Linux are not quite mature enough to fit my needs. They may be my next choice.
- dmbche 3y ago
  Very cool! I looked into it a little bit, a good option depending on your threat model is to simply leave it in a faraday container (read: aluminum foil envelope - or the more sophisticated stuff) when you don't want it to be visible. But then, you kind of have to let go of having that phone usable at home at all, and end up having a "dirty" and a "clean" phone. Then again, just useful depending on your threat model.

its_ethan 3y ago

I gotta ask... why? It's your house, anyone who could get your info from a teleco and wants to know your location almost certainly knows your home address, so this is just to protect from know when you're at your house? If you're still turning on cellular around town too, a decently useful map of your location history would exist anyway? I'm not trying to be snarky or anything, I'm genuinely curious here what the benefit is to you.

codethief 3y ago
> anyone who could get your info from a teleco and wants to know your location almost certainly knows your home address I think OP might be in a jurisdiction where you don't need to provide your address (yet) when > using prepaid cash purchased SIMs
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Even then, your house would be the location you spend most of your time. You'd have to be really vigilant to switch off your cell functions when you go near your house most of the time, and not always at the same place (otherwise a clean gap in the map will reveal where you live). If you want to be untraceable you don't use cellphones, simple as that. Of course modern life is ridiculously difficult that way so it's pretty impossible.
- its_ethan 3y ago
  Right, but surely he had to prove identity when buying/renting the house? Maybe the telco doesn't know - but if someone could've gone through them to get his home address, they could also have gotten it through other means?
  - adastra22 3y ago
    There are plenty of cash rental options out there.
- mycall 3y ago
  On that note, it is legal to give crossroads as home address in the USA.
  - ridgered4 3y ago
    Really? Where do they deliver all the ads to in that case?
KennyBlanken 3y ago
I don't have a link handy but the last time I interacted with the user you're replying to, it was also about cell phones, and they were doing dumb things like swapping SIMs with their wife, thinking it would make things more private....somehow. Guess what a SIM card does when it's put into a new phone? Includes the last IMSI it was installed into when it joins the carrier's network. They're not very well educated on digital privacy and engaging in a lot of cargo-cult privacy stuff that is almost certainly making them stand out like a giant red thumb. Very few people do things like switch SIM cards on a regular basis, at least ones who aren't engaged in criminal enterprises. Their behavior reminds me of a former partner's ex, who was [paranoid-delusional | obsessed with] cell phone tracking. I really have no idea why they're so concerned about their cell phone carrier "knowing" their home address.

codethief 3y ago

> This is what I have done for years: Cellular is always off anywhere near my house. Do you disable cell service manually when you're going home?

kornhole 3y ago
Yes. I only turn on cellular away from home and when needed. I don't need to be always connected.
- MichaelZuo 3y ago
  If it pings the towers anyways, what's the point of turning it off?

achairapart 3y ago

But, your WiFi may still leak your location, eg: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1807.05716.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1807.05716.pdf

kornhole 3y ago
Right. I forgot to mention that when I leave my home, I turn off WIFI and bluetooth. I turn it on only when at home or on a friends home network.