![]() ![]() With this in mind, I settled on the Nokia 1.3, which I bought for $99 on Amazon. It’s common for low-end Android phones to be riddled with security issues that never get fixed, so the next criteria is finding a phone that supports the latest security updates. You may be able to find an old or refurbished iPhone for around $200, but Android phones can do the job just as well for much less. The main criteria for picking out a cheap burner phone is cost, which means iPhones are out. There are additional tips for non-burner phones in a video I made with my colleague Lauren Feeney in 2017, “ How to Protect Your Privacy at a Protest.” Picking Out a Burner Phone The Markup published some good steps to take before bringing your primary phone into a protest, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a good guide as well. This will make your phone leak less information that police can use to track you. You can also keep your phone in airplane mode when you don’t need to use the network. Disable every smartphone feature that isn’t necessary like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and location services. ![]() ![]() On most Android phones, you can look in the Settings app, under Security > “Encrypt phone” to find phone encryption settings. If you’re using Android, make sure your phone’s storage is encrypted (all iPhones have encrypted storage).If you set a SIM PIN, you’ll need to type it every time you reboot your phone in addition to your passcode. Here are iPhone instructions and Android instructions for doing this. Set up a SIM PIN, which prevents police from removing the SIM card from your phone and inserting it into another, which would allow them to take over your phone number.If you’re using a numeric passcode, it should be at least 6 digits, but longer is better. Make sure your passcode or password is not easily guessable.This makes it take longer to get into your phone, but it also makes it considerably harder for police to get in without your consent. Disable fingerprint and face unlock, and instead require typing a passcode or password to unlock your phone.If a separate burner phone still isn’t an option and you decide you need to bring your primary phone, here are some steps to take to make it safer and less likely for your private data to end up in the hands of the police: You’ll want to make sure the SIM card slot on the second phone can accommodate the size of the SIM card you have on your primary phone. This will cause all calls and texts to temporarily go to your burner phone instead of your main one. If you want to avoid paying for phone service for your second phone, depending on your current cell phone provider and what types of phones you have, you may be able to remove the SIM card from your main phone and insert it into your burner phone, and then put it back after the protest.There are even cheaper phones and prepaid service options than the ones I chose, and these can work fine as well.Make sure to factory reset the phone before getting ready to protest. You just need a new SIM card, like one that comes with prepaid cell service. If you have an old phone collecting dust in a drawer, as long as it still works and the battery still holds a charge, you can use this as your burner phone rather than buying a new one.If this is too expensive for you, you may have other options: I bought a Nokia 1.3 smartphone for $99, as well as three months of prepaid phone service for $40. I discuss how to do this at length below, and in the video above. To reconcile this tension - between wanting to protect your privacy and wanting to digitally document protests and police misdeeds - the safest option is to leave your primary phone, which contains a massive amount of private information about you, at home and instead bring a specially prepared burner phone to protests. ![]()
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