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The Markup: Without a Trace: How to Take Your Phone Off the Grid themarkup.org/levelup/2023/10/… #privacy #phones

Without a Trace: How to Take Your Phone Off the Grid – The Markup

A guide on anonymizing your phone, so you can use it without it using you
themarkup.org
#privacy #phones
in reply to AI6YR Ben

AI6YR Ben
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AI6YR Ben
• •

**there are a few holes here I think (experts probably can find more): if you use Wi-Fi anywhere, even a coffee shop, your Wi-Fi signature/MAC address could be logged somewhere.

Your IMEI code can easily be vacuumed up when the phone is on, and it is connected and logged by cell phone towers, and is available easily with a judge's signature if they believe it is in the interest of a law enforcement agency. (ie "we want all the IMEIs of people who visited this location, we believe there was a crime committed.") -- and they will follow the IMEI trail. i.e. went to a protest, phone was on, now logged.

Target/Walmart records video at every checkout. If someone in law enforcement says "we need to see the checkout register for this purchase of a Mint Mobile Sim on 3/6/25 0732" they will provide it without a warrant.

in reply to AI6YR Ben

cR0w
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cR0w
• •
Many Wi-Fi adapters use pseudorandom MACs by default but the rest of your concerns are completely valid. I used to walk through a similar exercise with students but never documented it. Maybe I should do that.
Unknown parent

AI6YR Ben
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AI6YR Ben
• •
@Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w Oooh, first time I have heard of Graphene. I assume that runs on any Android compatible phone? I should give that a try....
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @cR0w
in reply to AI6YR Ben

Unus Nemo
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Unus Nemo
•

@AI6YR Ben @Christian Wolff @cR0w

Unfortunately at this time GraphenOS Support is only officially for the Pixel. I do not know of any builds for any other Android Phones.

@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @AI6YR Ben @cR0w
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AI6YR Ben
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AI6YR Ben
• •
LOL only works on Google Pixel? That's hilarious. (Update: oh yeah... guess I may look for a used Pixel) grapheneos.org/faq#supported-d…
GrapheneOS has official production support for the following devices: Pixel 9 Pro Fold (comet) Pixel 9 Pro XL (komodo) Pixel 9 Pro (caiman) Pixel 9 (tokay) Pixel 8a (akita) Pixel 8 Pro (husky) Pixel 8 (shiba) Pixel Fold (felix) Pixel Tablet (tangorpro) Pixel 7a (lynx) Pixel 7 Pro (cheetah) Pixel 7 (panther) Pixel 6a (bluejay) Pixel 6 Pro (raven) Pixel 6 (oriole)

GrapheneOS Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to frequently asked questions about GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS
This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to AI6YR Ben

d.rift
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d.rift
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@Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w @GrapheneOS Worth it, in my opinion. Saved me from at least three significant hassles in the last week alone.
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @GrapheneOS @cR0w
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GrapheneOS
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GrapheneOS
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@Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w We're working on getting other OEMs to meet our requirements. It's not easy. It's hard to justify it when so many companies are selling insecure devices missing basic security patches and features as supposedly being private and secure phones. Apple's privacy and security marketing has far more substance than any of the niche phone products pretending to be that. Since our goal is doing better, we need the hardware to be secure and to cooperate with us.
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @cR0w
in reply to AI6YR Ben

GrapheneOS
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GrapheneOS
• •
@Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w They're currently the only highly secure Android hardware comparable to iPhones and the only ones meeting our security requirements. You can see those requirements at grapheneos.org/faq#future-devi…. Most Android devices have horrible security for hardware and firmware. They also tend to lack any serious support for installing a non-stock OS even if they do allow unlocking and flashing one. For example, Samsung explicitly cripples their devices with another OS.

GrapheneOS Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to frequently asked questions about GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @cR0w
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Kayakpatrick
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Kayakpatrick
• •
@Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w @GrapheneOS
I recently found my old galaxy 10 and wanted to install graphene only to find out it's not supported. After a little searching, it looks like e OS is a degoogled option for older galaxy stuff.
Does anyone have any experience or advice with e OS? Specifically, how hard is it for a not terribly techy person to install and navigate?
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @GrapheneOS @cR0w
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d.rift
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d.rift
• •
@Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @GrapheneOS @cR0w I run GrapheneOS because they find and block the WEIRD stuff before I come near realizing it needs blocking. So that when I'm leaning over a kiosk desk in some random city thinking "oh crap did that just do what I think that just did..." the next thing that happens is _it not screw up my phone_. 😁
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @GrapheneOS @cR0w
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AI6YR Ben
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AI6YR Ben
• •
@feonixrift @GrapheneOS @Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w Yikes on a travel sim overwriting firmware!!!
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @GrapheneOS @cR0w @d.rift
in reply to wanderingmagus

Kayakpatrick
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Kayakpatrick
• •
@wanderingmagus @Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w @GrapheneOS @LineageOS
Your thoughts on lineage? I'm interested in moving away from Google, and I figured trying an alternative OS on an old phone would be a good way to give it a test run.
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @GrapheneOS @LineageOS @wanderingmagus @cR0w
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GrapheneOS
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GrapheneOS
• •
@kayakpatrick @Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w /e/OS is nearly the completely opposite of GrapheneOS. It has atrocious privacy and security without even the most basic security kept intact. You're far better off using an older but still fully supported iPhone both in terms of privacy and security. The purpose of GrapheneOS is providing a better option than an iPhone which sets a high bar for security and also overall privacy if you use iCloud Advanced Data Protection (E2EE), etc.
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @cR0w @Kayakpatrick
in reply to Kayakpatrick

GrapheneOS
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GrapheneOS
• •
@kayakpatrick @Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w /e/OS is a highly insecure OS without the basic privacy/security model intact or proper privacy/security patches. It's a highly security oblivious fork of LineageOS which already rolls back security itself. See eylenburg.github.io/android_co… for a high quality comparison between Android-based operating systems. /e/OS focuses on poorly supporting a massive number of insecure devices, pushing their services, marketing and device sales via Murena.

Comparison of Android-based Operating Systems

eylenburg.github.io
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @cR0w @Kayakpatrick
in reply to GrapheneOS

GrapheneOS
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GrapheneOS
• •
@kayakpatrick @Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w Unlike Apple, /e/OS lacks end-to-end encryption for their services. It's far worse all around, not just the horrible hardware and software security. Even on a Pixel, /e/OS has atrocious security since they lag a year behind on updates providing half of the important security patches, months behind on basic backports and greatly roll back the security model.
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @cR0w @Kayakpatrick
in reply to GrapheneOS

GrapheneOS
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GrapheneOS
• •
@kayakpatrick @Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w GrapheneOS also has much broader app compatibility, far better stability, etc. but that's not the main point. If someone can't tolerate a tiny subset of apps not working due to them banning GrapheneOS through banning using any non-stock OS with the Play Integrity API, then an iPhone is the clear best option for them. Most people hardly have to make any sacrifice to use GrapheneOS since all their apps work at least with the compat toggle.
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @cR0w @Kayakpatrick
in reply to Kayakpatrick

wanderingmagus
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wanderingmagus
• •
@kayakpatrick @Christian_Freiherr_von_Wolff @cR0w @GrapheneOS @LineageOS in my humble opinion as a fellow amateur layman, I think LineageOS is probably more developed, safer, and more secure than E. But again, that's only from the information I've been exposed to as an amateur in the privacy space.
@Day Use X Mockin' Uh @GrapheneOS @LineageOS @cR0w @Kayakpatrick
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