'Citizen Four' - Edward Snowden documentary (2014) -my, how far we've come since '14

Used to be that to stop cell phone audio rec (even when phone turned off) you simply opened the back of a 3 or 4 g flip-phone and pulled the battery, which Snowden made me aware of.
Now,the battery is not easy to take out on these 5gs. yet 4g networks still work despite the scaremongering from the provider that ou must upgrade to a 5g service/phone.
In Au, during the covid tyranny on the people, areas were made inaccessable to 4g phones, the towers were disabled for 4g. but the 3g still worked for the brutal thug coppers!