Re:Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message ...
by mindslight on Friday June 05, 2020 @10:11AM
(#23428746)
> Or you can go to a corner shop and buy a Lyca or Lebara SIM with cash.
Which is still a stable identifier that other people know you by, so you will likely keep it a long time and amass a trail of location data. Also its trivial to tie to the IMEI, so if you actually want to change nyms you have to buy a new phone as well.
Everything about the legacy phone system is a liability. Contact discovery is difficult, but tying into phone numbers should be optional and only for the duration of setting up a contact. Using phone numbers for long-lived identifiers is insane.
Which is still a stable identifier that other people know you by, so you will likely keep it a long time and amass a trail of location data. Also its trivial to tie to the IMEI, so if you actually want to change nyms you have to buy a new phone as well.
Everything about the legacy phone system is a liability. Contact discovery is difficult, but tying into phone numbers should be optional and only for the duration of setting up a contact. Using phone numbers for long-lived identifiers is insane.