I don’t like so called smartphones (flashy devices to mine your data and other reasons) but my regular no touchscreen phone’s microphone is no longer working as it should, making conversations difficult.
Enter a smartphone I received as a present, my phobia (for lack of a better word) to smartphones and my (misguided?) obsession with privacy: I don’t want to use this smartphone as my default phone because I’m scared the carrier, ISP or google are going to mine my data and trace my calls.
Which might be an overreaction, because each time I use my regular cell phone, the carrier knows when I’m calling from, who I’m calling and how long the call lasts.
So I ask you: how much more data would I be leaking if I use my new smartphone for calls only, compared to a regular, no touchscreen phone?
Over reacting, if you’re going to use computers and the internet, it’s literally the exact same thing. How much data you leak is 100% up to your practices, and of course phone choice. If you get a Pixel and run Graphene on it, you’re base is great. Beyond that, app choices become the next threat. Don’t use privacy invading apps you can’t trust, don’t give up data on the phone that you wouldn’t on a computer, then you can protect privacy as much as you can, while still being realistic and living normally.
The biggest hurdle is simply being aware of the threats you’re up against and how to mitigate them. 100% privacy isn’t a realistic goal. Minimizing the leaks and making it very difficult to connect the dots is a far more realistic plan.