Google is silently linking phone numbers across your accounts. Discover the privacy risks involved and follow this guide to disable it.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53939468
One number, zero privacy?
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And they’re probably making mistakes too. It’s amazing how many data merges happen out there that result in wrong data. Not too long ago my credit card company sent me a new card overnight because of fraud, but they didn’t send it to me, they sent it to a family member of my ex wife’s. I’ve been divorced over 20 years now and I never even lived there. But the CC company decided to merge their data with other data and fucked up somewhere along the way.
My phone number still shows up on android phones as a hooker who used to have this number. I have never been able to fix it. Google doesn’t care. And now that the Johns have been chased of by an unexpected daddy’s mad voice, it’s just an inside joke for my friends.
the amount of money they make despite the fuck ups guarantee that they’ll keep doing it anyways
source: i used to work for one of these companies.
I always laugh when people tell me that businesses are naturally efficient. They clearly have not worked for large companies. Or they are sleepwalking through life, seeing only what they want to see, like far too many people.
I bet they’re from management – somewhere where they don’t see how the sausage made
they’re efficient until not doing so majorly inconveniences you specifically
No. As a consultant I’ve seen hundreds of businesses. There’s a ton of inefficiency. Check out David Graeber’s book, “Bullshit Jobs”. He details a lot of inefficiencies throughout the whole system. It’s a real eye opener.
Just think how efficient governments would be if we ran them like a business!
no, i agree with you. it was just being facetious
Nothing to add, just wanted to compliment your profile picture.
Don’t. Use. Sim. Cards.
… So dont use mobile phones?
No, mobile phones are fine. Just never put a Sim card in them, and leave them in airplane mode at all times.
… So don’t use mobile phones. Use mini tablets.
No, mobile phones are fine. Just never put a Sim card in them, and leave them in airplane mode at all times.
Unfortunately many providers have MFA procedures that require a phone number.
so far I’ve been able to get around that with the method Michael Bazzell describes in his book:
buy a prepaid card, this comes with a carrier phone number (cash, in store if possible)
transfer the prepaid number to a VOIP service
the number, having been created for carrier service, does not fall into the VOIP generated set, meaning (so far, anyway) MFA and other services requiring a ‘real’ number do not turn this away, even if it is currently a VOIP number.
repeat/rotate as necessary
How long does said number last/stay valid? This is all fascinating as I’d never heard nor read of this before. Would you be willing to go into more detail, like naming such VOIP services, etc.?
I’ve been doing this for about a year now and have run into no issues with the numbers I transfer from carriers. more and more the pure VOIP numbers are not working.
I won’t go into recommending any, for reasons I describe in another comment in this thread. I will however not recommend VoIP.ms, they wanted me to do a facial scan and when I refused completely blocked access to my account with no appeal.
Brilliant. What provider do you recommend for VoIP? And how much does it cost?
I don’t recommend any, to be honest. the ones I’ve tried all have quirks that make them annoying to use, so unfortunately I haven’t settled on one I can recommend. that said, $5 USD per number per month is very much the high end you should expect, you can get decent results for much cheaper.
I feel like every time I search, I just find companies selling to businesses and they want like $50 per month
I’m not sure this is much different in the end… they have a different number linking all your accounts, but they’re still all associated with one person… you. I don’t see how it matters if it’s a cell or voip #.
for me the primary motivator is to stay off of cell to avoid cell tower triangulation. the service I use right now actually doesn’t even need a ‘host’ cell number. also, newer phones have multiple eSIM slots that you can rotate easily with the method I describe above, allowing you to further containerize your personas.
its different depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. if you’re trying to hide from the government, good luck. if you’re trying to make it so Walmart and Amazon have no shared information on you, that’s very achievable
It is difference. Sim cards can push arbitrary remote code execution to your device from towers.
That gap makes a huge difference
I’m replying to you because you sound like you know a lot about it. I have Google Fi service with an “eSim”. It can’t possibly be true that a Sim card is better than an eSim, can it? An eSim is total vapor. I have to beg Google Fi to turn it in or transfer it. At least a Sim can be transferred manually. So if Sim is no bueno, and an eSim is no bueno, then what, pray tell, is the 3rd option here? Is there some much better option that busy “normies” can choose?
The problem is the baseband processor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseband_processor
Leave the phone in airplane mode 100% of the time, and use WiFi
Great, a walk around loophole that soon enough will be closed too
How else do you receive calls?
What for?
Signal, Wire, Matrix, WhatsApp, etc.
Worst case: SIP
Are you implying an eSIM is better…?
No
stock android is still plenty usable without google accounts.
Using Google services and being concerned about privacy is like asking an arsonist to guard your property from fires.
Quick, everyone update you’re phone number to 111-111-1111