User:Tedder/sandbox-ahl

Burner is a mobile application for temporary, disposable, phone numbers, giving a user control over their phone privacy.

An iPhone application was released in August 2012, with an Android version in April 2013.

Prepaid mobile phones have been used to control spending, reduce contractual obligations, and provide a degree of privacy. The technology was used in popular culture by by drug dealers on The Wire, spies on Burn Notice, and agents in Mission: Impossible. The company has stated it would comply with official subponeas.

Ad Hoc Labs
Burner is a trademark of Ad Hoc Labs, a Silver Lake, Los Angeles-based software startup. The Burner application launched in August 2012 and announced angel investors including Techstars founder David Cohen and super angel Dave McClure in October 2012.

In an interview with Ars Technica, CEO Greg Cohn stated "we definitely think that communications, and telephony specifically, have been left behind by the wave of social innovation that’s been happening. The network should be smarter, it should be more socially aware and more privacy-aware." Cohn wrote on Hacker News "we designed Burner explicitly and thoughtfully around user-to-user privacy and anonymity."