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Republicans are once again teaming up with Democrats to ram Digital ID through at the federal level.
The bill they’ve just introduced is, if you can believe it, worse than all the others before it.
HR 8250, deceptively named the Parents Decide Act, doesn’t just force everyone to link their identity to use apps on their phones, it mandates that they must do it to use ANY operating system. That means Apple, iOS, Windows, Google, Android, even Samsung—basically everything.
And once that’s in place, there’s nowhere to step outside of it.
But one brave group is refusing to go along.
GrapheneOS has made a statement saying: GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone around the world without requiring personal information, identification, or an account.
Glenn and Eric Meder from Privacy Academy have been working to educate people on how to escape the digital control grid, including how to put GrapheneOS on your phone—for free. And they have a solution to Digital ID right now.
They join us to discuss.
You’ve seen this pattern before.
When the same thing starts appearing everywhere at once, it’s usually not random.
A new push for Digital ID laws isn’t happening in just one place. With bills like the Parents Decide Act (HR 8250), it’s now moving directly into the systems we use every day. It’s happening in a very coordinated way across countries, across platforms, and now, at the operating system level.
This isn’t about regulating a few apps anymore. The focus has moved underneath them—to the operating system itself—the software that runs your phone and computer. Glenn Meder described it plainly, they’re trying to “lock it down on an operating system level,” because that’s the one layer you can’t avoid.
Apps can be swapped. Accounts can be deleted.
But if access to the operating system requires Digital ID, there’s nowhere left to step outside of it.
That’s the inflection point.
Glenn called it “the hill to die on,” not because of how it looks today, but because of what it enables once it’s in place. In his words, this isn’t just verification, it’s the foundation for removing privacy and building a system that monitors “everything we say.”
He warned it would “change instantly,” the kind of shift you only recognize after it’s already locked in.
Access to your phone. Your apps. Your accounts. All tied to one digital identity.
And once that becomes the standard, stepping outside of it stops being an option.
Your phone is a surveillance Trojan Horse.
Big Tech and Big Brother have colluded together to create a spyware monopoly.
Your phone tracks your location at all times, who you text, what you read, whether you’re skeptical person or not, how you spend your money and where your finances are stored... This list could go on forever.
Privacy Academy is hosting a FREE webinar on Thursday, May 7th at 7pm CT (8pm ET / 6pm MT / 5pm PT) where you can learn how to escape the cell phone surveillance state. You’ll discover:
How brands like Apple use privacy as a selling point (even though it’s not true).
Why phone surveillance is much more insidious then you’d imagine.
How phone surveillance has gotten MUCH worse since Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA is spying on us.
How you can easily create a “De-Googled” privacy phone yourself!
A live Q/A.
And much more!
👉 Register now: PrivacyAcademy.com/Pulse
Most systems don’t announce what they are.
They start as something reasonable. Something easy to justify. And something temporary. At least on the surface. Eric Meder stripped that illusion down to its foundation.
If a social credit system is the end result, then Digital ID is “the dough.” The base layer. The part everything else gets built on top of.
Once that layer exists, everything connects to it. Activity, access, finances, all tied back to a single identity that can be measured and scored.
That’s when it becomes unavoidable.
Glenn pointed to what’s already happening as proof of direction, not theory. In the UK, users are being pushed to verify themselves with biometrics or financial credentials. And if they refuse, their devices are restricted into what’s essentially a locked-down mode.
The way it’s being rolled out matters. Glenn described it as “a collusion between Big Tech and Big Brother,” where enforcement doesn’t rely on one side alone.
Big Tech builds it into the devices. Government enforces it through policy.
And once that structure is in place, opting out isn’t as simple as switching apps or changing settings.
It means losing access altogether.
You’ve probably already thought about opting out of your phone’s tracking and data collection.
The truth is, most people aren’t chasing perfection—they’re just looking for an easy way out that actually works.
But to Glenn and Eric, going backward isn’t realistic. Flip phones, disconnecting entirely, stepping away from modern systems, that’s not how most people live anymore.
So the question becomes what actually works within the system you’re already using.
When GrapheneOS made its position public, it wasn’t vague. It would remain usable “without requiring personal information, identification or an account.” That alone puts it on a different path than everything else.
Glenn explained why that matters. GrapheneOS is built on an open-source foundation, which means it can be audited, verified, and stripped down. It’s not based on trust.
Eric reinforced that with a simple analogy. Closed systems operate on “trust us,” where you’re told not to question what’s happening behind the scenes. Open systems let you see what’s actually there.
That difference isn’t technical. It’s fundamental.
It determines whether you’re relying on claims, or relying on proof.
The biggest hesitation isn’t fear of surveillance.
It’s the fear of losing everything you’re used to.
Most people assume privacy comes at the cost of usability. Eric addressed that directly. In practice, it’s “very similar” to what people already use—the same apps and capabilities but with control handed back to the user.
That’s what most people get wrong.
Glenn took it a step further by exposing what’s actually running beneath most devices. Many apps aren’t just tools, they’re literally “spyware” in how they operate, requesting access to microphones, sensors, nearby devices, data that has nothing to do with their function.
A calculator asking for internet access isn’t accidental. It’s intentional.
What GrapheneOS changes is the ability to remove that access entirely. Every permission becomes optional. Every layer becomes visible.
Once you see that clearly, the question changes.
It’s not whether a system is perfect—because Eric made that clear, there is no “perfect” privacy—it’s whether or not continuing inside a system you don’t control makes sense.
Or whether it’s time to move to one that you do.
You already know where this is going.
The push toward a Digital ID system, where your identity is tied directly to your phone and everything you do online, is accelerating. And waiting for it to resolve itself isn’t a strategy.
That’s why Privacy Academy is hosting a FREE webinar on Thursday, May 7th at 7pm CT (8pm ET / 6pm MT / 5pm PT), where you’ll learn how to create your own de-Googled privacy phone, step by step, without needing to buy anything beforehand.
No tech expertise required. It’s easier than you think.
You don’t have to guess how this works. You can see it for yourself.
👉 Register now: PrivacyAcademy.com/Pulse
We want to thank Glenn and Eric Meder for joining us today—and more importantly, we want to thank you for watching and doing your duty to be informed when so many others choose not to.
Follow us (@ZeeeMedia and @VigilantFox) for stories that matter—stories the media doesn’t want you to see. We’ll be back with another show tomorrow. See you then.
