What’s the news: In a bid to protect people’s metadata, the Invisv company introduced a new kind of phone carrier with a ‘Pretty Good Phone Privacy’ (PGPP) service on August 8, reported Wired. Founded in 2021, Invisv launched the beta version of this service for Androids that separates users from specific identifiers so the company can’t access or track customers’ metadata, location information, or mobile browsing. According to network security researchers and Invisv Founders Barath Raghavan and Paul Schmitt, the PGPP service will replace the mechanism that carriers conventionally employ to gain information about users’ movements via cell phone tower connection data. Why it matters: Protection of personal data has become a global concern in recent years. Currently, India does not have a data protection law, with the recent withdrawal of the draft Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) 2021 during Parliament’s monsoon session. Creation of such phone carriers can offer some relief to consumers who live in countries without a legal document for data protection and privacy in place. What is PGPP? The carrier’s unique service can mask a phone’s identity from cell towers. Speaking to Wired, Raghavan and Schmitt said that cell towers only collect unique identifiers known as International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers to run billing checks and confirm that a given SIM card and device are paid up with their carrier. Carriers need to track these numbers before allowing devices to connect to cell towers for services. However, IMSI numbers can be tracked by both telecoms…
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What you should know about the new phone carrier with ‘Pretty Good Phone Privacy’
Phone carrier Invisv separates Android users from identifiers that allow tracking customers’ metadata, location information, or mobile browsing
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