Mastodawn

Everybody hates #robocalls. But, despite tech reporting being willing to give the #FCC leeway, this new measure is not to stop robocalls, it won’t do a damn thing to stop robocalls. What it does is make burner phones illegal.

Burners are an integral part of many social justice actions. Protestors use them to record #ICE and other #cops. We include them in “Go Bags” to let abused women and children escape. They allow for anonymity.

They are a thorn in the side of the panopticon, and they are moving to eliminate them.

Stock up kids.

https://gizmodo.com/fcc-attempts-to-solve-robocall-problem-by-potentially-creating-even-bigger-privacy-problem-2000756762

https://www.wiley.law/alert-FCC-Proposes-Stronger-Know-Your-Customer-Rules-Will-Consider-Know-Your-Upstream-Provider-Rulemaking-at-May-20-Meeting

https://mashable.com/article/fcc-proposes-to-battle-spam-calls-at-the-expense-of-privacy-protections

#burnerPhone #anon #infosec #privacy #palantir #gop #sjw

FCC Attempts to Solve Robocall Problem by Potentially Creating Even Bigger Privacy Problem

This move could kill burner phones if it goes forward.

Gizmodo

EvilKiru 🇮🇸 he/him May 10

@MissConstrue So the FCC is pretending to not know ow modern spam call centers actually operate? Because they sure as hell don't dial out using cell phones!

MissConstrue May 10

@EvilKiru Freaking Exactly! Most robocalls don’t even originate in the country where they are received. This does nothing, absolutely nothing to stop call centers.

It’s insulting that they would even push this narrative out, it’s so unbelievable..

Resistor McResistanceFace May 10

"In Trump's Amerika ISP watch you" - the Vodka talking

new data lines included

@MissConstrue It really is amazing just how fast this country isn't sliding but full on diving straight into complete fascism now...

MissConstrue May 10

@nazokiyoubinbou Yeah, it's a speedrun.

@MissConstrue We could have done a speedrun into something, you know, decent like say going to renewable energy forms that would make us all more independent, etc. Nope. It's a speed run to the bottom. How can we all die the fastest? Let's find out!

It's like if speed runners took Mario and tried to see how fast they could jump straight into the first hole. The regime is finding exploits and cheats to try to find faster ways to reach that hole. Naturally they're dragging us in with them.

MissConstrue May 10

@nazokiyoubinbou

I think, and I could be wrong because I don't fully understand their mindset, but I think the goal is speedrunning to 1984. The novel, not point in time where FDR policies were still in place.

Abandoned Victorian Doll Haunted by Nazis Stephen Miller, is the architect of almost everything we see happening. He is the shadow president.

From the perspective of the neonazis, 1984 is a fantastic place to be, if *they* are Big Brother.

They control media, the panopticon, the weaponry, protest is futile and quickly extinguished, there is no more opposition party, the firewalls will shut off the internet via "age verification", and America will be isolated, hungry, and kept in check by paramilitaries wearing nascar style uniforms so we know who the sponsors of today's beat down is.

Or, ya know...guillotines. Just throwing the idea out there.

@MissConstrue Yeah, they read Nineteen Eighty-Four as a guidebook, not as a warning. They absolutely think they want that.

What they don't realize is that it will never work. One way or another... Most likely the end result is an entire world of dead people and glowing cockroaches with 20 legs ruling over the bodies.

Not even them ruling over the ashes of it all. They can't survive in a world without us. Even if their bunkers protect them from the bombs, they can't survive in that world.

MissConstrue May 10

@nazokiyoubinbou I started writing a novel a few years ago about a culture 25,000 in the future, rediscovering our culture, but much akin to how we’re only now finding archeological proof of civilization pre Younger Dryas, suggesting it was climate change that created nomadic shifts away from what had been cities…for a given value of city. (Theoretically, as I understand it.)

The concept of the book was that we, our culture, were seen as nothing but myth, and the discovery of “Atlantis” (manhattan) sets off a whole chain of events. I wonder if I still have that manuscript. It was terrible, but I bet it could be rewritten to be good. 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️🤘🏼

@MissConstrue @nazokiyoubinbou

"We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings." -- Ursula K. Le Guin

MissConstrue May 10

@LevZadov @nazokiyoubinbou

If I were Pope, she would be canonized. Truly one of the moral prophets of our time. I can’t even think about "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" without getting emotional.

grrl_aex May 10

this is sooooo fkd up, and...

*Exactly* what i would expect from a regime desperately trying to sideline the massive protests that they know will be coming when they try to derail the midterms this fall so they can remain in power ---and out of prison.

LukefromDC 5d ago

@kitkat_blue @MissConstrue More than prison if they lose. Look at all the whining from the GOP about "French Revolution" talk supposedly from Dems.

Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK May 10

@MissConstrue even UK doesn't go as far as this, you can buy SIMs and phones anywhere without having to hand over ID - although topping them up either requires going into some shop which will have CCTV, or using an electronic payment card.

But authorities only tend to delve deep into identifying a pay as you go user or any mobile device searching *if* a device is used for large amounts of drugs dealing and/or someone gets stabbed because of the toxic masculinity on those networks, or if they have been driving like an absolute tool to the point they caused a bad crash and it contains evidence of them doing so (although loads of fools post their crimes to social media anyway)

Pulpandpaper May 10

@MissConstrue Can you post about the safest way to obtain a burner phone, please? Asking for myself-sorry if seems like a dumb question.

MissConstrue May 10

@pulpandpaper Last time I walked through a walmart, there were boxes of them on the shelf. Most in the $20-$100 range. They are not "smart phones" in many cases. They often come preinstalled sim, which can be activated by an anonymous CC or gift card purchased with cash.

I would assume any big-box or large electronic company still have bunches in stock, but I do not know how/when this regulation may change that.

Pulpandpaper May 10

@MissConstrue tysm!

@MissConstrue @pulpandpaper Of note: the proposed restrictions are on the service for the phone. That is, the FCC is proposing the telco carry out ID verification and so on before allowing the phone onto their network. Getting a disposable phone now doesn’t protect against this.

This could mildly inhibit certain types of text spam, but as you mentioned, wouldn’t affect robocalls at all.

MissConstrue May 10

@bob_zim @pulpandpaper
They’re trying to outlaw vpns for the same reason, even though most commercial vpns are owned by data miners or vulture capital.

There is going to be a lot of money in fake ids in the future. Lots of money.

This will cause the panopticon to insist that people be chipped, ya know, for our own safety.

The bio hackers need to speed up their game, is my point.

Toni Aittoniemi May 10

@MissConstrue That’s what all the data centers are for. The panopticon. Surveillance. Private revenue won’t be enough for pay back the investment, not even close.

MissConstrue May 10

@gimulnautti Yep. And all the Flock cameras. Did you know that Flock's security is so bad you can, from the internet, watch feeds from places like daycare centers, and the executives of Flock have logged many many hours watching a young girl's gymnastics center.

But yeah, they donate to the GOP, so...

WorldTravelerAll7 May 10

a good rule of thumb: anytime anyone in this fascist administration claims to be doing something "good" - they're not

it is simply window dressing to cover up whatever fascist agenda they are secretly pushing

Never trust #Repugs
Never trust #Cancervatives
Never trust the #Richt_wing

LukefromDC 5d ago

@MissConstrue Even if this includes new data lines, there is a likely workaround: International data-only SIMS used in roaming mode. These are used in many countries to bypass SIM registration laws by tourists and locals alike.

Many places in the actual FCC document, the words "voice service provider" appear. This means it is uncertain whether the final regulation would include domestic data-only plans from companies that do not offer voice plans at all. It a phone number is what's being regulated, one competitor offering data without a phone number at all (no voice or text) would spur others to do the same. These plans might sell in less "reputable" places like urban wireless shops that started out selling pagers decades ago.

Here's probably the most relevent text:
"
Federal Communications Commission (.gov)https://docs.fcc.gov › public › attachments › FCC-26-27A1.pdf
Federal Communications Commission FCC 26-27

May 1, 2026 ... The KYC measures we discuss apply only to originating voice service providers (“originating providers”). 2 See 47 CFR § 64.1200(n)(4). In ...
"

If data gets swept up too, international e-SIMs can be downloaded from anywhere on the planet prior to your phone service being cut off or using a friend's coonnection. No physical product need be shipped, so CBP can't stop it at the border.

For the U$ to block the international SIMs, they'd have to force every tourist to get a local US SIM with ID or not use a phone, which would cause even more tourists to take the US off their iteneraries on top of those who now won't come here because of CBP. That could even bankrupt some towns.

If they do block international SIMs, forget having one cell connection per person, abandon the mobile phone concept until mesh networks can get filled out. Remember that when they get slammed with universal fake IDs, they will either repeal this crap or escalate to biometric ID, depending mostly on how healthy Trump's hold on power is.

Instead, whoever the least spicy person on the block is gets a landline, everyone else contributes to the bill. They set up wifi repeaters on treetops or masts, and everyone on the block uses them. A set of blocks within radio range of oneanother can become a mesh network that works on or off the larger Internet and again need be bridged in only ONE place.

Internet shutdowns have been defeated before in other countries and can be defeated here too.

Also note that they will not succeed in blocking Tor, just as China often fails at that. People already using Tor for porn after VPNs get hard to reach will use it for other things Christian nationalists don't like too. That will keep a lot of things going they are hoping to shut down. For heavy stuff though, I would recommend the foreign no-ID SIMS

MissConstrue 4d ago

@LukefromDC I am the person with the landline. Not only that, I made them leave the copper when I negotiated getting fiber out here. I knew building a blue box as a kid would come in handy some day. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣