Freedom by "burning bridges"

2 respuestas [Último envío]
hack and hack
Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/02/2015

Quite pleased by the destruction of the wifi chip on my e-reader,
I was thinking about destroying more of my stuff.

My questions involve ways to severe physical routes to GPS, 3G/2G, mic & cam. I want to keep the wifi for e-mails.

But first, here's my (hopefully logical) reasoning.
I consider a smartphone only as a phone now. I need it:
- for work (specific days where I have to be reached at once).
- for emergency calls.
Else, the battery will be removed.

Why all the trouble?
- No tracking. Not that I care that much, but why allow it? Even if it represents a limited amount of location privacy (other smartphones mics, surveiliance camera and face recognition in the near future I guess...), at least it's worth trying.
- It feels like a false need to be reached at all times.
- Less wave intensity colser to my genitals (phone in the pocket), even if it's not proven harmful for now.
Downside: often unreacheable by phone, but often by mail
(need wifi to be on then, at work for example).

So how to stay as reachable as possible when my phone is off (most of the time)?
I can invite e-mail use. At home, I need an audio and visual alert for e-mails.

On the go:
Since I don't want to buy yet another device, which would be super outdated and would cost as much,
I can try to destroy GPS and 3G on my current (relatively cheap) phone,
as well as the mic and cam, in order to transform it in some kind of offline PDA.
But if wifi is still enabled, and it doesn't use one of the severed channels,
I still need an as free as possible OS.
Maybe severing it anyway and using an external libre wifi card could work.

If it works, I have a solid PDA, with mail and web as needed. Better that tons of paper pads, a music player, etc.
I can enable the wifi on the spots where it's kind of "ok" to be tracked
(stationnary outside the house, like at work, or a wifi hotspot).
Else, I'm just unreachable when going out, or between places. And it's an acceptable downside.

Now, questions, questions:
1 - Do you have any insight about circuits on a motherboard?
I want to physically disable 3G/2G, GPS, mic and camera.
Because I'm 100% sure I don't need them on a smartphone turned into a PDA.

2 - Is a cut or a whole enough (I guess it is, specially right through an antenna or chip)? Is there a better way?
Of course, I can just attempt stuff and test if I'm reachable, or if I can use the mic for example.
But it's safer to gather some data first.
Links are welcomed too. So far I found interesting data on websites about phone repair.

My phone (which I want to turn to a PDA) isn't supported by CyanogenMod :(
3 - Is AOSP from source without Google's crap really wort it? Is there a list of parts to remove from the source?
Right now I'm thinking of the Tor link I've already posted about hardening Android.
But if I can compile without all that, it's even better.
4 - I also wonder what's different between AOSP cleaned up and Replicant (and thus CyanogenMod).

I really don't need to be this much off the grid, but I want to try anyway.
I feel like Mac Gyver lol

Of course I could just use something like that instead:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA

hack and hack
Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/02/2015

I guess you're right. I might have tried on a cheaper device, just out of curiosity.

The tablet is too big for me. Unfortunately, anything else would mean non-free software.
And Android from source looks like a major PITA to setup.

Maybe I'll just use the phone as an agenda as well, and accept some more tracking. Is my location history really that important?
After all, even with a tablet, having the wifi on at work and other few locations doesn't change much : being tracked all the way from point A to point B is very similar to knowing I've been at A and B (in this order). But it's better than being trackable at all times.

The alternative is to be completely off the map.
But I can't go this far (because of the job, mainly).
I understand that being off the grid matters to some professionals. I think it's just not for me, after all. This seems like an investment where returns aren't worth it (for the average user like me).

hack and hack
Desconectado/a
se unió: 04/02/2015

If you, like me, wanted to try to physically cut access to camera, GPS, the modem and the mic, WAIT.

I just edited this post: https://trisquel.info/en/forum/if-you-could-go-back-time-and-talk-your-former-owned-self#comment-96446

In a nutshell, Replicant is cooler than I thought. I can even disable access to the modem, and essentially turn my device to a super PDA if I decide to leave telephony to another device. And other cool things about keeping the telephony but being less trackable without removing the battery every time. That's of course ok while following Paul Kocialkowski's warning: "If compromising on privacy/security is not an option, or anything serious is at stake (e.g. political activism or journalism in a sensitive area), it is advised to avoid using a telephony-enabled device at all."

To be extra safe, that means to me without even a physical modem on the device. But since I don't care that much, I'm totally using a smartphone with Replicant. With or without the modem enabled, not sure yet.
Enabled, I won't have to carry another device with the battery removed. But while the modem isolation seems solid, there's no 100% poof yet (if ever).

I'll stop boring you with all that stuff I keep repeating and let you decide for yourself if you're facing a similar choice to make.