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Burner Phone 101

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Re: Burner Phone 101

#191

Post by therein »

breppp wrote: post #32
4gotunameagain wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which means burners do not really exist in those places. This is very wrong. In Germany you can go to any shady kiosk in a big city and buy a pre activated SIM card invariably registered to some Arabic or Pakistani name. You can buy it in cash. Completely untraceable if you take care of CCTV.

Going to buy a prepaid SIM registered under an arabic name in europe is probably the safest way of getting traced by a government

Not anymore. They are more likely to go out of their way to avoid tracing you nowadays anyway to not come off as racist.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#192

Post by bigiain »

fuckaj wrote: post #188
bigiain wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you become of enough interest to the sort of people who will interview everybody who was any a party at a bar to try and identify who someone that's left the country gave their SIM to, you're probably well beyond fucked already. Amateur opsec can help prevent you getting identified if you leave footprints in dragnet surveillance - like if you were at or near a protest. If you're planning on committing crimes serio…

True. Replace "crime" with "things that motivate the government to investigate you". They arent the same but overlap alot of course. In 2025 the non intersecting area got larger.

> "things that motivate the government to investigate you"

Yeah, as I wrote elsewhere in this discussion: "running a global drug cartel, or criticising Saudi Royal Families, or defending the rights of Palestinian children to not be bombed"

Re: Burner Phone 101

#193

Post by bigiain »

dfc wrote: post #189
bigiain wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be surprised if my daily driver phone ran out of battery more than once or twice a year. It probably only ever reboots in exactly the same 24 hour time window as every other iPhone during iOS updates. If Alice's threat model doesn't include NSA/KGB/MSS/MOSSAD, just being slightly less naive and switching on the burner at (or within a set distance from) some location other than her home is likely fine. I describe…

What about elevators, parking garages, basements? Network Attach messages are fairly common in the mobile device logs I have seen. Your "Recreational Paranoia" should include rebooting your iPhone more often.

> What about elevators, parking garages, basements?

If Snowden was an ex-colleage of mine, I suspect I or my co workers probably combine location data with network attach/detach messages, and can filter out "known blackspots" on a per network/carrier basis.

> Your "Recreational Paranoia" should include rebooting your iPhone more often.

Ah ha! But my recreational paranoia hobby includes having a perfectly normal "daily driver" phone - which gets left at home way more often than other people's phones.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#194

Post by spratzt »

bongodongobob wrote: post #83
metadat wrote: post #66

eSim erodes privacy? Well, that sucks, because how long until Apple, Samsung, and Google decide the Sim slot should go the way of the 3.5mm headphone jack?

That has already happened. iPhones since the 14 don't have sim slots.

Rubbish!

I have an iPhone 16 and it has a sim slot.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#195

Post by mrheosuper »

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…

I Thought the point of burner phone is you destroy it immediately after you finish business with it.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#196

Post by FireBeyond »

teekert wrote: post #158
Terr_ wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> combined with billing requirements There's a certain flavor of US libertarian that complains that they should only be taxed for exactly the road-surfaces they personally use in proportion to how much they use them. In response, I like to point out to them that their dream of "fair billing" can't occur without a nightmare of surveillance, making it easy for the government (or road-owners, and indirectly the governme…

Agreed, I always think that all these taxes should indeed just go through fuel. Want a bigger, heavier, more polluting car? Want to drive like a F1 driver? Fine, you pay more. Want to drive a long distance? You'll pay per distance*car_size. Want to go electric? You'll pay tax on electricity in concordance with it's economic price and influence on the planet. One problem in the EU is is that this would need to be roll…

> Agreed, I always think that all these taxes should indeed just go through fuel. Want a bigger, heavier, more polluting car? Want to drive like a F1 driver? Fine, you pay more.

That already happens in some states. I have a performance car, and in Washington that came with a "gas guzzler tax" built in to the purchase breakdown, so I paid a lump sum (in addition to the ongoing higher fuel costs).

Re: Burner Phone 101

#197

Post by Citizen8396 »

aspenmayer wrote: post #172
Desk1com wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah the definitely not as succinct as it could be. They all seem to pad out content with the same generalities. But fair enough, there is no foolproof solution looks like

Leave your phone at home. You won't need it if you plan to not have it. A simple device like this can even keep it company for you while you're away: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourne-montre Print this out and you can take notes on the back of the page, or even read it if you get bored while you're out and about without your device, to remind yourself why you don't really need your phone: > Evil Never Sleeps: When…

I can't emphasize this enough: it is extraordinarily rare for malware to persist after a reboot on iOS. These examples are of devices that faked the shutdown sequence (in other words, the exploit did not achieve persistence). iPhones have a hardware-level reset capability: quickly press volume up, volume down, then press and hold the power button.

Enable Lockdown Mode to prevent the vast majority of exploits, then reboot using this method once a week. You'll be fine, as far as this specific threat is concerned.

Re: Burner Phone 101

#198

Post by kuon »

lilsoso wrote: post #178
kuon wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's far, but good to know.

You can buy prepaid SIM cards with cash, and without hassle, in the US as well. You can do this in many countries, I believe, as well as online through services offered in exchange for crypto. You didn't define where "here" is for you. Mexico is a better option than the US because the retail price of a SIM card with a number and service is around 50 pesos (maybe lower).

Yeah, I forgot: I'm in switzerland.
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