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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Has anyone successfully used a prepaid phone and number for app registration? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I’m looking into getting a flip phone with a separate number so that I can sign up for a few apps that without associating them with ~~the complete identity profile in the data marketplace that is linked to~~ my actual phone number.

To be clear, the apps will still be downloaded and utilized on my primary smartphone. But the phone number through which I receive verification codes during registration will be a separate device.

Has any one done this? Tips for selecting a cheapo phone and prepaid service?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Every person has a massive profile (table / database) built all about them. This isn't conspiracy. This is big business. There are a few data brokerage companies focused on people:

-Acxiom (worlds biggest broker, pretty much every piece of junk mail you get drives from a company purchasing data from them)

-TransUnion (credit, such as if you pay the minimum bill or are late on payments)

-CoreLogic (all real estate purchase information)

-FourSquare Labs (location broker which i find to be particularly insidious)

There are also databases built specifically for business entities, such as Data Axle.

And companies will purchase packages from ALL of these data brokers when they want to target a specific audience.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Ah, gotcha. I kinda figured that was out there, but didn't have names to associate with them.

I guess I'm wondering how a VoIP number would differ significantly from a burner phone. Obviously the burner is more private (assuming you pay cash, there'd be zero way to trace it anywhere). Signing up for a VoIP number with an alias seems almost as untraceable, assuming the VoIP company isn't selling your data?