@lackthereof no, it's not because unlike #Phones and #PhoneNumbers, #eMail is not necessarily traceable by circumstances.

• Because a Phone "Line" (regardless of whether it's POTS, ISDN, VoIP, GSM, VoLTE, …) and #telephony in general are designed for realtime communication, they inherently necessitate an active, ongoing connection.
  • Even if it's just some App/PBX/… to connect to the provider and constantly state "I am on the network and able to recieve calls!" (with PSTN networks, there a physical line that gets assumed to have a phone connected)…

Whereas with eMail (and any #asynchronous #communication) you don't have that requirement.

• So unless the provider is being taken over or otherwise "cooperative" there's no means for a sender to know where, when and how a message was retrieved unless the recipient wants the sender to know of it!
  • Besides, even if you don't have an eMail provider like cock.li which natively supports @torproject / #Tor useage with an #OnionService, unless said provider explicitly prevents you from doing so, you can use not just Tor but also other techniques to make it extremely hard (not necessarily impossible, but at least unfeasible at scale!) to get tracked down.
  • In fact, you could even use #Sneakernet - Style distribution through "#MeatProxies" and #DeadDrops (aka. #dr0p) to further twart tracing attempts.

Or to put it simple:

• You can ring up someone and thus circumstantially verify the chain of #PhoneNumber -> #IMSI -> #ICCID -> #SIM -> #IMEI -> Device -> Location -> Owner quite quickly.
  • Whereas you can't positively verify whether an eMail address and/or #XMPP+#OMEMO account belongs to me unless I want you to know that it does!

So either way a phone number is just a horrible means of doing that.

• And don't even get me started on the fact that legally speaking noone truly owns their number.
  • Because even if you got some spechal case number (like UPT was) you still depend on neither regulators nor telcos to not block or otherwise interfere with it. Which is in contrast to say an OnionService which can only be shutdown effectively by sabotage aka. (more or less figurately) "unplugging" it.

I mean, it's not as if I didn't gave @signalapp a fair chance.

• I wanted #Signal to be good - honestly...
  • But I'm old enough that things rarely are that simple as #TechPopulism & #Propaganda claim it to be.
  • Just like 5th grade #SexEd is not a substitute for Endocrinology, Gynecology and Andrology and actually licensed, medical professionals.

So any #Messenger service that requires a #Phone Number for signup and/or useage is truly not a real replacement and inherently makes PROVEN WRONG assumptions [i.e. that it is legal and possible to obtain a phone number anonymously at someone's juristiction] about it's customers' ability to shield their privacy…

• Cuz all the "#Metadata" claims of Signal are complete #MarketingLies by virtue of them storing a Phone Number and not just being (as per admission by @Mer__edith) 'hard locked-in' with #aws but also subject to #CloudAct.
• They certainly are not deploying real #E2EE cuz you neither get #SelfCustody nor #SelfHosting and have to blindly trust them (aka. "#TrustMeBro!") that what they release as #SourceCode is actually what they deploy.
  • It's like all those "#VPN" shillings which one cannot verify to be true or false!

THIS is why I am going fucking ballistic on #TechPopulism aiming at #TechIlliterates because it's spreading a "false sense of #security" whilst completely disregarding absolute fundamentals when it comes to the underlying systems.

• And I don't mean shit like #Govware of the #SS7 kind, but absolute basics in #ITsec, #InfoSec, #OpSec & #ComSec that every @cryptoparty / @cryptoparty / #CryptoParty worth it's name touches on.
  • Signal can't and won't save peoples' asses and the sooner we realize that "complex problems are hard to fix" the less we waste Resources on #HoneyPots that stench like #CrytpoAG & #ANØM!

TIL about #IMSI and #IMSIcatcher

thx @shermozle @kcarruthers

@besendorf @eff
Would be awesome to be combined with https://github.com/srlabs/blue-merle

There have been some Android Apps to detect #IMSI Catchers and I think Google announced it would alert Users on their Pixels.

@downey

Warning! A lot of acronyms ahead! Welcome to Telco land...

TLDR: Anyone with the "fake cellphone tower" device mentioned can track BOTH your SIMcard, AND your mobile device.

So you better leave them at home, or bring a burner1 phone with a burner1 SIM.

IMSI vs IMEI

The "#IMSI" in #IMSIcatcher is an identifying number tied to your SIM(card).

But what #IMSIcatchers can also capture is your device's #IMEI 2.

The supposed purpose of an IMEI is stated clearly in the official documentation:

"The main objective is to be able to take measures against the use of stolen equipment or against equipment of which the use in the PLMN3 can not or no longer be tolerated for technical reasons."4

Mobile device manufacturers are obligated to produce device unique IMEI's:

"The IMEI shall be unique and shall not be changed after the ME’s [Mobile Equipment] final production process. It shall resist tampering, i.e. manipulation and change, by any means (e.g. physical, electrical and software)."4

IMSIcatcher vendors state their equipment can also capture IMEIs.5 6

So, every phone in the neighborhood of IMSIcatchers in use by law enforcement, are certainly in a batch of "to be tracked".

Did I mention law enforcement (through a legal warrant, they'll need help from mobile operators) can track phones based on IMEI alone (so even if you remove the SIM)? Yes, I believe I did.

PS: a phone connecting to or connected to an IMSIcatcher, is not on the network. Not being able to reach emergency services could lead to physical harm, including death. Just saying.

1 https://ssd.eff.org/glossary/burner-phone

2 International Mobile Station Equipment Identity

3 Public Land Mobile Network: wireless communication services offered by a specific operator in a specific country.

4 https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/22_series/22.016/

5 https://x-surveillance.com/imsi-stingray-device/

6 https://www.stratign.com/imsi-catcher-system/