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celebratedrecluse wrote (edited )

Since some of you have mentioned that you have to compromise your opsec to have friends (i get it), i suggest you remove the microphones from your surveillance devices.

Laptops don't really need one, and if you need one just plug in a usb headset with a mic. Smartphones can, nearly universally, read microphone input thru the 3.5mm headphone jack, and most earbuds have mics in them these days, even the <$10 options.

So do this, and boom. voila. You have removed the ability of government to remotely bug your house. Now it will cost substantially more to do so, and will probably require someone to break in and install it while you are out of the house. They probably wont bother unless you are #lit

You can also remove unneeded antennae from your devices. If you don't use the GSM cell network, the antennae for those on mobile phones are distinct from the one that operates WIfi & GPS. Vice versa also applies. So if you don't use wifi or GPS, boom remove that shit. If you don't use the cell network, and are instead stealing local wifi on the go and using VOIP or something, boom there you go.

But what if you don't want to use either? What if you want only free hardware for your phone's connectivity? Well, you can always use a micro-USB to USB converter, and plug in a completely libre wifi card into the charger slot of your phone. Then you could remove all antennae and all microphones, and still have functionality of the phone on demand whenever you are near public wifi. This also allows you to randomize your MAC address, to avoid surveillance just like an expensive iPhone or new Android does, but using a shitty old cheap smartphone instead. For this method, I recommend installing Replicant on one of the approved devices, or at least Lineage OS or something similar.

By removing the unneeded hardware, you don't need to trust the device services. This is the best solution, for now, imo.

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happy wrote

Never occurred to me before to remove microphones and such from my devices for security. I think a more in depth write up in a wiki with pictures would be a really great addition if I may suggest that.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Ok, I will do that when I have time. It is pretty easy to recognize the microphones & antennae when you know what they look like, they are pretty similar across different smartphones, so you will get the hang of it.

One thing to keep in mind is that by removing the stock Wifi antenna, usually this antenna is used for GPS too so it will disable GPS functionality. I don't know if there is a libre way to use a usb wifi card as a GPS antenna yet, but that would be cool.

An open question to me is how to identify and remove the other sensors, for example like the accelerometer. Using such sensors, the device can detect whether the phone is upright or not. Even if internet connectivity is disabled, it is conceivable that such sensors on an untrustworthy proprietary system could be measured, stored locally, and then transmitted once the phone reconnects. So I hope to eventually document the entirety of how to remove various components from phones, and perhaps crowdfund to purchase particular phones of interest and then do breakdown videos/wiki articles.

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[deleted] wrote

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Antennae seem to look like little gold rectangular prisms in many cases. you can pry them off with pliers quite easily

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[deleted] wrote

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Really? I was taking apart samsungs, so maybe this sort of thing is brand dependent to a degree.

How would one go about identifying the radio itself?

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[deleted] wrote

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celebratedrecluse wrote

thanks for your reply. Where would one start looking for the spec sheets online? For example, samsung? I've looked and just not really come up with anything substantially useful, I assume i am just ignorant of where to start looking

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[deleted] wrote (edited )

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celebratedrecluse wrote

killyourphone.com

Well, i have made and bought faraday pouches, but they never really work well. The same problem would certainly confront a faraday pouch inside of the phone case, however, so your point is well taken-- I just don't know how to do the pouches well enough to be worth the time and effort tbh

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[deleted] wrote (edited )

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celebratedrecluse wrote

I mean, the RF pouches I've made and bought have all, universally, never worked. that's all I'm saying.

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[deleted] wrote

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Good points. to clarify, IC means integrated circuit?

to clarify my statement, I was saying that the appearance of the antennae might be brand dependent. I'm not sure exactly what you thought I was saying. Nonetheless, very good points.

Perhaps there is a way to wrap the phone's microchip apparatus in a faraday cage? RF repellent material is not the most expensive thing if you know where to get it online. If you could substitute the connectivity features via micro usb wifi adapters, perhaps it could functionally eliminate effective connectivity through the antennae while still providing a slot for a removable antenna to be attached when on demand?

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[deleted] wrote

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celebratedrecluse wrote

I think the right answer here is that: you're trying to disable the radio on a radio. Just get something that isn't a radio.

True. Okay, what are the options for portable chips that do not have a radio in them? Is this a thing? Things people could cheaply get, ideally in larger quantities.

I like that you're trying different approaches to the problem and I don't mean to discourage you from continuing to think about it but I see problems with this:

no worries, i really appreciate the conversation

substituting the connectivity would require software control over the radio devices' drivers, and if you have that you could just turn off the radio

Well, hardware solutions are better and more easily verifiable. So I have a bias towards that

the issue I was warning about is not connectivity through the antenna but radio transmission without an antenna. You were talking about an antenna like it is a jack, so if there is no antenna there is no signal. I was saying that there can be resonance even without the antenna.

True, I get that

you mentioned the micro usb wifi adapter idea but we were talking about GPS and phone, not wifi. Those are different radios.

Well, cell network radios are different than wifi/GPS, but actually it appears wifi & GPS use the same antenna on most models I've actually taken apart. The official schematics label them as such

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[deleted] wrote

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Okay, what are the options for portable chips that do not have a radio in them? Is this a thing?

I mean to ask, are there chips which are both portable and don't come with a built in radio?

I agree but your earlier proposal would have required software control if I understood it.

You're right, it did.

but it's not like using the same antenna means using the same radio.

Good point, thank you

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[deleted] wrote

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celebratedrecluse wrote

I was trying to start thinking of specific, cheap options of devices or parts that one could use to create or otherwise obtain a handheld electronic device which does not have a built in radio. So yes, it is a serious question. I was trying not to make any assumptions that common electronics I might suggest, like an iTouch, or some PDAs, wouldn't have radios in them, because I am trying to be humble, learn, and perhaps find from the group discussion some leads to start looking into further.

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StirnersForehead wrote

If you're willing to do a little soldering, adding a hardware switch to ground to your antennas (near the base, to avoid interfering with their operation) isn't that complicated.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

this would be a great video blog, to explain how to do this. do you have any references which are helpful? that'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks for commenting

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