Hmm .. the author uses a hotspot connected with a SIM. Their whole argument hinges on not being tracked, but their hotspot is with them all the time. Seems like a massive hole in their privacy argument.
this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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Privacy
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MAC addresses go brrr
Everyone conviently forgets about MAC address spoofing. Some operating systems let you set a Random MAC address on each connection. It's great.
How is it that there are people still unaware of this?
😂
Hotspot location is still tracked by the cell network though.
The first part of the article still holds. You can live on wifi.
Not always. Where I am, for example, it's law to KYC users of wi-fi hotspots, usually by phone number. Good news: there are a lot of places that don't bother and just have the wi-fi behind a password. Bad news: whether you find such a hotspot is very inconsistent, even within the same chain. So I don't bother and just always use my phone as a modem.
Also, apparently bypassing authentication may be as simple as stealing the MAC address of someone who has already KYCd, but that sounds like it would be even less consistent.
What a terrible law. I remember something similar when visiting Germany like 15 years ago, and for whatever reason my roaming didn't work. I think they got wiser since then because last time I visited there were plenty of hotspots.
While some might criticize the author's methods, I did learn something cool from this article.
https://calyxinstitute.org/membership/
Unthrottled, unmetered, (supposedly) truly unlimited internet,
For not much more than I pay for my (definitely throttled) mobile service, it'd seem like a fair trade between the two. With certain considerations given to service availability and local network speed.
There is even a pixel phone given to members of certain memberships.
Something I wanted to make easily available to anyone passing through here.
$33 a month even after the discount? I just don't see what the overpricing is for.
So back to burner phones every week?
The pursuit of 100% privacy will eat anyone alive, if they let it.
You're not wrong.
Threat model. It's all about the threat model.
which for most people should just start as "don't publish every detail of your life online, don't publish photos and videos of other people online, and DON'T FUCKING PUT YOUR KIDS ONLINE AAAAAAAAAA"
High five, very nice