Yes, Your Phones are Spying On You

a reply to: Klassified

Router love never use wi-fi....its pretty crap where I am anyway. PC runs through BT telecome landline to the router. Can't get wi-fi if you go upstairs and we don't have fibre optic here either just fast cable as I live 2 doors from the exchange box. Oh and don't drive so don't have gps either and my 2 adult children who live with me are also on the router not wi-fi, my daughter much to my chagrin does have fitbit though...sigh

originally posted by: Klassified

originally posted by: nerbot

originally posted by: Edumakated
They even track you when they are off...

Not if it's wrapped in tin foil.

I just put my tin foil hat on top of mine at night.

No good, they're under the bed.

I remember the days when a mobile phone had it's own briefcase and almost never worked. Now you wear it on your wrist or on a hand braided lanyard around your neck and it looks all gucci or polo.

I find my cell sometimes a tool of Satan and sometimes a godsend; depending on who's on the other end.

If it wasn't for the GPS, I'd still be driving around Houston looking for a "pigs in a blanket" emporium.

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

Sensible.

I kinda like tripping over my ethernet cable and replacing the gaffa tape every now and then. Makes me chuckle smugly to know tradition isn't completely dead yet.

I have wifi on my stupidbox but never switch it on just to annoy any visitors.

They take their phones out and hold them up to their god turning in circles wondering where his signal is..lol

My house. Here, I am god. God says NO.

a reply to: olaru12

I remember my Uncle got a phone in his Lincoln Continental back in the early 80s. It was an actual phone as in it looked like a house phone!

I had an early Motorola phone that must have weighed 7lbs. This was before the brick phones. Had a handset attached with a cord to a big ass battery. About the size of a woman's purse.

Then I remember getting a beeper....

Then the phone started getting way more portable in early 90s. Got one of the first Motorola flip phones... then we got real high tech with the Startacs. Then Nokia. Blackberries really changed the game though as you could get email.

This is how far we've come. I used travel a lot as a consultant in mid 90s. We had $10,000 lap top computers. In order to get email while working at client's headquarters out of town, we'd have to unplug a fax machine and download our email messages over the phone line. We'd get email maybe two or three times a day.

Treat your phone like a friend you can't trust. Leave it at home when you need privacy.

a reply to: zosimov

You are a wise girl.

Personally, I could care less if smart phones ceased to exist. I would love the fact that 75% of society would have a complete mental breakdown if this occurred! Maybe 95%.

I've hated the things since they were cryptic bricks in a bag, and flip phones. Screw all of them!!! Most intrusive, disruptive and RUDE device ever invented by mankind!

So, you are a rare one, a rare person, without one of these demonic devices...and I salute you!

These electronic devices have no redeeming value to society; they never have, and they never will!

You just keep goin' on with your bad-self, girl!! I salute you!!

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Most intrusive, disruptive and RUDE device ever invented by mankind!

I see your cell phone critique and raise you...

The remote controlled fart machine.

I used to work in the semiconductor business.
Trust me, all that information we generate on the phones, laptops, etc. can be captured, moved, & stored. Then it gets commodified & monetized.
Apps like Fakebook? Good grief. Probably just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a reason the US won’t adopt the same types of stringent data privacy laws the EU has. Big business, big lobbying.

As burdman pointed out, there are some things we can do to mitigate, but you really have to actively manage things to get close. At some point, we have to accept some level of visibility to utilize the tech. I guess it’s a matter of our individual comfort zones.

Personally, I routinely make snarky comments on the phone just for the listening pleasure of some techie at the NSA....

Can anyone remember when mobile phones first appeared and they were covered in warnings? Like don't hold it close to your head for too long or for women don't 'keep it in your bra as they can cause breast cancer. Those warnings have all gone now and sadly the only scientific reports available are those funded by the mobile phone companies. I discovered only today, by accident, that my daughters fitbit gives off quite a large amount of RF radiation because of the need to be permanently connected to bluetooth and that sleeping with her fitbit on (which is necessary apparently for sleep analysis) is really quite dangerous as RF radiation is short wavelength high frequency which can penetrate human tissue, plus with the electronic sensors needed against the skin to run the thing, it creates an electro magentic field.

We've become very complacent when you look at it, with regards to technological advances. It seems to be a case of must have the latests and greatest without any regard to safety, and if you DO question safety, you're a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist rather than a concerned user.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Fcd, I rarely meet someone with a response like yours. So many people give me some spiel hoping to convince me to buy one.

Thanks so much for a comment that put a big smile on my face!

Then I got to burdman's response below yours and that smile evolved into a good laugh (both of which I really needed).

On Android..start with CCSWE app manager and a good firewall that logs radio and wifi traffic. I use Netguard.
The app mngr allows you to shut down all the pre-loaded spyware bloat.
The firewall shows whats trying to communicate with outside servers and allows you to block it.
You will be floored at the traffic coming out of your smartphone.
Hundreds of live connections. Usually through Amazon AWS.

A lot of people use Facebook Messenger which activates microphone/camera.
It's the source of a lot of obscure targeted ads from your private conversations.
I believe any Amazon tablets do the same.

It feels like nearly all the technology related companies like Facebook, Google, Samsung are a giant spy trap.
Hell...the entire silicone valley and internet too, while we're at it.

Good things ahead once the web literally wraps around the earth with the 10,000 satellites that shill spook Musk is sending up.

originally posted by: DoctorBluechip
a reply to: zosimov

Doesn't matter if you don't have a smartphone , other peoples phones are listening to you , logging your movements too.

That is a spooky and creepy thought there. And I’m sure it’s accurate too. Darn it!

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: zosimov

There are answers... Keep your mobile devices in a Faraday Bag when not directly using them and, if you anticipate really wanting a bit of privacy, this store has some amazing toys. Use VPNs for web activities. Use creative facial coverings in this era of acceptable public mask wearing thanks to COVID to prevent almost all facial recognition efforts you're likely to encounter.

Be smart, take the privacy you want rather than just being satisfied with the fleeting crumbs of privacy the system permits you to keep.

Thanks for the link to the website. I want to buy a bag for my Ipad, and one for my phone. I’d had heard of those, but didn’t know an ordinary person could buy one. I figured one had to be a spy to get one of those.

originally posted by: PhyllidaDavenport
Can anyone remember when mobile phones first appeared and they were covered in warnings? Like don't hold it close to your head for too long or for women don't 'keep it in your bra as they can cause breast cancer. Those warnings have all gone now and sadly the only scientific reports available are those funded by the mobile phone companies. I discovered only today, by accident, that my daughters fitbit gives off quite a large amount of RF radiation because of the need to be permanently connected to bluetooth and that sleeping with her fitbit on (which is necessary apparently for sleep analysis) is really quite dangerous as RF radiation is short wavelength high frequency which can penetrate human tissue, plus with the electronic sensors needed against the skin to run the thing, it creates an electro magentic field.

We've become very complacent when you look at it, with regards to technological advances. It seems to be a case of must have the latests and greatest without any regard to safety, and if you DO question safety, you're a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist rather than a concerned user.

A little off subject. When you mentioned the RF radiation, I thought of articles I read that that radiation coming from our devices could be killing those bees that pollinate stuff. Without the bees, this planet is screwed. I seriously try not to have my cell phone turned on when I am outdoors.

a reply to: zosimov
Well your whole post is moot.
I have an iPhone, it will show me when the gps is in use, the GPS is never in use because I disabled it.

It has a microphone for various functions and doesn't listen to me during the day because I disabled 'hey siri'.
If it was listening to me I'd see a drop in battery when my surroundings were noisy.

You know you could always buy an android and run a custom ROM? Then no one will be listening in.
It's easy to circumvent these issues, if you get a Huawei you're screwed though...

a reply to: zosimov

Yeah, what you say isn't really new info but still worth posting about... again.

What I'd like to know is: Why does google play need access to your phone, messages, contacts, camera, location, microphone, calendar, body sensors??

Furthermore... upon investigation, I can't uninstall 'google play' from my phone and if i disable it, it enables again all by itself.

I didn't mind it having access to 'location' because I figured 'google maps' needs it for showing you where you are and how to get from a to b which i'm fine with but why all the other stuff??

Anyone here tech savvy to get rid of it?

originally posted by: subfab
a reply to: zosimov

a couple of months ago i was in a conference room talking about credit scores. later that same day, my phone began spamming me with free credit score websites to visit.

cell phones are always listening.

One evening wife and I were talking about a specific brand of meatball. Within 5 minutes we were getting targeted ads for that exact brand meatball on the laptop.

We've tried it several times now with other things, similar results.

It is indeed always listening.

I'll give 'em something to spy on, almost pity the poor souls that get assigned to my surveillance.

a reply to: Mandroid7

"It feels like nearly all the technology related companies... are a giant spy trap."
It feels like that because it IS that - EXACTLY that. The mother of all honeypots.
I'm too tired at the moment to provide details but I suggest anyone interested go digging into the origins of the internet as we now know it. Of particular interest is the role DARPA played in shaping the web.