“If you're trying not to be tracked, it's often easiest to just not have a phone,” says Sandvik. “Leave it at home.”
However, this solution is not practical for most people. You can put your devices in airplane mode to limit connectivity or turn them off completely. But to be absolutely sure that everything is off the grid, you can place your devices in special pouches or cases known as Faraday bags that block all electromagnetic signals to or from the device. Are. Faraday bags allow you to carry your equipment without exposing your location; For example, hiding your whereabouts during an afternoon or the route taken to reach a destination. The downside of Faraday bags is that the devices must remain in the bag to protect your privacy, so planning to use them effectively is essential. Taking out your phone means that the (location) cat is out of the bag.
financial privacy
Financial surveillance is one of the most powerful tracking tools in the government's arsenal. Credit card payments or other transactions involving your bank account are essentially transparent to any law enforcement agency that demands them.
That “follow the money” form of surveillance also has a relatively simple analog hedge: the dollar bill. “Forensic accounting is a thing,” Holmes warns. “So yes, use cash.”
For those seeking more convenient or long-distance transactions, payment apps like PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App may seem a little more like cash than credit cards or checks, but in reality they are subject to law enforcement data requests just like any bank. Are sensitive to. , Cryptocurrencies may seem like an attractive option. But despite going on for a long time Cryptocurrencies' legendary reputation as anonymous cash for the InternetBitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies offer no real privacy, given the ease of tracking Bitcoin transactions on its blockchain and the difficulty of buying or selling cryptocurrencies from a cryptocurrency exchange that complies with US know-your-customer laws. .
Some cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash offer privacy properties that make them more difficult to track than other cryptocurrencies – at least in theory. Mixer services, such as Ethereum-based Tornado Cash, also promise to mix users' coins with others' coins to complicate the task of following the money. Still, given the ongoing advances in cryptocurrency tracing – and the indelible evidence of any security lapses that public blockchains provide cats in that cat-and-mouse game – it is safer to stick with cash whenever possible. .
a note on the burner phone
Burner phones, or prepaid phones that are not connected to any of your credit cards or digital accounts, can be a useful tool for protecting your location data and other information. These are meant to have no contact with you and are meant to be used for a limited period of time. In other words, their purpose is to provide anonymity.
The advantage of using burner tools is that when you use them you don't have to worry as much about the personal information they are collecting or inadvertently leaking because these tools are connected to you. Are not. They simply show that someone is moving around or that someone has made plans to meet someone else on one of the park benches at, say, 8 p.m. Over time, however, if you frequently use the device to communicate, log into any digital accounts associated with you from the device, give the Burner number to people who don't use the Burner themselves, or Bring it to the relevant location with you, like your home, when it's on, the phone can be linked to you instantly.