Phone Without Phone: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:55, 4 January 2024

Purpose

Find a way to get mobile phone functions without a physical phone, or at least without a SIM card or using traditional (abusive) means. The vision is to separate the phone from the wireless services. One might use available WiFi services or a personal hotspot to connect. This creates an additional firewall to protect data and adds flexibility for the type of device that can be used, including the use of a Linux / open source devices.

Expected Benefits:

Firewall between one's apps and data and the data service provider (ISP or wireless company).
Can actually shut off one's mobile hotspot and eliminate wireless phone company tracking.
ALL services, including phone and text could be run through a VPN, for further privacy from the phone company.
Phone services with a fixed phone number can be provided anywhere in the world.

XMPP

https://getstream.io/blog/xmpp-extensible-messaging-presence-protocol/ "Created in 1998 as the framework behind Jabber..."

Uses an exchange of XML data, using a server as an intermediary.
Can provide "presence" information (user is present/away, etc.)
Uses TCP
Can use TLS encryption
Asynchronous push approach (rather than pull)
Hosting can be decentralized -- users can set up their own servers
Can function cross-protocols, including SMS, email, IRC

https://xmpp.org/software/?platform=linux lists a number of software clients, servers, libraries, etc. The list can be filtered by platform.

JMP

Website: https://jmp.chat/

Video interview on https://takebackourtech.org/xmpp-jmp/ actually hosted on Odyssee: https://odysee.com/@takebackourtech:f/xmpp-jmp:8?r=DZ4EWxZ7Qm3HPnNU3rnFQF4vmCxaxuye

Presented by Take Back Our Tech (TBOT), creators of BeyondPhone, which includes a free trial of JMP. (BeyondPhone seems to have disappeared, but TBOT continues.
- Ramiro Romani, TBOT Founder
- Denver Gingerich "OSS Guy", started JMP in 2017
- Stephen Paul Weber, lead dev on JMP
Allows XMPP users to communicate with phone users transparently & somewhat anonymously.
Stephen had been using XMPP for 17 years...really wanted to send text from XMPP, met Denver...
Denver decided to start a county
They can use multiple clients (I think their service is mostly providing the gateway / telephone numbers)
Snikket is their top app for Android & iOS.
- Compatible with Conversations
- Can host your own network
- Includes text, secure audio & video calls
- App available on Google Play, Apple App Store, and F-Droid
Jabber network gets a lot of credit for starting the whole thing
(Ramiro brings up DPCP DPCT?? server for BTC, LTC, Monero, etc... would be good to know more about that.)
Cheogram is a big chunk of their infrastructure, source code here: https://soprani.ca/
Ramiro does a nice howto at the end of the video (link takes you to the appropriate timestamp): https://odysee.com/@takebackourtech:f/xmpp-jmp:8?r=DZ4EWxZ7Qm3HPnNU3rnFQF4vmCxaxuye&t=2614

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 === Purpose ===
 Find a way to get mobile phone functions without a physical phone, or at least without a SIM card or using traditional (abusive) means. The vision is to separate the phone from the wireless services. One might use available WiFi services or a personal hotspot to connect. This creates an additional firewall to protect data and adds flexibility for the type of device that can be used, including the use of a Linux / open source devices.
+Expected Benefits:
+* Firewall between one's apps and data and the data service provider (ISP or wireless company).
+* Can actually shut off one's mobile hotspot and eliminate wireless phone company tracking.
+* ALL services, including phone and text could be run through a VPN, for further privacy from the phone company.
+* Phone services with a fixed phone number can be provided anywhere in the world.
 === XMPP ===