Your Phone Makes You Easy to Track — 3 Ways to Protect Your Privacy & Going Off Grid

Former CIA officer Andrew Bustamante gives practical advice on how individuals can make themselves harder to track, focusing on what he calls “misattribution” and disrupting a predictable “pattern of life”. He suggests limiting how accurately public records reflect where someone actually sleeps or parks, and varying daily routines (routes, shops, gyms and times) to reduce the risk of surveillance or attack based on habit.

A major portion of the episode centres on smartphones. Bustamante claims devices can be tracked through several identifiers, including IMEI, advertising-tech IDs and email-linked tokens, and he alleges phones may emit signals even when powered off. He argues this data is collected largely through user permissions granted to apps and services, and says it is routinely monetised by companies for advertising and other commercial purposes.

Bustamante further alleges that intelligence agencies can access similar datasets by purchasing commercially held information, rather than compelling disclosure. He describes this as enabling large-scale pattern analysis and social-network mapping, not necessarily targeted spying on a named individual.

The conversation also turns to European security. Bustamante praises some EU member-state intelligence services but says he doubts they share extensively, urging Europe to decide whether it prioritises sovereignty or collective security and to commit to a clear framework. The episode closes with personal reflections on family, ambition, retirement, and what he would say in final words to his children and wife.

• Bustamante recommends “misattribution” of public-facing address, vehicle use and phone use to reduce traceability.
• He says changing one’s “pattern of life” makes it harder for adversaries to predict and intercept movements.
• He alleges phones can be tracked via IMEI, ad-tech identifiers and email-linked tokens, beyond a simple phone number.
• He argues users’ app permissions enable commercial data collection, and alleges intelligence services can buy such data.
• He praises DGSE (France) and BND (Germany) and says EU services do not share information extensively, in his view.
• He urges EU states to choose between sovereignty and collective security, warning that indecision wastes resources.
• He closes with personal remarks about family, future goals and what he would say as last words.