Nuxleio

Thanks anyway, it's good info for anybody reading!

Cell towers can use the SIM card to track your IMEI number which is specific to your device and may link to your identity depending on how you purchased it and your carrier.

Generally there's no perfect solution to this short of not using a phone. But as a compromise some people opt to never add a SIM card and instead keep their device WiFi-only while always using a VPN, MAC randomization on in settings, and airplane mode.

Some apps such as simplex allow you to sign up without a phone number for your texting & calling needs. Of course it's not perfect and I assume almost anybody would want a real number somewhere (perhaps on a different device or landline).

For me it's reasonable to not have cell service on this phone because it's only one of several phones I own.

For sure, that makes sense and seems to be mentioned often. I'm curious to understand different risks than that though...

So the solution is to what... ? Raw dog it?

• mutually assured destruction: if a VPN starts leaking network activity it's suicide for their business model
• distribution of concerns: VPN services as a rule don't give a shit about your torrent traffic the way a copyright holder might care about your IP

If you're out here creampie-ing the whole internet you don't have either of those barriers but you still carry all of that risk.

Even condoms very rarely break that doesn't make them in general useless. Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Perhaps? It works just fine for me but I'm a bit of a filthy casual who doesn't torrent all that much

You need to pay for a VPN. It's like a condom for the internet. Frankly, stop trying to avoid something that you should already be using.

Mullvad is a good start. Go purchase it.