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Hi, my name is Hakeem Anwar. I'm the founder and CEO of Above Phone. We're a leading privacy and de-Googled phone company, and we also do Linux laptops and software services to communicate privately and securely. We started in 2021 when we realized even technologically savvy people weren't running alternative Android ROMs yet, like GrapheneOS, and the problem was is there's still a lot of setup and decisions that one has to make. So, at Above, we try to make our products as the best as possible, making really good and reasonable security and privacy choices while being very easy to use.
So, our Above Phone is a GrapheneOS phone setup with the best free and open-source apps out there, many from F-Droid that you'll recognize, and it just comes out of the box ready to use. And it also comes with the support you might need if you have questions about it. We help people transition from iPhone and Android. And so, that's a big part of our business, too, is to give people the real human support they need to get on board. In addition to that, we also run a suite of software services on our data center.
So, this is running a private email, video conferencing with Jitsi or our own private Jitsi server. We run an XMPP server for encrypted messaging. We run a VPN server using Tailscale. We run our own search engine Search XNG instance, and all of these services are configured for no logging. So, we really try to make the best give it the best possible privacy while still having it ready to use out of the box.
So, what privacy means to me is freedom, because having knowledge of something is a prerequisite to be able to control it. And as we've seen from authoritarian governments and international institutions, they are more than willing to tax tax the places you are driving. They're more than willing to hike up your insurance based on the way you drive and the way that you eat. So, with this information leakage, it it it ends up with us having to be responsible for the data we're putting out there in the world. And for some people, this is a life or death situation.
For me personally, I'm paying attention to the year 2027 when digital ID will become a requirement for businesses to accept in the EU and abroad, in Australia. And it is the rollout of a technocratic control grid, and one that someone should be aware of and be ready to use alternative software, alternative businesses, and do their business in person. So, privacy to me is everything. So, Cypherpunk to me is knowing where to draw your line in the sand. The unfortunate part about surveillance, you think that there's a line where they're going to stop.
Okay, they've read my messages. Now stop there. Oh, my pictures, they've scanned them and they they're stopped there. Oh, there's there's electroencephalograms in my AirPods reading my brain waves. They'll stop there.
But the problem is there is no stop to it. So, using free technologies an act of resistance and circumventing the laws made to crack down on privacy is is is Cypherpunk. So, it's the the cryptographers that make these tools available to us. We need to celebrate and we need to support them. That's what we like to do at Above.
We like to donate to the top open-source projects that make our solutions possible. That's what it's all about, cuz it's not a big box store that you'll buy and you get your product from. It's a whole diverse network of people we need to support. So, that's what it's all about for me. So, the way we need to scale our reach and and improve our network, which is the most important thing we can do, is we need to leave our homes and go outside and touch grass, my friends.
If you're deep in privacy right now, just know it's your community that is going to protect you and support you. And you can start right now by serving your community. For me, that was going to different places around the country and talking about Linux and doing Linux workshops and converting 20 people at a time to Linux who were previously on Mac and Windows, and doing the groundwork. It's not It's not easy, but to make it efficient, because social media algorithms are not in our favor. Big Tech is not going to put your signal out there.
So, we really need to to uh we need to improve on how we build in-person networks. That's what it's all about these next few years. My favorite privacy tools are Cheogram, which is a um it's a telephony um it's a telephony layer over XMPP. So, that means you can send text messages from any phone any device that supports XMPP. I love it because I can send text messages from my computer and they'll sync over to my phone, and I'm completely responsible at least for the XMPP software part of that.
You get a US phone number, pay in Monero, it's great. Yeah, I mean, GrapheneOS has to be my my second choice. It's one of those situations where you can have your cake and you can also eat it, too. And so, it's really really versatile. I mean, there's there's so many things I could talk about, but having the multiple layers of security to protect you from things like Cellebrite and no Google whatsoever, which we were doing network testing of GrapheneOS way back in the early days, and they were the only ones who were telling the truth.
So, shout out to them. So, a habit that is really good to start if you want to improve your privacy is saying no. Say it with me. No. So, when you're at the grocery store and they ask, "Do you have a rewards card or no no phone number?"
No, I don't I don't even have a phone. Lie if you need to, because they're trained to ask. So, being able to say no in this day and age or I don't want to do it that way. How about I just pay you cash? How about I just pay you crypto?
Is really important, setting our boundaries. So, my vision for the future, if everything goes right, is we have communities which are completely responsible for their internet utilities. So, these communities are running their own email, their own video conferencing, and each member is paying to that community to keep the servers running. And of course, they're all using Linux. They're all using de-Googled phones.
Maybe they're even using Linux phones. And for the internet, I mean, at this point, 20 years in the future, we might have to replace the internet. So, maybe that is maybe that is a mesh network built through ham radio or the Reticulum protocol. And the internet is not what it used to be, right? Our we we might have slower bandwidth, but that's not what matters.
It's about our connection and what we can get done together. So, if if Netflix dies tomorrow, if all the AI slop videos die tomorrow, if all the YouTube slop dies tomorrow, I don't have any problem. But as long as I can stay in touch with my community, that's what's important. So, that's what I see for the future. So, I'm Hakeem, and if you liked any of this, please follow my show, Take Back Our Tech.
It's on Substack. It's also on my website, techbackourtech.org. And if you're interested in a privacy phone that is the easiest to use, you don't have to spend any time setting it up. It's already set up with the best apps, go to abovephone.
com and chat with us. Thanks for watching.
Automatic transcript — names and jargon may be misspelled.