233: Outsmarting Spyware: Ramiro Romani’s Guide to Phone Security

Ramiro Romani is a technologist, activist, educator, and entrepreneur who dropped his corporate career to work on meaningful social movements. His company, Above Agency, recently released Above Phone – a complete privacy phone solution that combines secure hardware, open-source operating systems, and cutting-edge privacy services. I know the issue of privacy is of utmost importance to Expat Money Show listeners, and today's episode will open your eyes to how your phone tracks you every single day and the actionable steps you can take to stop it.  

How to Stop Your Phone From Spying on You

• If you've long suspected your phone is spying on you, trust us, it is. Today's episode will give you the tools you need to begin to fight back.
• Ramiro delves into his background as a software engineer and how he realized the Big Tech companies are a part of the privacy problem.
• I discuss with Ramiro how he decided to shift his priorities and help build systems outside of Big Tech's grasp and bring heart back to their technology, quitting his job to become a full-time activist in movements such as the Freedom Cell Network before founding Above Agency in 2021.
• Ramiro breaks down how his software team went about creating Above Phone by “De-Googling” their phone and using open-source software to tweak existing open-source platforms
• We discuss in detail why having a privacy phone is so important and how Big Tech companies track everything you do because YOU are the product.
• Ramiro shares some SHOCKING examples of how innocent lives have been affected by big-tech spying.
• I discuss with Ramiro the 3 layers of tracking through the Operating Systems, the apps and the telecom companies. 
• We look at one of the most common questions Ramiro fields regarding why they use “the Devil” aka Google to build a privacy phone instead of using Linux or another system?
• Ramiro and I examine why it’s important to accept incremental steps in taking privacy back and not let the lack of the perfect tool prevent you from taking any precautions against Big Tech.
• We examine how even “privacy” companies track and mine data from their users and make false claims about their products while portraying a privacy face on the surface.
• Ramiro gives an on-screen demonstration of how some of the available apps work - this is a great reason to head over and watch the video on the Expat Money YouTube channel!
• We even learn how it's possible to use a phone without being exposed to ANY EMF at all by using an ethernet adaptor! This blew me away!

 

RELATED EPISODES

162: How Privacy Can Protect You If They Come For You - Gabriel Custodiet 182: Creating Your Freedom Cell Overseas – John Bush 117: How To Protect Yourself From The Digital Inquisition - Remso Martinez  

HOW TO LEARN MORE AND GET AN ABOVE PHONE

For a special offer and to support our work go to riseabovephone.com and use code EXPATPRIVACY for $50 off your Above Phone!  

CONCLUSION

I hope that by now, most of my listeners are aware of the privacy issues regarding Big Tech and their phones, but this episode will open the eyes of even the staunchest privacy advocates to the depth of the problem. Luckily, there is a solution, and I can personally attest that Ramiro and his team at Above Phone have come up with a great one! See you all next Wednesday on the podcast!

Mentioned in this episode:

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