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". ⬆