Rants, Raves, and Opinions

[Howard5354]

The Apple case shows you that even the Feds cannot break the password of an IPHONE, so just keep a good password on your phone and you are good to go.

[Andy54]

I use a smartphone but I use a separate account for everything connected to this hobby. Meaning I have a different Gmail account on that account that can't be accessed from my regular account. I also have a few different texting / phone apps like Google voice, Textfree and TextPlus. The same browser, but totally disconnected from my regular account. This keeps it totally private from people I know, but is it as safe as a burner phone. I doubt it. It's almost like having two separate phones, but actually only having one. Any thoughts?

I agree that the smartphone can be tracked regardless of which account you are logged into. Pretty sure there is an IP Address from the phone regardless of where you are logged into. I mainly use it like a completely different phone since it is a totally separate account just to hide stuff from significant other. When Android updated to lollipop it added the ability to have a guest account, or add accounts. The apps are not shared, so if you have Google voice on my hidden account, it won't show up in my regular account. Same thing for every app. Burner phone isn't really an option for me!

[Member #5286]

This topic seems to come up often here and I've given my share of advice, as have others, regarding all the reasons to have a completely separate phone. We've covered the what ifs of having a girl overdose shortly after calling from your regular phone, someone getting murdered in a provider's home, etc etc. Things that might make LE want to track you down. Well, here's another one that I just thought of. What if the girl turns out to be underage? For me, the possibility of that, burner phone or not, is enough to keep me away from the younger ones. But for those willing to risk it, is it worth using your regular phone? They don't mess around when it comes to that shit, and it'll ruin your life. These girls lie about everything. Why wouldn't they lie about their age? Just some food for thought.

[Howard5354]

It should work for keeping texts away from your significant other, as long as you remember to log out of the apps each time, but not law enforcement. Imagine if a provider was found unconscious, or worse, with your number in their phone. You more than likely wouldn't be a suspect, but would you want a visit to your home or office from a detective? Buy a burner phone for cash, buy the minutes with cash, use the lock code, and NEVER call any number even remotely associated with you from it.

Its difficult but you can be tracked. There is no such beast as an untraceable phone. These companies use the same towers as the main companies like Verizon and ATT to transmit calls. They caught one dude by following the ping from his regular cell phone that he carried in his pocket.

[Sinlover]

I use a smartphone but I use a separate account for everything connected to this hobby. Meaning I have a different Gmail account on that account that can't be accessed from my regular account. I also have a few different texting / phone apps like Google voice, Textfree and TextPlus. The same browser, but totally disconnected from my regular account. This keeps it totally private from people I know, but is it as safe as a burner phone. I doubt it. It's almost like having two separate phones, but actually only having one. Any thoughts?

It should work for keeping texts away from your significant other, as long as you remember to log out of the apps each time, but not law enforcement. Imagine if a provider was found unconscious, or worse, with your number in their phone. You more than likely wouldn't be a suspect, but would you want a visit to your home or office from a detective? Buy a burner phone for cash, buy the minutes with cash, use the lock code, and NEVER call any number even remotely associated with you from it.

[WizardOfAahs]

I use a smartphone but I use a separate account for everything connected to this hobby. Meaning I have a different Gmail account on that account that can't be accessed from my regular account. I also have a few different texting / phone apps like Google voice, Textfree and TextPlus. The same browser, but totally disconnected from my regular account. This keeps it totally private from people I know, but is it as safe as a burner phone. I doubt it. It's almost like having two separate phones, but actually only having one. Any thoughts?

Smartphones all have some sort of Device-I'd that is requested and accessed by many apps (eg anything Google); so that simple switching of which account you are logged into actually is telling these various apps that you are running around under multiple identities. While it is possible to spoof these IDs or other Unique Identifiers that are used it really isn't worth the time. All broadcasts coming from your phone have this as well as a few other identifiers (eg SIM Card code, IMEI, MeID) being packaged as metadata to the towers.

[RolandDeschain]

It's like watching the plane crash into the mountain. You can see it coming but can't look away.

I don't care to get in a public pissing match, but the forum has seem to become a gossip board instead of a useful source of information. Case in point, I looked at the last 100 postings made by a certain member who has tons of postings, and out of the 100 of his postings I looked at, ZERO of them are "reviews". Oh well Now go get that pussy!

I decided to help you with your dissatisfaction with the forum.

You're welcome

A2

[Slick Banister]

I use a smartphone but I use a separate account for everything connected to this hobby. Meaning I have a different Gmail account on that account that can't be accessed from my regular account. I also have a few different texting / phone apps like Google voice, Textfree and TextPlus. The same browser, but totally disconnected from my regular account. This keeps it totally private from people I know, but is it as safe as a burner phone. I doubt it. It's almost like having two separate phones, but actually only having one. Any thoughts?

I'm not very tech savvy so I cannot give you a definitive answer. But I would suspect that Google tracks the connection and knows it's all going to your phone. Unless you only open those accounts while using a proxy server to hide your server connection.

[Andy54]

I use a smartphone but I use a separate account for everything connected to this hobby. Meaning I have a different Gmail account on that account that can't be accessed from my regular account. I also have a few different texting / phone apps like Google voice, Textfree and TextPlus. The same browser, but totally disconnected from my regular account. This keeps it totally private from people I know, but is it as safe as a burner phone. I doubt it. It's almost like having two separate phones, but actually only having one. Any thoughts?

[ScooterAllCity]

I don't care to get in a public pissing match, but the forum has seem to become a gossip board instead of a useful source of information. Case in point, I looked at the last 100 postings made by a certain member who has tons of postings, and out of the 100 of his postings I looked at, ZERO of them are "reviews". Oh well Now go get that pussy!

I decided to help you with your dissatisfaction with the forum.

You're welcome

A2

LOL!! Don't blame you one bit. He didn't get it.

[HippityHop]

I don't care to get in a public pissing match, but the forum has seem to become a gossip board instead of a useful source of information. Case in point, I looked at the last 100 postings made by a certain member who has tons of postings, and out of the 100 of his postings I looked at, ZERO of them are "reviews". Oh well Now go get that pussy!

I decided to help you with your dissatisfaction with the forum.

You're welcome

A2

[Slick Banister]

In this hobby, it's very difficult not to leave trails that with sufficient resources can be traced back to us. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't take simple precautions, like:

1. Use a different browser / persona, always erase everything or delete the persona.

2. Never use a work computer.

3. Remember to disconnect the work VPN before surfing.

None of these are meant to foil LE.

It's not always that simple for everyone. And uncle isn't going you data mine you they're looking for low hanging fruit

This is where real "data mining" comes in. Facebook and other social media LOVE "connections" and will walk a long, long chain (literally trillions of pieces of information) across all apps that share data to find them. With a phone number, name, place of work or even just likes and dislikes Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. will invest huge amounts of processing to sift through them to find out that person A friends person B who worked at the same place with person C who had lunch at the same restaurant as person D yesterday who ordered the same album from Amazon as person E through QQ who went to the same event as persons XX through ZZZ. And of course those people for sure want to know each other, because internet, that's why.

You get the picture. Keep in mind that any "cross-pollination" at any point in a virtually infinite chain can make a connection. Think of privacy as an STD (like most Republicans) - if anyone in a multiplying chain of partners has it...you ALL have it.

A gentleman has a bare-bones poon phone with only voice and text. A Lady has a smart phone, but she uses it ONLY for business. Both are very careful to only use them for business, although they have saved each other's number and professional name. Of course, both have personal phones and computers as well. So far, this looks pretty good As long as neither party does ANYTHING on their phones to make a connection, they're good.

But then the Lady texts a provider friend of hers that isn't quite so careful. She has both the Lady's real and professional names in her contacts with both numbers and has several apps that allow access to her contacts including a LinkedIn profile and Facebook page for her artwork business. Now there's a chain linking the original Lady's real name and her work phone. The text is a reference check, and the Lady friend dutifully finds that the gentleman's poon phone number is in her contacts and provides an outstanding reference. Now there's a direct link between the gentleman's poon phone number and the Lady's real name via contacts on the provider's friend's phone.

The gentleman is waiting outside an incall for the Lady that's running late. He gets a text on his real phone about a problem at work and he needs to call right away. He makes the call, but the signal is terrible and the problem is dire. He figures one little call on his poon phone isn't a problem; he calls his co-worker's cell phone, noting that he's using the emergency phone from his car. He quickly handles the situation, and the recipient of the call without thinking goes ahead and saves the number on the existing contact for his co-worker. He then shifts over to playing Farmville on his smart phone, where he's friends with his co-worker. The poon phone number is now connected to a real name.

Both LinkedIn and Facebook now finds that there's a person that has two contacts that match people it knows - it sees a connection between the gentleman's real name and poon phone number via his friend's saved contact, and the provider's real name via the Lady's saved contact with her.

It decides since they know the same person, they'd love to be best buds. Maybe not.

Now, I'm a writer and I'm writing this morning so I spun a long yarn. It sounds convoluted and impossible, but the connections usually aren't that convoluted although sometimes they could be even order of magnitudes larger. But the bottom line is that any cross-pollination between real and hobby universes will make a connection, and anyone in your chain that isn't smart can expose you.

I suspect folks will come out of the woodwork and call bullshit, but privacy is a sideline interest of mine and I've done a ton of research on this stuff.

[Coochie Eater]

I don't save providers as contacts. The population is so fluid and I rarely repeat.

Damn Popeye! I thought I was a grandiloquent pedant, man, "FLUID" to describe the erratic nature of hookers is not only accurate, but kindly in a hyperbolic and ironic way.

I cannot get the image of Mr. Rogers saying "Can you say 'FLUID'? I knew you could!" out of my head. I will think of this every time a number doesn't work, or I deposit some fluid into a provider's yap, or she tells me she can't do full service because she's on her monthly.

Coochie (should have joined the "Head Stop" program) Eater.

God Bless You All!

[Member #6005]

Just read an interesting thread on tnaboard about hobbyist having their smart phones apps data mine their contracts. They're receiving suggestions to become friends with the providers they've saved in their contacts. This type of technology is advancing everyday and is all the more reason to keep a completely separate device to hobby on.

I keep my contact information in a werd document on my personal device and do my due diligence via tor. All contact is made through that app or my dumb flip phone that's registered to this user name and has no contract.

Play safe guys. Somebody's watching.

In this hobby, it's very difficult not to leave trails that with sufficient resources can be traced back to us. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't take simple precautions, like:

1. Use a different browser / persona, always erase everything or delete the persona.

2. Never use a work computer.

3. Remember to disconnect the work VPN before surfing.

None of these are meant to foil LE.

[Member #6005]

I deleted contacts I'd saved to my phone months before getting a new phone. I deny every attempt to data mine that pops up for any app I download or update due. Somehow, when I transferred contacts to my new phone all the contacts I had deleted came back. (Yes I synced the phone after deleting the unwanted information) I'm not sure why it happened, but it did, and I'm not pleased about it. As convenient as it might seem I'll never save another contact again.

I am a firm believer that the more disconnect I can create between myself and this awful affliction I have the better of I'll be.

*edit*
My personal experience stated here was months before reading about how software is connecting the dots between hobbyist and providers.

I don't save providers as contacts. The population is so fluid and I rarely repeat.