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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Phreeli says it’s the first privacy-by-design US wireless service.
- Sign-up only needs a ZIP code, username, and payment method.
- Founder aims for more privacy than major carriers.
New US carrier Phreeli has launched with a goal: to challenge telcos’ accepted data-collection practices by offering a privacy-first mobile service.
Meet Phreeli
Launched on Dec. 4, Phreeli describes itself as a “privacy-by-design” mobile carrier that doesn’t collect, sell, or share customer data.
When you sign up for a mobile phone service, as standard, you usually have to provide a range of personal information, including your name, home address, and contact information, alongside your date of birth, financial details, and more.
Phreeli, however, wants nothing more than a ZIP code, your preferred username, and a payment method. You can choose to provide a credit card or, for additional privacy, you can pay with cryptocurrency.
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Contracts aren’t a problem either, as Phreeli doesn’t offer them — understandably, since legal service contracts would require a customer’s personal information. Instead, prepaid month-to-month plans range from $25 to $80, depending on how much cellular data you need.
Is this legal? How does it work?
The startup would need eye-watering levels of investment to set up its own towers to support the network, so instead, Phreeli operates as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) that utilizes T-Mobile infrastructure.
It is legal to offer phone services without knowing customer names in every state, according to the founder, and a system called the “double blind armadillo” is used to separate customer billing data from call histories, texts, and data usage while still verifying payments.
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This zero-knowledge model uses cryptographic tokens to verify the status of the service without recording or linking customers to mobile carrier plans, which Phreeli says helps to anonymize service events and stops them from being trackable.
Phreeli added that it “will only share data with third parties as is necessary to provide your service, or if we are required to do so by law,” and has outlined its approach in the firm’s privacy policy.
Who’s behind Phreeli?
In an interview published by Wired, Phreeli’s founder, Nicholas Merrill, revealed the reasons behind launching his startup.
Back in 2004, Merrill, who owned an ISP, challenged an FBI-ordered National Security Letter (NSL) under the US Patriot Act after the US government demanded information on one of its users. His refusal and a gag order led to a legal battle spanning over a decade, and such pressure meant that Merrill eventually closed down his ISP — but it also gave him the idea to advocate for privacy differently.
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As a result of all of this, Merrill wants to ensure that even if government agencies demand customer information and records related to his phone service, there’s very little beyond a ZIP code that can be shared.
Why does it matter?
While the concept of burner phones brings to mind criminal activities, Phreeli takes a different approach: it aims to make phone services private by default, with minimal customer data collection, no credit check, and no sale of user data or call records. Not only would this keep your data out of the hands of marketers, but it could erode the far-reaching powers of US surveillance bills.
“We are trying to help people feel more comfortable living their normal lives, where they’re not doing anything wrong, and not feel watched and exploited by giant surveillance and data mining operations,” Merrill told Wired.
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It’s not a service for robocallers or scammers, however. If this behavior is detected, Phreeli says it will take action by blocking them or drastically limiting how many calls they can make or messages they can send.
Phreeli’s approach is certainly an interesting and exciting one. While it remains to be seen how many customers sign up for this service and whether it proves popular — as well as if there will be any efforts by the US government or rival carriers to close it down — we will be watching closely.
