Time to Consider One of These Burner Phones??

[HAB911]

https://www.wired.com/2017/02/7-great-burner-phones/?mbid=nl_2317_p3&CNDID=30772003

We’re living in a new era of political unpredictability. Who knows what race, religious group, or professional sector will be scrutinized tomorrow? If you’re concerned that your devices will be targeted for confiscation and search, heed caution now. Start carrying a burner phone—a handset you can wipe clean and destroy without much thought. We’ve rounded up some good options.

One note: The point of using a burner is to avoid leaving a trace of your phone activity. Our list of recommended phones (and one app!) comes with links to online retailers so you can read more about the devices, but if you’re trying to stay private, you should buy both the phone and a pre-paid data allotment with cash. Most of these handsets (and the prepaid cards) are available at big-box stores here and abroad.


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Burner App

This isn’t a phone; it’s an app that anonymizes your texts and phone calls. When you call or text from inside Burner, the app maintains your anonymity by routing your message through a new phone number. It’s a working phone number too, so you can give it out without worrying about revealing your identity. When things get hot, just delete the number and it goes out of service. Burner is available for iOS and Android devices, and while it may be the most convenient option on this list for most people, it won’t make you feel like you’re a flip-phone-carrying drug dealer from The Wire. $5 per month.

[a kennedy]

1. Thank you or this info......and I'm bookmarking it, JUST IN CASE.

[MineralMan]

2. The question to ask yourself is:

Why would anyone be interested in my phone calls and texts? Unless there's some really good reason that what you do with your device would be of interest to anyone, there's really no need to worry. And if there is a good reason, why haven't you already dealt with this risk before now?

Frankly, I doubt that many on DU ever do or say anything that would be interesting to the government.

[HAB911]

3. do you think that was why

DU was hacked? that maybe those hackers might now be the government?

honestly and respectfully of course, those sound like famous last words.

[MineralMan]

4. According to the admins, nobody knows

who hacked DU. DU has plenty of detractors and people who would take pleasure out of it being taken down. Think horses, not zebras. DU has far too little impact on things to be a target. There are much larger targets available.

And, as for individuals, very, very few of those are of interest to any government. Now, you may be one of those, but if you were, you would already have taken those steps to remain anonymous, I would think.

Buy your burner phone, if you wish, and use masking software, if you feel like you should. But, most of us have no need for such things. We're simply not on anyone's radar.

[HAB911]

5. Yet. Good luck going forward

are you an activist, person of color, atheist or minority religion? All the post is intended to do is give options for the future. I wish I had your level of comfort with the future for any of us.

[MineralMan]

7. Activist and Atheist, and all in my own name.

Do you what an interesting thing is to do? It's always interesting to Google the screen names you use on the Internet. Sometimes, what turns up is really surprising, I think.

Often, others have the same screen names, so it can be difficult to even know which things apply. That's certainly true for mine.

[ret5hd]

8. Pffft...You know who "hacked" DU, and in your heart you know you know it.

[MineralMan]

11. No, actually, I don't.

I did some serious looking around when it happened. If I had to guess, I'd guess someone from 4chan who couldn't resist bragging about it and dropping clues about it. That's what I found, anyhow. I did my looking right after it happened, and found the clues I found, which I shared in emails to the DU admins.

But, the motive? Probably just spite and taking pleasure at taking down a popular website. The 4chan boys just love bragging about what they've done.

But who that 4chan person was, I was not able to ascertain. I'm not that good, nor that seriously interested.

[bigtree]

6. for that matter

...what did activists and their communications which are known to have been monitored communicate that was 'interesting?'

Plenty. Maybe nothing as subversive or nefarious as the monitoring would suggest, but why were peace groups like the Friends monitored, or Native American protestors and activists?

It's not a question of whether there's necessarily something to hide, it's about free association, free-movement, general privacy rights. We may not be in some vanguard of activism or some activity, or association of great consequence, but that doesn't stop govt. snoopers from monitoring protests and targeting protesters through our varied media and communication choices.

Fine that your life is an open book, I guess mine is, as well. But that doesn't mean that I'm not concerned that some zealous snooper is marking time on any activity I engage in. It's good to have options to circumvent an intrusive government.

[MineralMan]

9. OK. You should do what makes you comfortable.

[bigtree]

10. of course

[HAB911]

12. fiction, but.......

Resistance is futile: That clever Drumpf tweet might be your last

[MineralMan]

13. But what?

Satire is satire. I write some of that myself.

[HAB911]

14. LOL, well then

I guess that settles everything!

TOO FUNNY

[bathroommonkey76]

15. I used to work for Verizon

During my time there I had access to millions of texts and pictures from people who thought their dirty laundry could not be seen by prying eyes. I found that naked bathroom selfies were very popular with people ages 24-55. Most of these people aren't aware that they've turned on a cloud option for their pics to be saved on a Verizon server. After I quit my job with them I started taking my privacy seriously.

One of the most reliable encrypted apps I've ever used is Signal. I suggest you give it a try if you're searching for an app that encrypts calls and texts.

Here's Signal's biggest fan:

Link to tweet

Signal Private Messenger (for Android)

Signal (for iPhone)

[bathroommonkey76]

16. I forgot to ask...

Do you know if Burner, Textplus, TextNow keeps logs of the calls/texts made by its users?

[HAB911]

17. Encryption Software, Messaging Apps Being Used By Fed Employees

For Fear Of Losing Jobs, Report Says

President Trump’s election is causing mayhem amongst federal employees. Politico released a report describing how government employees are using encrypted messaging apps and services to discuss the security of their positions and opinions of decisions made by Trump.

Employees are worried Trump will fire anyone who opposes his executive orders and are taking extra precautions to not get caught speaking negatively about any of his orders. The recent firing of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates has put federal employees on edge, the report states.

According to Politico employees have begun purchasing more secure cell phones and using apps such as Signal or WhatsApp because they encrypt all conversations and are more difficult to hack. Employees are also using private emails and speaking face-to-face to avoid any incidents.

http://www.ibtimes.com/encryption-software-messaging-apps-being-used-fed-employees-fear-losing-jobs-report-2486175