Starting this year I will have to register my personal info if I want to keep a phone number through a carrier. Is there a way around this?
I know about silent link but I want to know if having an esim is a long term solution and if it’s possible to get one that allows me to have a phone number to make calls / MSNs?
Keep in mind that if you used your genuine phone number to communicate with others, odds are it’s already tied to you even if you paid in cash and didn’t provide any real personal information to your cell provider. Companies sell or leak data and your fellow contacts likely include compromising information on you (such as your name) in their contacts app which is then likely to be collected and shared by privacy invasive apps on their phone.
Then that number is permanently associated with your device which can also be triangulated. It’s still possible to have an anonymous phone despite all of that but it’ll cost you extra time and money. If you cannot anonymously purchase mobile internet in your country, the only way I know you could remain anonymous would be to use your phone as a WiFi-only device.
I can’t speak to Silent Link (though it looks interesting) but I don’t see why an esim would be inherently bad.
If you wanted to have an anonymous phone, you’d have to use a VoIP number anyways and it’s quite easy to use multiple VoIP numbers simultaneously. I’m assuming that since you asked this, you’ll probably need to re-try the whole “anonymous phone” thing. I’d suggest reading Michael Bazzell’s guide on mobile privacy as he goes into detail on how and why you should have an anonymous phone.
2 Likes