Nostr notes by PikaSim

Excited to announce that we’re an official sponsor of Bitcoin ...

2026-10-29T19:07:38Z

Excited to announce that we’re an official sponsor of Bitcoin Amsterdam!

And we’ve got something special for you:)

@bitcoinconfams

Everyone's de-Googling/grapheneOS checklist: new OS, new ...

2026-10-29T16:12:00Z

Everyone's de-Googling/grapheneOS checklist: new OS, new browser, new app store, new DNS, new email

Nobody puts the eSIM on it

It's still registered to your name and still telling an operator where you are…

You don't need our app. Buy, install, top up, all from a ...

2026-10-28T21:05:27Z

You don't need our app. Buy, install, top up, all from a browser.

We built the app for people who want it, but we're not making it mandatory. Every "you must download the app" store you've ever used started out with a working website too.

Ali Winston at WIRED went through the discovery file in the ...

2026-10-28T14:00:42Z

Ali Winston at WIRED went through the discovery file in the Minnesota 15 case. It reads less like a criminal prosecution and more like a domestic intelligence operation.

"Undercover operatives also infiltrated churches in apparent violation of a court order."

"At least 11 undercover agents working under Operation Keyhole infiltrated Twin Cities anti-ICE activists"

"HSI teams photographed and ran the license plates of every car parked in the lot of a meeting location"

"This operation does not seem in any way limited to Minnesota"

"Court records show 119 HSI agents worked on the Minnesota 15 case alone."

"15 terabytes worth of infiltrated Signal chats"

"SSH session logs, outbound connection records, the account’s signup IP, and a Stripe card fingerprint"

"HSI are taking the FBI’s place as the investigative secret police"

Encryption protects the contents of a message, not the signup IPs, card fingerprints and address histories that get stitched around it.

@wired

An alleged Israeli spyware firm reportedly built tools ...

2026-10-28T09:00:30Z

An alleged Israeli spyware firm reportedly built tools specifically to target Starlink users, per Reuters sources. Satellite internet was supposed to be the escape hatch. Surveillance follows the signal, not the cable.

Four GrapheneOS features that stock Android still doesn't ...

2026-10-27T21:01:00Z

Four GrapheneOS features that stock Android still doesn't have, described by the project itself:

"GrapheneOS adds a Network permission toggle for disallowing both direct and indirect access to any of the available networks."

"When the Network permission is disabled, GrapheneOS pretends the network is down."

"GrapheneOS provides Storage Scopes as a fully compatible alternative to the standard Android storage permissions."

"GrapheneOS supports per-connection MAC randomization and enables it by default."

"This is a more private approach than the standard persistent per-network random MAC used by modern Android."

"Google apps and services can be used on GrapheneOS as regular sandboxed apps without any special access or privileges"

Every one of these is a default or a toggle, not a project.

@GrapheneOS

Encrypt every message you send and you've protected the least ...

2026-10-26T21:31:40Z

Encrypt every message you send and you've protected the least interesting part.

Who you talked to, when, how often, from where, and who they talked to right after. That's what gets subpoenaed, bought, and kept for years, and end to end encryption does nothing about it.

A lot of "get a number online" services hand you a VoIP ...

2026-10-25T21:00:02Z

A lot of "get a number online" services hand you a VoIP number, and a lot of apps check for exactly that and reject it. Banks especially.

A number from an actual mobile carrier looks different in the lookup databases those apps use. Boring reason, but it's why it works.

Naomi Brockwell has no SIM in her phone, and a sign-up form that ...

2026-10-24T21:24:29Z

Naomi Brockwell has no SIM in her phone, and a sign-up form that demanded a real cell number turned into one of the better explanations of why the number is the problem:

"It demanded a real SIM-based cell number."

"It becomes a unique identifier tying all our activities together."

"With the same cell number linking every account that you use, data brokers can now see everything you’re doing."

"Cellular networks keep track of where your phone is so they can route calls and texts."

"Telecom providers are notorious for selling your location data."

"Every extra identifier makes it easier to map your life."

"You do not have to make it easy for them."

@naomibrockwell

Google now says Gmail and Photos content may feed ad targeting. ...

2026-10-24T09:00:15Z

Google now says Gmail and Photos content may feed ad targeting. Your inbox becomes inventory. This is why "free" services always have a business model somewhere.

Joe Mullin at the Electronic Frontier Foundation lays out what ...

2026-10-23T21:50:24Z

Joe Mullin at the Electronic Frontier Foundation lays out what Bill C-22 would do to encryption and metadata in Canada. It has already passed the House of Commons, and only the Senate is left.

"Canada’s Parliament is debating a massive expansion of surveillance powers that will threaten the privacy and security of millions of people."

"Bill C-22, also called the Lawful Access Act, has already passed the House of Commons, and is now before the Canadian Senate."

"it allows Canada’s Minister of Public Safety to order companies to create a backdoor"

"That’s a clear recipe for weakening the encryption we all rely on."

"It also requires services to retain metadata for up to a year"

"it calls for entirely withdrawing Part 2 of Bill C-22"

"Bill C-22 could also expand the sharing of Canadians’ personal data with foreign law enforcement, including the United States."

"allow American police to get information about Canadian internet users without any Canadian court oversight"

Retention rules like this do not stop at suspects; they quietly describe where everyone goes and who everyone talks to.

@eff

Our refund policy, before you buy rather than after: Used an ...

2026-10-23T21:06:18Z

Our refund policy, before you buy rather than after:

Used an activated eSIM? Not refundable. Never installed it? Usually eligible. Installed it, it never connected after we tried to fix it with you, and barely any data moved? Also usually eligible.

Nothing buried in a FAQ.

In 2010 you could buy a SIM for cash almost anywhere. Now around ...

2026-10-22T21:08:09Z

In 2010 you could buy a SIM for cash almost anywhere. Now around 150 countries want ID to register one. Here's how that happened.

First it was security. After a few high profile cases, governments sold registration as a way to trace criminals. Criminals buy SIMs under other people's names. Everyone else got traced instead.

Then banks moved logins onto the phone number. Once your bank treats your number as ID, the number has to be tied to a real person, so registration got locked in from the other side too.

Then nothing, because databases don't shrink. Mexico is the rare country that scrapped its registry, and it's bringing one back.

A roaming eSIM is registered where its network lives, not where you are standing, so a traveler's line never enters the local registry. That is how roaming has always worked, and it is the quirk this whole product sits on.

Most of the "my eSIM is broken" messages we get are not ...

2026-10-09T21:11:36Z

Most of the "my eSIM is broken" messages we get are not about a broken eSIM.

The phone is holding onto 5G and the roaming line cannot keep a session on it. Force 4G/LTE, toggle airplane mode, and it connects. It is the first thing our support asks because it clears a large share of tickets on its own.

Not a glamorous answer. It is the true one, and it spares you a refund request we would have to decline because the line was never faulty.

Don't give your ID for an eSIM. ID ties a legal identity to a ...

2026-10-09T16:08:00Z

Don't give your ID for an eSIM.

ID ties a legal identity to a number, and that number to carrier location data. Telecom databases are frequent breach targets.

Some countries require registration by law. Where it is optional, don't volunteer it.

No reason every service needs to know everything about you. ...

2026-10-09T14:01:13Z

No reason every service needs to know everything about you. Privacy is a right, not a setting.

Border device searches don't need malware. Officers can ask ...

2026-09-30T15:06:07Z

Border device searches don't need malware. Officers can ask for the phone and image it.

What helps: fewer accounts signed in, cloud data actually in the cloud rather than cached locally, full disk encryption, and powering fully off before the queue so the keys aren't in memory.

A GrapheneOS feature that quietly fixes a decade of Android: ...

2026-09-29T15:07:40Z

A GrapheneOS feature that quietly fixes a decade of Android: Storage Scopes.

An app asks for all your files. Instead of denying and breaking it, you hand it a folder and it thinks it got everything.

Most permission prompts should have worked like this from the start.

Flock built a nationwide camera surveillance network, then tried ...

2026-09-29T09:00:13Z

Flock built a nationwide camera surveillance network, then tried to get the public map of it taken offline. Transparency about who's watching shouldn't be optional.

An eSIM profile is not an account. It's a credential the ...

2026-09-28T15:14:54Z

An eSIM profile is not an account. It's a credential the network checks to decide whether to carry your traffic.

That distinction is why anonymous data plans can exist at all. The network authenticates a key, not a person.

The name attached is a business layer choice.

Our warrant canary has been re-signed on schedule every time ...

2026-09-27T15:21:46Z

Our warrant canary has been re-signed on schedule every time since it went up. Boring is the goal.

A canary only means something if you can check the history, not just today's page. Ours is dated and signed so you can.

We have never received a request.

Quiet good news for once. For 40 years phones broadcast their ...

2026-08-05T15:19:30Z

Quiet good news for once.

For 40 years phones broadcast their permanent subscriber ID to any tower in the clear. 5G standalone finally encrypts it before it goes out.

The catch: a lot of what's sold as 5G still rides a 4G core, so the old behavior sticks around.

"Chat Control" is two things, and the fear mixes them up. ...

2026-07-11T15:00:02Z

"Chat Control" is two things, and the fear mixes them up.

What passed: voluntary scanning of *unencrypted* messages. Not a mandate, and encrypted chats were always exempt.

The mandatory version that would break encryption has NOT passed. Know which is which.