I encountered this in a computer club (I mean the place where you play per hour to play computer games on a good PC if you lack a suitable one at home). The accounts there were using phone numbers as usernames, and apparently if one is used, it would have to be verified. However, after refusing I was just given one-time accounts every time (with a random string of digits as the username), I just couldn't save unspent time for another visit so had to pay precisely. Funnily enough, the host herself the first time mentioned one-time phone number rental services for this reason)
EngineerGaming
joined 1 year ago
They might be cool for gaming at least. Or porn.
I don't get it either. I would rather use 8-800-555-35-35 because of the catchy meme ad.
Counterpoint - the only reason I didn't degoogle earlier was because my phone simply didn't support Lineage or Divest. Chances are that whatever budget Chinaphone you have would be in the same situation. Now I bought a Pixel specifically with the intent of installing a privacy-preserving OS, but for a while most I could do was ADB-disabling Google services.
Unlike installing Linux, chances are high that a degoogled OS wouldn't work on the hardware you already have.
I don't think cellular location would be excluded from such tracking tbh. I would rather not take my phone with me at all when visiting such a potentially sensitive place, or at the very least use a Faraday cage.
That is one hell of a donation, because no way unlimited data costs $50 a month :/
"Rabbit hole"? Isn't it as easy as just not going to a carrier's store for it?
We always bought from generic tech stores, almost always big chain ones - never got a carrier-locked device. Is it different in the US?
At least until the official client allows registration from desktop without VM shenanigans, and allows an arbitrary SOCKS proxy instead of just their own, and doesn't depend on Google services on mobile, there NEED to be third-party clients like signal-cli or Molly.
Excuse me, what kind of overpricing this is? ~$50 a month is insane for phone service, what kind of perks do they add on top to justify THAT? Cheaper to just buy a truckload of anon simcards and change them like gloves.
I don't think they're a honeypot, but they do seem like posers. Privacy is just good for marketing now.
That is exactly what I said though - passkeys are software. They're not confined to hardware modules, so there's no such thing as "device being a passkey".
...Or just not taking a phone and taking public transport instead of a car.