Hardwired software or functionality imposed by companies or authorities

[biketool]

Pagers have lots of privacy issues of their own. POCSAG (and FLEX) seem to be used mainly to transmit clear text that just anyone can receive with a $25 RTL-SDR and multimon-ng. There are a lot of pager networks here that I've seen for myself which are used by hospitals, and they're constantly transmitting sensitive and personally-identified medical information in clear text. It's really not good.

With that being said, a Pinephone with built-in pager functionality could easily be close at hand. All it would take is an RTL-SDR module, which the Pinetab already has as an option, and then the demodulation could be handled in software. It might not be energy-efficient, but there could be ways around that too, or maybe a more appropriate specialized pager-receiver module. The antenna sizes required are perfectly practical, at any rate - generally UHF, in the same neighborhood as cellular.

While Multimon and RTL-SDR is a fun way to monitor these transmissions from home, a vehicle, really anywhere you have ample power; the Realtek TV dongle with the debug mode driver to make a SDR reciever that solution is a massive power hog pulling something like 300mA(at 5v USB boost) or more.  if you look in the hardware forum to the POCSAG and freedom thread I am working on a hardware add-on for the pogo pins to give us POCSAG receiver capacaity.  A pocket sized alphanumeric pager in the 90s ran on a single AA cell for 3-5 weeks.  I have been looking for a reference receiver IC to put between the antenna and the decoder IC before converting the serial out to I2C compliant for the Pinephone.

antenna-->(missing link)receiver IC(fm broadcast (87-108mhz), VHF(~150mhz), UHF (~450 or 900mhz)-->decoder IC serial out-->I2C serial signal convert-->I2C multiplexer(for multiple add-on devices connected to pogo)--pogo pins on pinephone

I have two ready to go bench top testing solutions(a HackRF SDR with a Mayhem controller and a low power transmitter and sound card) and a programmable pager to verify my transmissions.  The ultra low power receiver IC is what is holding back work a dev prototype, I have not even had time or ability to open up the programmable pager to see what it is using.  I will release the design as open hardware and hopefully Pine64 will like it and can send it to production and sell it on the store.

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Another big example closer to home is an alert system that was discussed a few years ago if I'm not mistaken; Something that allowed authorities to track where your phone is located, and if you're in an area where a calamity is happening they'd have the ability to force a message on your device and you couldn't disable the thing. As an optional service I'm definitely not against it, quite the contrary... but forced and hardcoded into my device, no way I don't want any of that stuff.

AFAIK this is done by pushing a text to all devices connected to a tower from which someone wants to send the alert. And triangulation of an individual is possible by checking nearest tower connections. It's not super accurate but enough. If someone knows your IMEI - you can be tracked.

The only true way of remaining private is by leaving your phone at home, and just bring a paper-based book with you to read on your train commutes instead.

That's what I do ...my smartphone is used as a land-line.  I rarely take it with me unless I'm driving and even then I switch it off until I want to use it - no call is THAT important, that I must be in contact 24 hours a day so that I can answer and deal with it as soon as it rings.  

Maybe it's an age thing - I am in my 50's - but I simply don't see what is great about being connected to the world 24-7, and I certainty don't like the idea of transmitting my location to those that think it important enough, that they go to great lengths to ensure it's as hard as possible not to.

Well, I'm still in my 20's, I used to be that guy that's connected 24/7, but most of it is because it's a habit in this country among pretty much everyone.
If you're on the train, you either take out your smartphone, or you sleep.
And occasionally someone reading a book or playing a game console like a 3DS, Nintendo Switch, or PS Vita.

And it doesn't help with ads like these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlzx_oOKopo

I've been meditating in trains recently, makes me way less stressed out once I step off the train.

I am planning ways to make the pinephone nearly as private and anonymous as the paperback book mentioned upthread.  Beyond the hopes for POCSAG(yes these messages are sent in the clear but that is nearly as un-private as the reception of a phone call or sms, there are encryption options though the receiver ID is always open) incoming-only regional pager service.  Simply having your navigation map tiles for the region saved for offline use you can avoid coming online to use data, the Kiwix app or browser plugin lets you access much reference data by having a local Wikipedia cache on a SD card or USB drive, while it is more work to use an offline dictionary like Stardict and local dictionary files can be almost as useful as online translation like Google or Microsoft translation services, I am interested what scaling would look like and what we could do with a critical mass of users using LoRa radio add-ons for messaging combine that with local bluetooth and wifi mesh and some sort of person-to-person sneakernet-->fidonet message routing to bypass state controlled telephony and data companies.

For now and probably always we will be a tiny minority who cannot expect to have nearby pinephone users with hyper-capable and hyper-configurable handheld devices to rely on but there are things like Briar messaging protocol which include a user-to-user hard encrypted message forwarding  protocol which for now is primarily for android devices, maybe a pinephone IM system needs to include a Briar Android install APK and instructions to help android users sideload install for use in a regional emergency with communication blackout.

I am encouraging everyone reading this thread to be creative in how we can put as much off-line functionality into the Pinephone experience, how can we plan for service blackouts caused by nature or oppression and plan ways to route around that blockage.

These tools are needed by oppressed minorities, refugees of war trying to cross borders unnoticed, people living in corrupt dictatorships trying to contact family members, people even in liberal democracies who still are under the surveillance as individuals or the of the whole population of domestic or foreign police or intelligence agencies by legally or illegally exploiting commercial voice/data carriers, and journalists investigating large companies who can afford expensive private investigators or like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google who literally pass tens of percent of all data worldwide through their own data centers.