this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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Why shouldn't you bring your phone?
Edit for y'all who thought I don't know what cell triangulation and gps tracking are: If you're involved in protesting to the extent that you might be actively tracked, you should have the proper precautions in place on your phone that make it untraceable even when you're carrying it with you.
Edit 2: "Proper precautions" includes using GrapheneOS with 2 SIMs. Only use one of those SIMs at protests and make sure to never use them at the same time. If the government is tracking you past that point, why do you even have a phone in the first place?
Your phones manufacturer or carrier can be subpoenaed for the location, cops can seize it and identify and/or extract data from it, and IMSI catchers are often used at protests. If you need, you can buy a burner phone and prepaid sim just for the protest.
But can you buy it without a credit card or debit card tied to your name? A lot of places around me have made it so you must have a traceable type of payment to be able to buy a pre-paid phone. They won't let you pay for it in cash.
Could you use a $100 prepaid card like a Visa/Vanilla Wallet card?
Not sure, I haven't tried that route. That seems like a simple workaround, however, so I suspect they probably don't allow it with pre-paid cards but I could be wrong.
If you go with the burner phone, do not turn it on anywhere near your home. Preferably only at the protest location.
Also do not reuse it