[oli-g]

I don't get why people who are so paranoid about someone associating their Telegram handle with their phone number simply don't go and grab a burner SIM at Tesco.

I mean I'm all down with the idea of tech companies respecting our privacy. But here we are, complaining that corporations that are at least trying (and that are operating at a loss since their conception for our convenience) aren't giving us "Snowden hiding in Russia" level of security out of the box, for free, just because we deserve it. All while we could easily implement it ourselves for like $8 and with no online trace whatsoever.

It's like, Tails Linux exists, but FUCK GOOGLE for forcing me to Ctrl+Shift+Delete in Chrome if I want to erase a cookie. I'm so significant and certainly not a criminal, why do they hate me so much??

[guhcampos]

It's not always that simple. In many countries, like Brazil, you need a valid ID document to buy a SIM card, and the number is then and always linked to your government ID. This is the case for quite a few relatively free countries as a means to fraud prevention (not that it's particularly effective though).

[kojoru]

Specifically for telegram there's a (rather expensive) crypto-based no-sim option: https://telegram.org/blog/ultimate-privacy-topics-2-0/ru?set...

[bombcar]

Keeping your username from phone contacts is quite a different problem than keeping your name from the government.

[Geisterde]

Why is there such a pervasive crowd of people who chock this kind of thing up to a lost cause? From my prespective, if it can be done, we should, we must, do it. Is there something special about hiding something from a government thats qualitatively different than hiding it from any other criminal? That they can levy greater amounts of violence? Isnt that even greater justification to privacy?

[bombcar]

I'm fully in agreement; we have policies around warrants, etc that have been long-running and should in general treat the government as a quasi-malicious actor.

However, just because the government forces something for them doesn't mean we should just give up entirely for everything - the fact that the government knows your SIM purchase doesn't mean that random users on HN should be able to find it.

[Geisterde]

That I can agree with, we arent there yet, make use of the tools you have.

[JohnFen]

> I don't get why people who are so paranoid about someone associating their Telegram handle with their phone number simply don't go and grab a burner SIM at Tesco.

I could not hate the phone number requirement more, and it's one of the main reasons why I don't use these applications.

With one exception: I have an overseas friend who only communicates through WhatsApp. For him, I did go out and get a burner phone for this purpose. But the friction level of doing that is unnecessarily high and I doubt I'd do it for anyone else.

[palmfacehn]

I've tried 4 different sim cards in telegram. None of them seem to work. Not sure why a "privacy" app is asking for a phone number in the first place.

[celdon25]

Ah, the good ol “just get a burner sim bro” argument. Tried that once, they did KYC.

[mtnGoat]

I hadn’t used a burner in years, last year my phone broke on a trip and I just wanted to grab a phone, to get me through the week. I can say it’s not like it used to be! Can’t just grab one at the gas station and pop it in a phone. Gotta give ID, sign up for accounts, etc.

[prmoustache]

It depends of the country. You can buy a sim card at an Oxxo in Mexico like you would buy a bag of doritos. I did it precisely last year.

Having said that if you leave the country I am pretty sure that sim card and number would be deactivated after a few months if not connected. I am not sure how fast a number can be reused.