Few will argue that the topic of intelligence services monitoring activists via mobile phones is very important. It’s 2025, but things remain the same: authorities of almost all states dislike freedom and are ready to make a serious effort to peek into your smartphone. Even if you’re a super-conspirator, you’ve got a disposable phone with a “poor man’s” SIM card and you’re sitting at home, carefully posting statuses in Telegram or using this device as a Wi-Fi hotspot – there remains the risk that one day a cop will knock on your door.
How is this possible, you ask? Simply: there’s the old triangulation method. If a phone is connected to a network, even without GPS and Wi-Fi, intelligence services can calculate the approximate location of the device based on the level of signal from nearby base stations. This isn’t instantaneous, but gradually one can narrow down the search area to a building entrance, or even a specific apartment. Remember how they tracked down Shamil Basayev in Chechnya? That’s roughly so, only now it works faster and cheaper.
But don’t panic! There’s a simple solution: a Faraday cage for a phone. Sounds futuristic, doesn’t it? In reality, it’s just a case or bag made of special fabric that blocks absolutely any radio signals and is sold on all marketplaces. A phone inside this thing seems to vanish from reality: no cellular networks, Wi-Fi, GPS, or Bluetooth see it anymore. Imagine “airplane mode,” only 100% reliable.
And here’s the key point: if you keep your phone in a Faraday cage for most of the time (when you’re not using it), calculating its location is almost impossible. After all, no government in the world will spend huge resources constantly triangulating some ordinary activist. That luxury intelligence services reserve for leaders of insurgent groups, and simple activists are definitely not on the VIP list of a stationary criminal.
Of course, after purchase, you must check the Faraday cage case! Quality doesn’t always match the description. To test it, you use exclusively your personal phone – so as not to create a chain of connections for intelligence services with your anonymous device. Place your personal phone in a bag and try to call it from another phone (e.g., a friend or family member’s phone, but not your own anonymous phone). If the call doesn’t go through, then the case is good!
Here’s another tip – it always pays to use a paid VPN with a high privacy rating, both on your phone and PC, even if the phone is used as a Wi-Fi hotspot. A VPN will hide your real IP address and make it more difficult for those who want to track your actions online. It’s also important to regularly check the privacy settings of your phone and apps. Don’t forget to turn off geolocation, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi if you don’t need them right now. This will help avoid accidental data leaks and make the device less noticeable for gathering information. Remember that modern phones even in “sleep” mode continue to periodically send requests and connect to towers and networks. It doesn’t hurt to also remember about physical security: You shouldn’t take a phone used for activism to real meetings, and if you do need to move it – it needs to be turned off beforehand and placed in a Faraday cage case. Remember that safety is not just a set of technical actions but a habit and a lifestyle.
Of course, no technology can make a person completely invisible. But with due caution, you can become so boring and uninteresting for surveillance agencies that they’ll prefer to spend their forces on something more exciting. Take care of yourself and stay free!
