Comment by burningChrome
5 days ago
Trying to fight it takes an enormous amount of time and energy. I carry two phones now - since I have my "privacy" enabled phone that basically has nothing on it. Email, messages, weather app and a few privacy enabled browsers. My other phone has all my "faux" google stuff on it. Maps, gmail, banking apps, my authenticator apps, music apps, etc.
Even then, these can all be tied together fairly easy, but just trying to make it harder to keep my data private is such a battle; and friends always ask me why I spend so much time trying to keep myself anonymous when in 2026 its virtually impossible to do so.
I always tell them: “Bene vixit, bene qui latuit.” (To live well is to live concealed.)
If two phones both carry enabled GPS and/or have NFC or bluetooth switched on then it is very easy to match them.
Nothing like that is required, if you see them on same mobile tower or wifi networks often enough you can say with huge certainty they are owned by same individual.
Basically any piece of information that can be correlated is enough once you have enough data points. Hell, you could probably figure out a way to correlate it by temperature sensor readings
Not even that is required, you just need one other person that has both numbers linked to the same contact on their phone.
This all sounds completely sensible. And yet, being caught by the police with two phones would probably be a big stupid red flag for them.
Having two phones is more common than you think, and has a very plausible explanation even if it's not true for the particular individual: One is my work phone, issued by my company, other one is mine
That happens all the time
Many professional service firms do not allow BYOD. Depending on your job, you may end up with per-mandate phones.
I once had to take four phones with me for a short while and ended up looking like an absolute clown, stacking them on the restaurant table.
Not having to do that is a privilege.
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I feel like BYOD was when the disease accelerated. It was the coup excuse for everybody and their mother to own a piece of your personal phone. Bank apps not working with rooted phones is pretty much BYOD 2.0.
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Separation of church and state goes way back, maybe before the iphone.
Unless you’re clever about setting up the phones to match your excuse, you are now lying to the police as well.
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In Uganda carrying two phones is completely normal. Many people have one for work and one for personal use, or simply because they can afford a second phone. Police wouldn't think twice about it.
40 minutes, and not a single ‘I’m moving to Uganda’ message.
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