Saturday, August 22, 2020

ok, so i'm going to post this again in this space, to make the point as clear as i can.

i live in windsor, ontario. i am a male-to-female transgendered person that is functionally celibate. while i wonder if i may have been raped a few times, i have not intentionally had sex in upwards of 15 years and don't really see the point in identifying as anything beyond "asexual" at this point. i use female pronouns and refer to myself as 'jessica'.

while i did eventually buy a chinese cell phone a few years ago that i've turned on something like twice before i decided it was boring, i do not have cell service, and do not carry a cell phone. it's not turned off, it's not hidden, it's not encrypted - it doesn't exist.

i am currently typing from a chromebook, which i also use as a phone. i call out using google voice. i don't know if or how such a thing can be tracked and, frankly, it's not my problem, if it can't be. i don't have any reason to care if i'm trackable or not, although if i had a choice i'd choose not to be.

as it is, the reason i don't pay for a cell service is that it costs a lot of money. my income is $1230/month ($1170 from odsp & $60 from a tax credit run by the province), and my rent is $750. my only bill is internet, which i pay $35/month for. i budget for $200 for food, and it's variable - sometimes more, sometimes less.

1230 - 750 - 200 - 35 = 245

i don't even know what it costs to connect to the cell towers anymore, but i know it's expensive. as buying cell phone access to the tower would take up 30-50% of my remaining income, i decided a very long time ago that it was a waste of money, and that is the reason that i do not have cell service - if i spent all my money on a cell phone that i don't really need or want, i wouldn't have any money to spend on anything else. it's a bonus that i can't be tracked, but that's not the intent - i just can't afford a cell phone, or, i guess more accurately, i've decided that i'd rather spend limited resources on things i care about.

i do not have a driver's license, and have never driven a car. that is another way i avoid wasting money. it's a bonus that it is good for the climate, but i wouldn't want to waste money on a car, regardless.

so, i'm very, very cheap, and that's the reason you can't track me.

i'm not avoiding anything, i just don't have the money to utilize the tracking devices that law enforcement are so heavily reliant on.

i'm harmless, and the decision to spy on me is based on ignorance and stupidity. however, this is something to think about: given the cost of technology, if the police become reliant on it to track threatening individuals, they may find themselves in this problem more often. if you're going to create a society rooted in absurd amounts of inequality, this is the outcome - the criminals can't afford the technology you want to use to spy on them with.

trying to coerce me into giving you a number, or communicating over a phone i don't have and can't afford and don't want, isn't going to lead to anything but frustration by everybody.

i use voip for incoming calls, and i don't know or care if that's trackable, either. i would get a free google voice number, but it's not available in canada.

if you were to cancel google voice in canada, i would use a pay phone to call out, as the primary determinant is cost and that's by far the cheapest option.

poor people are hard to trace with technology because they can't afford it.

deal with it.