Should You Hide Your Phone Numbers? | Rob Braxman
Summary
Transcript
You. I’ve been so privacy focused for a long time that I instinctively know when something is a threat, but apparently the phone number threat is not entirely clear to many of you today. The phone number is our id card. It identifies us everywhere without care. This means no privacy. Who should you hide your phone number from? If apps and website that require a phone number, which phone number should you give? How many phone numbers should you have in order to help you plan this out better? I’ll discuss the different threats associated with your giving out phone numbers.
This is not easy to understand. Some of you have given me lists of parties and asked me which phone number to give to each party. You have to learn to judge this automatically on your own. This is a very important privacy lesson. If you want to find out more, stay right there. I want to make this clear from the start. In order to implement anything I’m saying here, it should be understood that at the very least you need at least another extra phone number and it is not going to cost you much.
You can further splurge with even another if you can afford it. If you don’t have one extra number yet, at least this will help you plan it out. We’ll discuss the options later on after we get into explaining the privacy threats. Back in the old days, everyone had an old fashioned landline in their home and everyone can be looked up in a book given to us by the phone company.
Mabel Young people may not have heard of the white pages or yellow pages, so without any special instruction or extra payment at t puts you in the white page’s phone book. This means anyone in your area can look you up nowadays, maybe because the majority use a mobile phone and no one wants to pay for spam calls. Phone numbers are no longer published by the carriers, and of course nowadays we have many carriers, not the single at t.
But it doesn’t mean you can’t be looked up, and the reason you can be looked up is because most of you are in the habit of haphazardly giving out your phone numbers everywhere on the Internet, and it should be no surprise that you are easily found. There are social media or identity aggregator sites like Spokyo, Intellius, Peoplefinder and so on that collect this data and harvest it from all over the Internet, even if just casually mentioned in some social media posts.
Spam calls are frequently an irritation, though they can be a real threat if used by scammers to trick you and take your money. The danger has increased though the larger big tech companies, specifically Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and so on have used your phone number as an identifier. It is used to attach a real identity to your online actions. This may not sound like a big deal to the uninitiated on online privacy threats, but, for example, Google can attach that identity to your Google ID, meaning your Gmail account.
What you may not realize, if you don’t understand the technology, is that Google can actually see the majority of everyone’s interactions on the Internet, including those sites that do not belong to Google. Facebook, or meta itself is the other company that can do this. This basically means your actions on the Internet are known to these big companies. In total, they can profile you completely. They likely know your every thought, idea, concern, and preference.
They know your religion, your politics, your job, your financial status, your social circle. They know where you live and where you go all day. This is not hyperbole. Some people are shocked when they watch how everyone’s moves are known when revealed in court cases like the Fanny Willis case or the January 6 riots. And it should bear no extra mention that because of mass surveillance, the government also knows whatever you do on your phone, including who you call and where you are.
What ties all the Internet information together is that they are verified to belong to a single phone number, your number, one conveniently called two fa. So there’s the big picture. The fact is that you can minimize the risk of your phone number being used against you by strategically having more than one number and knowing which number to give. Also, not all phone numbers are the same. Some have KYC or an id attached to it, and some don’t.
What I will do now is talk about each threat and then we’ll discuss what phone number to give. Later, we’ll talk about where to get the phone numbers. If you’re on some dating app and found a date and you need to pass a phone number so you can coordinate the meeting, what phone number should you give? You have to weigh the risks. Here it is. A person you do not know.
Do you want to get stalked and have this person call you directly later on? On a phone, you always answer. Do you want to filter the call first before you answer? That is not always possible on your regular phone number, which I will call the real phone number. This is because we may get calls that have no caller id because dating apps will likely vet your real identity already.
You cannot hide your real name often, so finding who you are on the Internet is not the threat here. But if this date doesn’t work out, you don’t want a stalking threat, so you must give phone number two. There are many other instances when some stranger in social situations may need a phone number to contact you later. This will all apply here. If you don’t know the person and there’s a possibility of future stalking, then the solution is phone number two.
If you don’t want this number to ever show up on a contact list with your real name, then perhaps you should use phone number three, reserve phone number two, for the next one. Big tech is the huge issue. Practically every platform now requires you to use two factor authentication or two fa and you give out your phone number to satisfy this. You don’t worry about this because you think you have nothing to hide.
And Google, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok aren’t going to screw you. Well, they will. This is the biggest threat on Internet privacy in a big picture sense. The big tech platforms collect contact lists from every user they can. Then they put this into a giant directory that they own. They don’t need to go to the carrier. Then when they ask you for your phone number for two fa, they basically match your phone number to their contact list and they know who you know and even what your real name is.
They can even pick up your email and home address from this, depending on what’s in the contact lists. So now they have a verified identity. This is very important to some of these companies to do profiling. They also know your social circles since a little venn diagram of contactless intersections can draw what I call a relationship map. The clue that they have your identity pegged is when you get friend recommendations that are people you really know.
And these sites upload the contact lists daily. As I said earlier, this verified identity ties your every move on the Internet to one identity. You. And you are now father for the AI to analyze and manipulate later on. I’m sure it will start with your politics, since that’s everyone’s focus nowadays. This is so critical to me to stop big tech from tracking all my actions. For example, I’m on YouTube, so I have a Google id.
But I always am careful with what phone numbers Google has so that it cannot connect everything I do on the Internet. It’s important to keep my Internet identity separate. I can hide what I do from the AI as long as it doesn’t match the same phone number or the same email. So this is a critical factor in what I do on the Internet. I always use phone number two for any big tech platform.
This alone justifies having a phone number two. If you’re concerned about privacy at all, just think phone number two is primarily for two fa. Someone asked me if it matters to big tech since they have the old phone number. No, it doesn’t matter. I would change the phone number to phone number two immediately. Phone numbers change constantly. People change, jobs change, locations, and so on. So phone numbers can have a short term lifespan.
As a big tech company, trying to connect an old number to two FA is a big security threat to them. They must always only use the current verified number. Since the old number may be a different person, an old number is no longer verified. Aside from big tech social media sites, what about banks, credit card companies, loan companies, mortgage companies, car dealers, and so on, many of these companies also ask for two FA on their websites.
Should you give them phone number two for two fa? Hell no. This is the main exception to two FA. Something to understand which lumps all of these companies as one is that they all report to credit reporting agencies or read credit reports and guess what? Your name, address, Social Security number and the phone number is passed there. So here, you do not want your phone number two to be known because it will be published.
We have no choice here. Do not give out phone number two or it will be published in the credit agency report. Here’s a special case where some people may want a phone number three for financial use. Knowing that the number will be reported to a credit agency, you may not want this to be your primary real number either. This is a splurge option, but nice to have. The reason is that many parties have access to credit reports.
So if you don’t have a phone number three, you must give your real phone number. Okay, let’s be clear. Hiding from the government is a waste of time. Hide from the IRS. Really hide from Social Security. Hide from the mass surveillance. The way to hide from government is actually to act like nothing is different. Most real phone numbers are backed by KYC or an id card that is easily checked.
Later on, we will show you how to get phone numbers without KYC or no id. But since the government already knows your real phone numbers, then why hide it? The carrier is even nicely recorded with your Social Security numbers and backed by your credit report. This is your number that shows the government and the carrier that you’re a normal person. It is expected that you have one. Use real phone numbers for all government use.
Just in general, if the party knows your Social Security number, then you should give them your real number. Business lines are a common fact of life. If you run a business, or even if you’re a regular person who works from home and needs to pass your phone numbers to your coworkers, then why pass your real phone number? The problem with the real phone number is that you can’t filter out work versus personal.
This is a personal preference thing. Obviously, if it is a public facing phone number, it is likely already a different phone number anyway. Public facing phone numbers are collected by social media aggregators and spammers, so just bear that in mind, but for coworker use, you may want a phone number three for this use. It doesn’t matter since this is not a privacy threat per se. I mentioned this earlier.
Anyone who knows your Social Security number should be given your real phone number in healthcare use. Your healthcare provider knows your Social Security number. You gave it to them. They also send your health encounter data together with every procedure and diagnosis to a central government database or community databases. Supposedly, access to this database is limited by HIPAA laws in the United States, but realistically, since 10% of the population works in healthcare, this is not much of a limitation.
Fortunately, this is not data accessible to big tech or an AI and is protected by law from such access. So give healthcare your real phone number here. These are sites where the main issue is that they will sell your number and you will get tons of spam. Common usage here is when you have to wait for your seating and they will call you back on your number when your seating is ready.
This can also show up in social media aggregator sites. So here’s a specific case where I would never give my real phone number. Use phone number two. This is very similar to the stranger kind of case. Also, this is one way traffic anyway, so it is perfect for phone number two. I’m sure there are many other situations that I haven’t mentioned like contractors, landlords, mechanics and so on.
If they know where you’d live, then whether you give them a real number or phone number three is up to you. They don’t need to be given phone number two. I would be careful about who gets phone number two because it should not show up on any contact list. Some of you will wonder how to get an extra phone number and there are many options and many that’s really inconvenient.
For example, do you really want to carry a second phone for phone number too? I did this for years and since it’s primarily used for two FA, I left the second phone off unless I expected two Fa. This means I couldn’t do two FA on the road if I didn’t bring it. The second problem is that if I just go to my normal phone company and ask for a second line, then that number gets KYC so it is attached to my id.
The next issue with additional phone lines is the cost. Now some of you will be a negative nancy and say I’m just doing these videos to sell you something. Well, if you’re not learning from what I’m saying, then that’s fair. But if you’re learning, then stay put. I found a problem. I searched and could not find a good, inexpensive and convenient solution. So I made my own product.
I came up with a service called Brac VoIP softphone just recently that made this very easy and actually inexpensive to have another phone line. One of the biggest strengths of this phone service is that it is KYC free. No id needed, no name, no email. You can pay in alternate ways if you wish. Since the primary use of phone number two is for two FA and the occasional stranger, it makes sense not to add some expensive line.
Even to add a line to an existing account is typically $15 a month or more. Plus it’s not identity free. The cheapest line I found for two fa was red pocket for $60 a year and that still required another phone. Now if you go on Braxme, you can order the Brax VoIP soft phone service and be up and running in minutes. It is $5 a month for this line which is $60 annually, same as red pocket.
But you do not need a second phone or another SIM slot. You can just use one phone that has one SIM slot. This is the best solution for phone number two which I think of as the two FA line. The calls and sms can be forwarded to your usual phone and the sms can also be forwarded to email. So it is very easy to get your two FA info or you can receive and send your sms directly from the Braxme app.
You can get fancy and install some sip app, but even that is not necessary. The users of this new service are really happy with this and it is working very well and I’m really happy I came up with a real solution that will help many of you. It is so simple to use because there are no additional apps or setup to do to get immediate functionality and you can go ask the users on Braxme.
The splurge option is to have phone number three. Now here you have more flexibility. This is where a second line from your existing carrier can work. Or if you operate a business from a fixed location, you may also want another physical phone. In this case, additional lines need another phone and sometimes you need to change this phone number. So as an alternative, fortunately we have an unlimited call version that can also forward to your main number as well as allow handling of SMS on Braxmay.
This can hide your real number from the public facing one, but without requiring special apps or hardware. The important point here is the convenience of a single device, your current phone, and having multiple numbers, mostly managed by forwarding. There are other choices out there. Of course, when you do your own research just like I did, you will see that what I’ve come up with is unique because I’m trying to solve a specific problem, privacy, and do it cost effectively so you actually use it.
Other solutions are not oriented towards that. In general, as I said, you will need at least two phone numbers. On occasion, you will need to change the second phone number if someone abuses it. We allow you to change your phone number on Braxt VoIP by the way, so that’s not an issue, but usually you do not want to change your normal line as important people may not be able to reach you.
Having multiple phone lines improves the way you can deal with the dangers of the world. One other thing to think about is the email. You need to change email as well as phones as do fa. On every single site you need to have an email that allows aliases. Also, most emails have an ip address on it. You should use an email that protects your ip address. This is something we also provide with another service called Braxmail.
Again, this is not some advertising video. I made these solutions because it was so hard to find solutions and I genuinely had to search. It would have been easier to just have a sponsor that does all this, but I need to give you all the answers, not just talk. If you’re interested in any of the products I mentioned, please visit our social media site Brax. May lots of privacy conscious people hang out there to learn and chat.
The link is also in the description. Thank you for watching and see you next time. .
See more of Rob Braxman Tech on their Public Channel and the MPN Rob Braxman Tech channel.
