I bought a faraday cage wallet for my phone. Any time I want to have a private conversation I put my phone in it. No signal. I got two, one for mine and one for the person I’m talking to.
That sounds useful for the scenario where malicious software on your phone wants to exfiltrate audio and the software isn’t sophisticated enough to store data when there is no signal and then transmit it later? 🤔
(I don’t think faraday bags are completely useless - if it actually blocks cellular and GPS, wifi, and bluetooth (which many/most actually don’t completely), then they can be helpful for preventing location tracking by phones or other devices with malware which makes them appear to be off when they’re actually still on. But, if you’re worried about the phone listening to you then a faraday bag is insufficient to stop it from doing so - and so are ovens, refrigerators, and various other things people assume will stop sound - if you do some experiments you’ll quickly find that modern phones have surprisingly sensitive microphones.)
Hmm, I’ll try setting it on record and see if it gets muffled. I usually use it it noisy environments anyway. Maybe put tape over the microphone slot.
I’m not worried about malicious software, I’m worried about da gummint. The other day I said “big brother is watching, you know” to someone when I got questions about my faraday wallet.
The next day on Taobao an advertisement is there for a pin of the 1984 movie logo of the “V” Ingsoc with the black and white hands shaking.
You can’t make this stuff up.
I’m not worried about malicious software, I’m worried about da gummint
“Malicious software” is a big category, and includes any scenario where a government (or anyone else) is able to cause your phone/computer/etc to act against your wishes.
Well I know for a fact that it scans my phone for photos because I’ve taken photos of things and get ads for them on Taobao. I’m on the cusp of finally being putting together my application for permanent residency and people keep bringing up my shady past. I don’t want some damn AI reporting to Beijing that I worked for cash off the books for years. I’ve got a good cover story and I’m sure I can make it fly. They’re getting more and more strict. The latest story is how even Ph.D.s aren’t immune. Used to be they cleared a fast lane for you.
So? Make it hard on the bastards. They don’t have infinite power.
How about some solutions instead of this “Ha! give up!” B.S.
The only way the bastards win is if we quit.
Problem is, I keep losing my phone and when it’s in the faraday cage the “ring the ringer remotely” command doesn’t work.
I took a trip yesterday, bought a lanyard to keep my phone on me at all times and still nearly left it in a taxi.
Just merge with the machine already. Used to be in my pocket, now I keep it around my neck, the next step is to keep it bolted onto my temples as permanent glasses.
Your phone is basically an cybernetic limb at this point.
I’m not suggesting giving up but rather trying to be being realistic about adversaries’ potential capabilities as well as the efficacy of the many countermeasures available.
There are myriad ways to decrease the chances of having malware in the first place (many of which I think are very worthwhile!) but none of them are a complete guarantee, so, when the confidentiality of a given conversation is truly paramount it is sometimes better to avoid having it in the presence of recording/storing/network-capable devices at all.
Our entire lives are on wechat already. The US government freaking out about it means it’s secure. From the NSA, that is. It’s probably better than Signal at this point.
The CPC don’t care about individual Americans who don’t speak Chinese and who don’t talk to Chinese people.
Everyone’s entire life is on Wechat. It started life as an add your friends and send photos and texts app but now it rules your life. 100% your whole chat log is archived and analyzed by AI. I only ever worked for folding money so despite everything in their records they can’t prove I ever took money. I know a man who got deported because he took mobile payments. Another I heard about got busted because he stupidly marked his workplace as “work” on his map app and took a Didi there every day. When he said he was legal the cops held up his phone and said, why’s this say it’s your work?
I tried adding APKs and my Xiaomi 15 auto-blocked them on security grounds. I was able to disable it and install them but at the bar there’s a Huawei tablet I cannot get to play MP3s. Streaming only, which sucks.
That sounds useful for the scenario where malicious software on your phone wants to exfiltrate audio and the software isn’t sophisticated enough to store data when there is no signal and then transmit it later? 🤔
(I don’t think faraday bags are completely useless - if it actually blocks cellular and GPS, wifi, and bluetooth (which many/most actually don’t completely), then they can be helpful for preventing location tracking by phones or other devices with malware which makes them appear to be off when they’re actually still on. But, if you’re worried about the phone listening to you then a faraday bag is insufficient to stop it from doing so - and so are ovens, refrigerators, and various other things people assume will stop sound - if you do some experiments you’ll quickly find that modern phones have surprisingly sensitive microphones.)
Hmm, I’ll try setting it on record and see if it gets muffled. I usually use it it noisy environments anyway. Maybe put tape over the microphone slot. I’m not worried about malicious software, I’m worried about da gummint. The other day I said “big brother is watching, you know” to someone when I got questions about my faraday wallet. The next day on Taobao an advertisement is there for a pin of the 1984 movie logo of the “V” Ingsoc with the black and white hands shaking. You can’t make this stuff up.
“Malicious software” is a big category, and includes any scenario where a government (or anyone else) is able to cause your phone/computer/etc to act against your wishes.
Well I know for a fact that it scans my phone for photos because I’ve taken photos of things and get ads for them on Taobao. I’m on the cusp of finally being putting together my application for permanent residency and people keep bringing up my shady past. I don’t want some damn AI reporting to Beijing that I worked for cash off the books for years. I’ve got a good cover story and I’m sure I can make it fly. They’re getting more and more strict. The latest story is how even Ph.D.s aren’t immune. Used to be they cleared a fast lane for you.
It’s worth noting that with a bit of signal processing speech can also be recovered from very muffled recordings made in noisy environments.
So? Make it hard on the bastards. They don’t have infinite power.
How about some solutions instead of this “Ha! give up!” B.S. The only way the bastards win is if we quit.
Keep your phone entirely out of range of the capacity for the mic to pick up audio of your conversation when you wanna talk about sensitive stuff?
Problem is, I keep losing my phone and when it’s in the faraday cage the “ring the ringer remotely” command doesn’t work. I took a trip yesterday, bought a lanyard to keep my phone on me at all times and still nearly left it in a taxi. Just merge with the machine already. Used to be in my pocket, now I keep it around my neck, the next step is to keep it bolted onto my temples as permanent glasses. Your phone is basically an cybernetic limb at this point.
I’m not suggesting giving up but rather trying to be being realistic about adversaries’ potential capabilities as well as the efficacy of the many countermeasures available.
There are myriad ways to decrease the chances of having malware in the first place (many of which I think are very worthwhile!) but none of them are a complete guarantee, so, when the confidentiality of a given conversation is truly paramount it is sometimes better to avoid having it in the presence of recording/storing/network-capable devices at all.
Our entire lives are on wechat already. The US government freaking out about it means it’s secure. From the NSA, that is. It’s probably better than Signal at this point. The CPC don’t care about individual Americans who don’t speak Chinese and who don’t talk to Chinese people.
Start using GOS and foss apps
Everyone’s entire life is on Wechat. It started life as an add your friends and send photos and texts app but now it rules your life. 100% your whole chat log is archived and analyzed by AI. I only ever worked for folding money so despite everything in their records they can’t prove I ever took money. I know a man who got deported because he took mobile payments. Another I heard about got busted because he stupidly marked his workplace as “work” on his map app and took a Didi there every day. When he said he was legal the cops held up his phone and said, why’s this say it’s your work? I tried adding APKs and my Xiaomi 15 auto-blocked them on security grounds. I was able to disable it and install them but at the bar there’s a Huawei tablet I cannot get to play MP3s. Streaming only, which sucks.