Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Best or least worst choices for cell phone service? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Opting out of ATT seems like the most obvious no-brainer, but are there options for phone service that are actually halfway decent?

Or as an alternative, would it be feasible to get some kind of internet phone/texting service, use that over wifi, or maybe have a basic data plan to go with it at most?

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[–] madame_gaymes@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It's kind of a moot point if you're in the USA. There are only 3 companies that actually own and operate cell towers: ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile. I'm speaking in terms of privacy, not coverage or quality.

Any other company just leases usage of the towers from one of them.

PureTalk = ATT
Mint = T-Mobile
Cricket = ATT

Then you have T-Mobile that gobbled up a bunch of smaller companies and kept the names to trick you into thinking it's a different company (kinda like Nestle and their local bottled water companies). T-Mobile also owns Sprint and MetroPCS.

[–] pineapple@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why us mobile data such a privacy concern and wifi is so much better? I understand using standard calls and text is bad but if you use mobile data and not your phone number whats the difference between that and public wifi?

[–] agile_squirrel@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Most carriers know your name, your internet usage metadata, and your location all the time using cell tower triangulation. There have been multiple reports of phone providers selling location data and sercurity breaches. If you have a phone that provides MAC address randomization and you use a VPN then I think using public WiFi is more private than having your mobile data turned on all the time.

[–] pineapple@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

OK thanks for the point, I should probably try and use wifi networks wherever possible ig.