[ExI] experiments on privacy: was: RE: privacy

[Stuart LaForge]

Quoting Bill Wallace:

> How to block Android:  just turn it off,or do I have to take the battery out?

Taking the battery out is a 100% reliable long term solution.

Other short term privacy options are to put your phone into some kind  
of Faraday cage where it is surrounded by metal. It won't be able to  
transmit or receive signals so you won't get calls or texts either.  
You can buy a metal box for this, wrap it in aluminum foil, or just  
put in in the microwave oven (don't turn the microwave on).

The problem with "shuting it off" is that your phone can be remotely  
infected with a trojan made to display the shut off screen and look  
like it is powering down when really it is being rebooted into a "spy  
mode":

https://techpp.com/2013/08/22/track-phone-turned-off/

> I assume that I can block any cookies from Amazon or whoever,but you  
> have to turn cookies on at some web sites or they won't function for  
> you.  So then, turn them on, use the web site, erase all cookies and  
> block cookies?

Choose your battles. Block the cookies from sites you don't want to  
know about you, and accept the ones you find useful. You can also pay  
for a VPN if you want more privacy or switch to a secure browser like  
Tor. Generally if you log into a website that already has your name,  
you might as well take their cookie. But if you don't want them to  
have your name, no cookie. Better yet, use Tor browser to visit them.

Stuart LaForge