If you’re reading this, there’s a strong chance you own a smartphone. Most people do these days. We use them less and less for calling and more for living our digital lives: banking, commerce, social media accounts, business deals — our phones are basically an extension of ourselves. Unfortunately, we also find ourselves in an increasingly less-permissive environment, legally and socially. Governments the world over have (both legally and illegally) increased their digital surveillance capabilities at an alarming rate, as the Snowden leaks revealed to the world. NGOs and online sleuths are able to leverage Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) to track people through cyberspace and the real world, feeding information to authorities or to cancel-culture rage mobs. Abusive partners looking to further control and isolate their spouses may also leverage their phones against them.
Spy fiction has for years popularized the concept of a “burner phone.” The entire first season of the hit HBO crime drama The Wire really revolved around Baltimore PD’s attempt to thwart a drug gang’s use of burners. But when it comes to burner phones in the real world, what are the facts? How do they work? What are the legal and technical hurdles you might find yourself facing should you choose to acquire and operate one? What tradecraft is really needed in order to make a burner even worth it? I’ll explore the answer to these and other questions in this article.
What’s a Burner Phone?
At a minimum, a burner phone is one that we don’t care about and don’t intend to use for long. They may be used once or just a few times. The phone will often be ditched or destroyed after
