Last week, I wrote about how our phone numbers have evolved into a unique, static ID that companies abuse to track us. As anecdotal evide...
  • Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radioEnglish
    35·
    16 hours ago

    Hmm … the author uses a hotspot connected with a SIM. Their whole argument hinges on not being tracked, but their hotspot is with them all the time. Seems like a massive hole in their privacy argument.

    • IllNess@infosec.pubEnglish
      5·
      11 hours ago

      Yeah. He addresses it without much of a response.

      And there’s good arguments to be made that my hotspot is still trackable. Plus some of the apps I keep aren’t great for privacy (like Duolingo, for example). Try as I might, there’s only so much “harm reduction” I can do, and I could certainly get more protection by doing more. But as I’ve written about before, privacy is a spectrum, not a binary state of being.

      He keeps a lot of crap that has user names and passwords. A VPN won’t really help with those.

      He also uses free public WiFi. It’s probably okay since a lot of phones have randomized MAC addresses now but with facial recognition, they can easily attach that address with your identity.

    • hummingbird@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      15 hours ago

      Good point. The author argues that:

      they buy the device on your behalf so your real name never gets attached to it.

      However it is relatively easy to attribute a sim card to person simply based on its usage. You also leave the same movement patterns on the mobile network. I don’t see a benefit here compared to just using a sim card from a service provider that does not sell their customer data.

  • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
    93·
    15 hours ago

    that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

    what does this exactly accomplish?

    if your privacy is important enough for you to forego using a sim card, you should just not have a phone with you.

    • solrize@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

      I thought about doing that to protect against evil firmware in the phone’s baseband radio, but meh.