Whoever is taking my money for this supposed privacy cannot guarantee that privacy, even under sworn affidavit and a genuine effort. This is why I don't buy into the VPN meme. Unless you're in their building with complete sysop access, you can't make any guarantee that they aren't using their position as content middleman to spy on you. Even then, there's no guarantee that the feds aren't directly spying on them, too, and in turn, you. If I was a fed, I'd do that.
Live by the mantra of trust nothing and use minimally. If you have to make an account somewhere, fake all of your credentials, unless you can't. Have few devices, and of the ones you do have, make sure they have some level of obscurity to them. Softphones over Smartphones are a good example. If you have a laptop, simless and properly configured smartphone, tablet or a small wifi enabled device that does Telephony and SMS/MMS over the internet (SIP/VOIP), with a service that lets you pick your own encryption level and type, that alone is FAR more secure than having a smartphone with its own SIM/service plan on it. If you need a cellular connection, get a portable hotspot and use that with your softphone. That way, you can remain at least one degree of separation from direct surveillance. Since your calls AREN'T truly going through a cellular network, TPTB can't directly tap you using a Stingray or other IMSICD. You're cellularly connecting to a Telephony protocol over the internet, using an encryption method they won't find out about until it's too late. You can add as many steps to this process as you want, even using VPNs, although, I wouldn't.
