Former CIA: Why You Need A 'Burner' Phone (Right Now)

Flip phone versus smartphone for security. Which is better? My name is Jason Hansen. I'm a former CIA officer. And yes, this is my flip phone. I still use a flip phone. And this right here is a smartphone, but it's my friend's smartphone. So, what are the pros and cons? Well, obviously a a smartphone. Sure, you can, you know, watch your 8 million Tik Tok videos. You can watch cat cats dancing. Uh, you can do all that kind of stuff. But, of course, you probably have a million and one apps on your smartphone. So, what does that mean? Well, you can be easily tracked. Your apps know where you're going. Your apps know where you are. It's not hard to find out your exact location. Plus, of course, what do these big corporations do? Well, they sell your data. So, they sell your data to third parties. They sell your data to the government. Yes, Uncle Sam. And so, it makes it easier to track you on a smartphone. So, a regular smartphone. And everybody's like, "Oh, the, you know, the iPhone, please, guys. Come on. Uh, iPhone, Android, it doesn't matter. Everybody who walks around with a smartphone is basically walking around with a, you know, a beacon that says, "I can find you anytime I want. I know exactly what you're doing. I know exactly what, you know, videos you're watching, what you're staring at, what apps you're downloading. I know your fitness levels. I know where you're running, all that kind of stuff, right? And everything you already know. So, not the world's greatest security, but is obviously very convenient. And unfortunately in the world we live in, people trade their convenience for security all the time, like staying in Airbnbs, like uh taking Uber and and that all kind of stuff. So what about a flip phone? What about my trusty flip phone here? Well, this one is not connected to the internet. Yes, there are flip phones that are connected to the internet, so I don't have to worry about that. I have no apps whatsoever on this phone. I use this phone for dialing numbers. I've never sent a text message in my life. I do not text, so it's not like I need to worry about texting or getting text messages. [music] Very simple. dial a number, talk to somebody, see what they need the way it should be, the way I like it because I'm a simple guy and I I just Yeah, I don't want to be bothered all the time. So, what about the flip phone and tracking? Obviously, since it is connected to a cellular cellular network, the towers can still ping and find you. Now, they're not going to know their exact your exact location, but it can still be used for tracking. So, if you said, "Hey, I want a flip phone. I want to make sure I'm not tracked." Well, one way you can do it is go to Walmart, go to Target, get a prepaid phone. Very easy to do. Get a burner phone. Take it up to the counter. Say, "I would like you to activate this for me." Do not do it online. Take it up to the counter. When you say, "I want to activate it. I want you to activate this for me." They're going to roll their eyes because they don't like working. But say, "No, please activate this for me." They'll say, "Okay, what area code would you like to be?" So, have an area code in mind, like 703, Northern Virginia, where I'm originally from. And then say, they're going to say, >> "You have an email address you want associated with this phone?" >> Say no. Then, okay, they say, >> you know, put on minutes. You're going to have to bring up some minute cards. put up 500, 1,000, whatever minutes you want, >> and then pay in cash if you don't want to be tracked. So then you have a phone that is not tied to you in any way. Right now, somebody once said to me when I was training like, "Well, what if they know exactly where you're at?" Well, if they are able to pull the Walmart footage and know that I was in in Oakton, Virginia on September 29th at 2:15 p.m. and I was in the Walmart near Oakton, Virginia buying a phone, well, they'd have to be pretty darn good. Okay, so I'm not worried about that. Uh, I'm not worried about the, you know, a, well, hopefully not worried about a drug cartel coming after me and that kind of stuff. If you are that worried about it, well, guess what? Run a surveillance detection route. Make sure you're not being followed. Go to somewhere that is not anywhere near your home. So, if you live in Reston, Virginia, don't go to the rest Walmart that is right near you. Go somewhere a further distance. Go to Maryland or go somewhere else. Also, if you're worried about being tracked and going certain places before you go there, put your phone in a Faraday bag. There's a lot of companies out there that make these Faraday pouches. put your cell phone in there and then you won't have to worry about cell phones being pinged. Uh when I do some very highly sensitive meetings with certain people, maybe government related, maybe not government related, I can either confirm or deny. I'm not going to take this to the meeting because if somebody was able to ping all four things, they may say like, "Why was Jason with this person, this person, this person? There's five people there together. What's going on?" So that is why I use fair bags. So if you are worried about privacy, I just gave you the playbook. It's easy, but again, you can't watch your TikTok videos. If you can't, you know, order your Door Dash 27 times a day. Yes, you know who you are. So, I use a flip phone for simplicity and because it's harder to track. I realize most people are going to use an iPhone, an Android, whatever, but just remember all your melonops are tracking you. And at the very least, when you're going somewhere sensitive, put this in a Faraday bag. Okay, that about covers it cuz I got to roll. I am former CI officer Jason Hansen. If you want to know how to not be tracked, if you want to know really how to vanish, how to disappear, go to spyvish.com. That is how intelligence operatives do it. Have a wonderful rest of your day and God bless you.