TL;DW
LINDDUN card deck PDF for reference: https://downloads.linddun.org/linddun-go/default/v240118/go.pdf
Rotary.
The tin can phone inherently provides end-to-end encryption. The acoustic signals, which are essentially longitudinal mechanical vibrations, travel directly through a taut string or wire. This physical medium ensures that the sound waves are converted into mechanical vibrations at the transmitting end and reconverted into sound at the receiving end, effectively eliminating any possibility of electronic eavesdropping or interception.
One of the most significant advantages of the tin can phone is its complete absence of a digital footprint. Unlike modern telecommunication devices that rely on electronic signals and data packets, tin can phone operates purely on mechanical principles. This means there are no digital records, metadata, or logs that can be hacked, traced, or subpoenaed.
The simplicity of the tin can phone renders it immune to a wide array of cyber threats. There are no software vulnerabilities, no firmware to update, and no risk of malware or ransomware attacks. The device’s operation is entirely analog, relying on the physical properties of sound waves and mechanical vibrations, making it impervious to digital exploits.
The physical nature of the tin can phone also contributes to its security. The string must be kept taut for effective communication, and any attempt to tap into the line would be immediately noticeable due to the loss of tension and degradation of sound quality. This provides a built-in tamper-evident feature, ensuring that any unauthorized access attempts are easily detected. On top of that, if someone attempts a man in the middle attack, you should be able to see it happening during the call and act accordingly before any sensitive data gets exposed.
The operational simplicity of the string and cans phone is another layer of security. With no complex interfaces or user authentication mechanisms, the risk of user error leading to security breaches is virtually nonexistent.
TL;DR: Out of iPhone, Pixel, Android, AOSP forks, and GrapheneOS, the answer is GrapheneOS by a country mile.
GrapheneOS sometimes sacrifices privacy for security.
I had way more privacy related features and controls on a rooted LineageOS phone (which was obviously much less secure)
Such as? Been thinking of flashing GrapheneOS since I got a Pixel on the way.
Grapheneos has some unique features that simply no other mobile OS has. It is insane solid for security, but that does not make it lose anything in terms of privacy.
Starting with the fact that it comes with only the bare minimum of apps necessary for a functional mobile device (anything else you have to find, choose and install yourself).
Without digging too deep into the technical details of the software itself, the first "shit, I love this” factor for me begins with the storage scope and contacts scope. This is one thing I’m not willing to live without anymore. Pretty much every app, proprietary or otherwise, will ask for access to storage. With scopes you can provide access to a folder of your choice,even create a folder for each app if you want, effectively blocking every other app from potentially snooping into other apps storage.
The same holds true for contacts. Signal (Molly in my case) asks for access to contacts, but I have no need for that, as everyone I talk with over Signal is already there. But if someone new comes around, I give Molly access to that one contact and add them to Molly. My jmp.chat runs on Cheogram, and I only use it for my US and Canada contacts, so I don’t have to provide Cheogram access to anyone outside North America. Same thing with my VOIP service for work and so on.
The level of granularity achieved on permissions is just epic. I even tried to use stock pixel 4 days ago, kept it for 3 days, and had to roll back to Graphene last night because I couldn’t stand the constant nagging on the phone (and I disabled everything Google in it except the Play Store, for which I did disable everything but network).
I have no respect for Micay and his band of narcissistic developers with a god complex, but that doesn’t remove the fact that GrapheneOS is light years ahead of any mobile OS out there in terms of user control for privacy.
I didn’t watch the video but I don’t think there is any phone that lets you avoid having your location tracked. If there is wifi near where you want to use the phone, you could run a voip client on on a wifi-only tablet, perhaps.
I’ve been wondering whether satellite communications gizmos with no GPS allow any type of precise location tracking from the satellite. I’ve been interested in this, which lets you exchange text messages at fairly low cost (about 2 cents per 50 byte unit). Besides possible privacy advantages, it also lets you communicate where there is cell coverage:
Can you call on wifi? Yes (voip numbers like you said). I think that’s a phone.
Obviously you need to be connected
Somehow that posted as an entirely empty comment… Here’s what was supposed to be in it:
Spoiler: It’s a banana phone.
