Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Burner Phone 101

rebeccawilliams.info

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 198 posts

Re: Burner Phone 101

#101

Post by ajxs »

girvo wrote: post #63

> Buy phone & service in cash Step one is already difficult here in Australia: to do so you must hand over your personal details and ID. At least that was true for anything with a SIM card for sale back in the 2010s So the “step 0” was “find a retailer who didn’t follow the rules”, and they’d usually be a corner store selling handsets or SIM cards by the bucket load to all sorts of interesting characters

This was already the case in Australia as early as 2003. I distinctly remember being shocked that I had to provide ID when I bought a phone from a store for the first time.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#102

Post by charlieo88 »

Ccecil wrote: post #24

One thing I didn't see covered is to never have your "real phone" and your "burner phone" on you (or in the same location) at the same time while powered. Easy enough to say "Gee...these 2 phones are always together or nearby when activated" or "this phone shuts off right before this one powers up". Although, I suspect there are a few other ways to determine identity easier. Such as tracking the device identifier and…

"If you're going to keep your phone in a bag of potato chips, then keep your phone in a bag of potato chips" --Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) Carl the T800.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#104

Post by aspenmayer »

qingcharles wrote: post #98
Ccecil wrote: post #24

One thing I didn't see covered is to never have your "real phone" and your "burner phone" on you (or in the same location) at the same time while powered. Easy enough to say "Gee...these 2 phones are always together or nearby when activated" or "this phone shuts off right before this one powers up". Although, I suspect there are a few other ways to determine identity easier. Such as tracking the device identifier and…

So many online services use the proximity of phones to determine things like related persons and related accounts. Facebook is notorious for this. In one building I lived at Facebook would constantly show me the names of everyone coming in and out as "You might know this person" even though I had no idea who they were.

Airbnb as well, at least in principle, if not in implementation.

Airbnb Is Banning People Who Are ‘Closely Associated’ with Already-Banned Users - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34983871 March 2023 (119 comments)

h/t HN user dmitrygr

Re: Burner Phone 101

#106

Post by aspenmayer »

electric_muse wrote: post #86

What are the latest tips and best practices for acquiring a phone and service without having to deanonymize? For example, can you just walk into Best Buy with cash?

> without having to deanonymize

> Best Buy

Cameras are everywhere in big box stores. Anonymity is not sold in stores.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#107

Post by gruez »

h4ck_th3_pl4n3t wrote: post #14
madethemcry wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please give any sources? While it sounds plausible and interesting it's nothing more than a wild conspiracy theory without some background information.

Buy a broadcom smartphone. Turn bluetooth off, and set it to airplane mode. Then Bluepwn your device, with bluetooth turned off. Funny how airplane mode didn't work. That's just one of the quirks. Baseband and what qualcomm is tracking is way worse. I recommend buying an old Motorola Calypso device and fiddling with osmocomBB, you can DIY an IMSI catcher pretty easily. And you'll be mind blown how many class0 SMS you…

>Buy a broadcom smartphone. Turn bluetooth off, and set it to airplane mode. Then Bluepwn your device, with bluetooth turned off.

???

Re: Burner Phone 101

#109

Post by Havoc »

Problem is the utility of a phone is mostly in the things that are problematic. Email, cloud etc.

It’s either got too much stuff on it or not enough stuff on it.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#110

Post by lmm »

forgotusername6 wrote: post #27
theothertimcook wrote: post #6

In many countries you need a valid government ID document to activate a mobile service which means burners do not really exist in those places. Unless you bought a pixel, graphene’d it and then paid a homeless person to activate a pre-paid data only sim which you would top up with vouchers paid in cash and used a von and international voip service… A lot of effort though

I was surprised when a SIM I purchased on Amazon was not only able to connect in China but was also able to bypass the great firewall. I wonder how these travel sims get round the government regulations.

They bypass the firewall precisely because they're roaming SIMs. Their internet connection goes through the home operator.

I imagine they simply don't allow selling such SIMs in China. It would be extremely easy to track and flag any that were e.g. used for longer than a few weeks.

Post reply on HN