Wired guide to protect yourself from government surveillance

No matter how limited the location tracking of apps and operating systems is, your phone can also be tracked with mobile services as your phone is placed to keep your device connected to the network. That’s why the easiest way to be sure your device hasn’t collected or leaked your location is to not carry them. If you don’t create the data, no one can access it.

“If you’re about to be tracked, it’s often the easiest thing to do to not have a phone,” Sandvik says. “Please leave it at home.”

In most cases, this solution is not practical in most cases. You can place the device in airplane mode or turn it off completely to limit connectivity. But to completely ensure that everything is off the grid, you can put your device in a case known as a special pouch or Faraday bag to go to the device or block all electromagnetic signals coming from it. With a Faraday bag, you can carry your device while not exposing your place. For example, hide the route you went to your place or destination on a particular afternoon. The downside of Faraday bags is that devices need to stay in the bag to protect privacy, so you should plan to use them effectively. Removing the phone means that the cat is out of the bag (located).

Financial privacy

Financial surveillance is one of the most powerful tracking tools in the government arsenal. Credit card payments or other transactions linked to bank accounts are essentially transparent to the law enforcement agencies requesting them.

The “following money” form of surveillance has a relatively simple analog defense: dollar bills. “Forensic accounting is a thing,” warns Holmes. “Yeah, use your cash.”

For those looking for more convenient or long distance transactions, payment apps like PayPal, Venmo, and Cash apps may look a bit more cash than credit cards or checks, but in fact they are as vulnerable to law enforcement data requests as they are banks. Cryptocurrency may seem like an attractive alternative. But for a long time Mythical reputation of cryptocurrency as anonymous cash on the internetBitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies do not offer real privacy given that it makes it easier to trace Bitcoin transactions on its blockchain and it is difficult to buy and sell cryptocurrency from cryptocurrency exchanges that are compliant with customer laws as we know it.

Some cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash offer privacy properties that are much more challenging than others, at least in theory. Mixer services like Ethereum-based Tornado Cash also promise to blend users’ coins with other people’s coins to complicate the task of tracking money. Still, given the continued advances in cryptocurrency tracking and the indelible evidence of the security slip that makes it possible for cats to use public blockchains in its cat and mouse games, it is much safer to stick to cash as much as possible.

Notes on Burner Phones

Burner phones, or prepaid phones that are not connected to credit cards or digital accounts, can be useful tools to protect your location data and other information. They are intended to have no traceable connections with you and be used for a limited time. In other words, they are intended to provide anonymity.

The advantage of using burner devices is that the devices are not linked so you don’t have to worry too much about the personal information they are collecting or inadvertently leaking while using them. They simply show that someone is going everywhere, or that someone is planning on meeting someone else on a park bench at 8pm. Over time, you can use your device to communicate frequently, log in to the associated digital account from your device, or give someone who doesn’t use your burner yourself a burner number, or link your phone quickly, like at home.