[kwlug-disc] phone privacy news

[Andrew Sullivan Cant]

Interesting.

Looks like their prices range from $90(unlimited) to $40(9Gb/mo). If 
they support roaming in Canada, it could be reasonable.

https://invisv.com/pgpp/

I guess the IMSI changing is similar to the random MAC when connecting 
to wifi.

The dual-hop internet connecting, kind of sounds like Tor architecture.

Thanks for the post Doug!

Andrew

On 2022-08-14 18:41, Doug Moen wrote:
> Not being an iPhone user, I had no idea that Apple displays ads on the 
> iPhone, using personal data they gather to choose what ads to display. 
> Bloomberg says Apple is planning to expand the scope of its on-phone 
> advertising.
> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-08-14/apple-aapl-set-to-expand-advertising-bringing-ads-to-maps-tv-and-books-apps-l6tdqqmg 
> <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-08-14/apple-aapl-set-to-expand-advertising-bringing-ads-to-maps-tv-and-books-apps-l6tdqqmg>
> 
> In other news, we all know that turning on the LTE radio on your phone 
> exposes you to tracking by cell phone service operators. (That's why I 
> keep my phone in airplane mode when I'm not using it.) But there is a 
> solution to this problem in development.
> 
> https://invisv.com/articles/pretty-good-phone-privacy.html 
> <https://invisv.com/articles/pretty-good-phone-privacy.html>
> 
> Some university researchers have discovered a way to protect the privacy 
> of your phone when the LTE radio is turned on. In order to implement 
> their trick, they needed to set up themselves up as an MVNO (Mobile 
> Virtual Network Operator). You install special software on your Android 
> phone, and all of your cellphone data traffic is routed through their 
> MVNO. Their hack ensures that the IMSI that uniquely identifiers your 
> phone to the network is changed regularly, and is decoupled from the 
> stable user identity that they need for billing your account for cell 
> usage. WIth their setup, they physically have no ability to track your 
> phone. It works on GrapheneOS and CalyxOS (I didn't ask about other 
> Android OSS distros, but probably yes).
> 
> There are limitations.
>   * It's data only, no voice or text. You can use services that run over 
> the internet for those other things.
>   * Their business only offers service in the U.S., and in those 
> European countries where it is legal for a U.S. company to offer these 
> services to European customers.
>   * The whole system has yet to be audited by a third party that I 
> trust. There are multiple unanswered questions on Lobste.rs and Hacker 
> News that I would like to see answers for.
>   * No iPhone support, because Apple doesn't allow this.
> 
> Discussions:
>   * https://lobste.rs/s/u3by7e/pgpp_pretty_good_phone_privacy_beta 
> <https://lobste.rs/s/u3by7e/pgpp_pretty_good_phone_privacy_beta>
>   * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32429419 
> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32429419>
> 
> So it's a positive development, but not fully baked yet.
> 
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