Jack Recider

And I was hoping we could talk about it.

And I was hoping we could talk about it.

Okay, so this is an incredibly nuanced story, which is going to fill your head with a lot of questions. I know it did that to me. But let's first start with some context. I am not a criminal, but I make a lot of effort to be private and secure. And the first time I made an effort to have a privacy phone was after I read an article by Joseph

Okay, so this is an incredibly nuanced story, which is going to fill your head with a lot of questions. I know it did that to me. But let's first start with some context. I am not a criminal, but I make a lot of effort to be private and secure. And the first time I made an effort to have a privacy phone was after I read an article by Joseph

He was using an iPod Touch and did all his phone calls over Wi-Fi. The main advantage here is that there's no SIM card in an iPod Touch. It basically has all the features of an iPhone, just no SIM card. So that means nobody can SIM swap you. But also SIM cards are notorious for beaconing out to cell towers and giving fairly accurate location data to cell phone providers.

He was using an iPod Touch and did all his phone calls over Wi-Fi. The main advantage here is that there's no SIM card in an iPod Touch. It basically has all the features of an iPhone, just no SIM card. So that means nobody can SIM swap you. But also SIM cards are notorious for beaconing out to cell towers and giving fairly accurate location data to cell phone providers.

And that's even if your phone is always using a VPN, because SIM cards communicate with cell towers using baseband technology, which operates completely outside of VPNs. So this iPod Touch was the main phone that Joseph was using to keep private.

And that's even if your phone is always using a VPN, because SIM cards communicate with cell towers using baseband technology, which operates completely outside of VPNs. So this iPod Touch was the main phone that Joseph was using to keep private.

Yeah, you use that as like a secure phone, right?

Yeah, you use that as like a secure phone, right?

When Apple stopped supporting the iPod Touch, I switched over to Graphene OS, which is a fork of Android. It's an open source project, but with a lot more privacy features added in. And unlike Android, they don't send everything I do back to Google.

When Apple stopped supporting the iPod Touch, I switched over to Graphene OS, which is a fork of Android. It's an open source project, but with a lot more privacy features added in. And unlike Android, they don't send everything I do back to Google.

My messaging app of choice is Signal, which I can also make phone calls with because Signal is end-to-end encrypted, which means the people at Signal can't see my messages. Only the receiver of who I'm chatting with can. And I do so much more to remain private online. So you can see, Joseph and I, we take our mobile privacy very seriously, and we want the best there is.

My messaging app of choice is Signal, which I can also make phone calls with because Signal is end-to-end encrypted, which means the people at Signal can't see my messages. Only the receiver of who I'm chatting with can. And I do so much more to remain private online. So you can see, Joseph and I, we take our mobile privacy very seriously, and we want the best there is.

And then one day, Joseph heard about this new privacy phone called Anom. Anom.

And then one day, Joseph heard about this new privacy phone called Anom. Anom.

I think the features of Anom are amazing. I mean, it took Graphene OS, the phone operating system I already use, which is considered great already for privacy, and it made it even more locked down? What? ! And the features just kept going. Like, for instance, Anom had its own little end-to-end encryption chat app built in, but it was in a secret spot.

I think the features of Anom are amazing. I mean, it took Graphene OS, the phone operating system I already use, which is considered great already for privacy, and it made it even more locked down? What? ! And the features just kept going. Like, for instance, Anom had its own little end-to-end encryption chat app built in, but it was in a secret spot.

The thing is, there were all these dummy apps on the phone. Like, if you look at the phone, it has Tinder on there and Candy Crush. They look like normal apps, but they're just decoys. They didn't really work. And another app you'd see on the home screen was a calculator app, which worked just fine like a regular calculator, except...

The thing is, there were all these dummy apps on the phone. Like, if you look at the phone, it has Tinder on there and Candy Crush. They look like normal apps, but they're just decoys. They didn't really work. And another app you'd see on the home screen was a calculator app, which worked just fine like a regular calculator, except...