Bonum Certa Men Certa

Mobile Phones With Privacy Almost an Impossibility

Video download link | md5sum 484343ca1539b0249846743888fa69c2



Summary: Contrary to what some companies with privacy-themed Web sites baselessly promise or want you to believe, the moment you connect a mobile phone to the network you're giving away vast amounts of data, not only about yourself but also those in your vicinity; we need to quit promoting that same old nonsense about spying-resistant portable phones as the real substitute (replacing today's "smart" phones) is none at all, even if people don't like to hear that

THE subject of privacy with a mobile phone (or "cellphone" as Americans typically call these) was covered here several times in the past (in my personal site I've been covering that subject for over a decade and researched it for almost 20 years), but it's worth revisiting that same subject today because we've just shared a couple of videos [1, 2], which were informative albeit misguided in a few places (as noted in my video above). Over the years many companies came and went, offering privacy-preserving cellular devices, even more so in the wake of Edward Snowden's NSA leaks (Blackphone was one of many). Pretty much every single company like this became a farce (many lapses found) and ended up defunct; many people had come to grips with the facts, concluding a dud is just a dud. Librem, for that matter, is still being given far too much benefit of the doubt (it does not deserve this).

"For those of us who live in the "real world" (with real facts, not buzzwords and hype waves) the impact matters profoundly because human rights, including concepts such as due process, are on the line."The threat associated with these mobile (or cellular) devices is only growing over time because of the ways in which different devices connect to one another, even prior to COVID-19 (with all that contact-tracing snake oil). With all sorts of "smart" things (spy things) and their Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connection -- not to mention hype like edge/clown computing and "IoT" -- many gullible (even if well-meaning and well-intentioned) people fall into traps, sharing an enormous amount of data about themselves and those around them. Some are seduced into enabling always-on microphones and installing GAFAM-connected CCTV inside their own homes. Many don't even realise the ramifications and just press "accept" (consent based on a misunderstanding is a legal grey area). Resistance to this must begin with proper information; people who aren't properly informed won't quit. It's like smoking.

For those of us who live in the "real world" (with real facts, not buzzwords and hype waves) the impact matters profoundly because human rights, including concepts such as due process, are on the line. As we put it exactly one week ago, "Smart People Reject the Newest Cars". Rejecting and even boycotting things isn't an act of intolerance but of self-defense. We need to teach more people out there the full impact of surrendering to Pentagon-connected 'technology' giants that are mostly in the business of manipulating/controlling populations (they receive money from taxpayers to do this) while promising us better "lifestyles" based on ridiculously shallow criteria like number of "likes".

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
 
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol