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

Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
 
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025