@andygreenberg99.bsky.social
Reposted
A new anonymous phone carrier startup Phreeli, launching today, will let you sign up for cellular service with almost no personally identifiable information—not even your name. All it asks for is a ZIP code, the minimum info legally required for tax purposes. www.wired.com/story/new-an...
A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up With Nothing but a Zip Code
Privacy stalwart Nicholas Merrill spent a decade fighting an FBI surveillance order. Now he wants to sell you phone service—without knowing almost anything about you.
www.wired.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
A new anonymous phone carrier startup Phreeli, launching today, will let you sign up for cellular service with almost no personally identifiable information—not even your name. All it asks for is a ZIP code, the minimum info legally required for tax purposes. www.wired.com/story/new-an...
Reposted
Providing someone a voice/data plan without knowing their name is, surprisingly, legal across the US, Merrill says. Anonymous payments are trickier, but Phreeli will use a crypto system based on "zero knowledge proofs" to separate payment info from phone records—even if you pay with a credit card.
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Providing someone a voice/data plan without knowing their name is, surprisingly, legal across the US, Merrill says. Anonymous payments are trickier, but Phreeli will use a crypto system based on "zero knowledge proofs" to separate payment info from phone records—even if you pay with a credit card.
Reposted
It's tempting to think of Phreeli as a phone carrier where every phone is a burner phone. But Merrill resists that description. Instead, he argues that anonymous cell service should be as normal as curtains on your home's windows.
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
It's tempting to think of Phreeli as a phone carrier where every phone is a burner phone. But Merrill resists that description. Instead, he argues that anonymous cell service should be as normal as curtains on your home's windows.
Reposted
Phreeli's founder is Nicholas Merrill, who became famous in the privacy world for refusing to comply with a warrantless FBI surveillance order sent to his internet service provider in 2004, demanding a customer's information. He spent a decade-plus in court fighting the order—and won.
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Phreeli's founder is Nicholas Merrill, who became famous in the privacy world for refusing to comply with a warrantless FBI surveillance order sent to his internet service provider in 2004, demanding a customer's information. He spent a decade-plus in court fighting the order—and won.
Reposted
Incredible impact from @mattburgess1.bsky.social whose work put a spotlight on Starlink’s use in scam compounds in February.
November 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Incredible impact from @mattburgess1.bsky.social whose work put a spotlight on Starlink’s use in scam compounds in February.
Reposted
Researchers pointed a satellite dish at the sky for 3 years and monitored what unencrypted data it picked up. The results were shocking: They obtained thousands of T-Mobile users' phone calls and texts, military and law enforcement secrets, much more: www.wired.com/story/satell... 🧵👇
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data
With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypte...
www.wired.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Researchers pointed a satellite dish at the sky for 3 years and monitored what unencrypted data it picked up. The results were shocking: They obtained thousands of T-Mobile users' phone calls and texts, military and law enforcement secrets, much more: www.wired.com/story/satell... 🧵👇
Reposted
A lot of this data, such as the T-Mobile leak, is now encrypted thanks to the researchers' work. But all of it was obtained from a single dish on the roof of a building in San Diego. These findings are based on just 15% of geostationary satellite signals over the US and Mexico.
October 14, 2025 at 1:06 AM
A lot of this data, such as the T-Mobile leak, is now encrypted thanks to the researchers' work. But all of it was obtained from a single dish on the roof of a building in San Diego. These findings are based on just 15% of geostationary satellite signals over the US and Mexico.
Reposted
That means a dish in a different place would pick up entirely different data. Probably an entirely different stream of unencrypted secrets.
As cryptographer Matt Blaze told me:
As cryptographer Matt Blaze told me:
October 14, 2025 at 1:06 AM
That means a dish in a different place would pick up entirely different data. Probably an entirely different stream of unencrypted secrets.
As cryptographer Matt Blaze told me:
As cryptographer Matt Blaze told me:
Reposted
Their study, out today, reveals that roughly half of geostationary satellite communications they monitored were unencrypted. A flood of secrets pouring down from space, available to anyone with an $800 receiver setup. (And there's no doubt spy agencies have been listening, too.)
October 14, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Their study, out today, reveals that roughly half of geostationary satellite communications they monitored were unencrypted. A flood of secrets pouring down from space, available to anyone with an $800 receiver setup. (And there's no doubt spy agencies have been listening, too.)