Install any apps that request permission to your contacts, mic, camera, instant messaging etc without further authorization? Is your phone service bundled with your cable service?

I was shocked to see how sensitive the mic was on my phone when I turned on voice recognition, with the TV on :thumbsup

in case you ever under the rock in last 18 months.....

NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily | US news | The Guardian

more to come..+ use your imagination

Land lines and cell phones are 2 different things.

For land line telephones the majority of the laws that protect against a wire tap without a warrant were established long before the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

For cell phones and other digital communications a provision 18 U.S.C. § 3121 within the Electronic Communications Privacy Act permits government agencies to collect data without a warrant subject to limitations. ie: They're allowed everything except the actual content of the communication.

Henceforth if you want maximum privacy then use and old fashion land line telephone that's plugged into the wall of your home and only call other land line telephones. But don't take my word for it and do your own research.

I'm not arguing your point about the legality.

What I am saying is that the NSA (and the federal govt.) do things illegally all the time.
But since they have no real oversight...they don't get caught.

So the laws are meaningless to them.

Hell, if it weren't for Edward Snowden whistleblowing, we still wouldn't know that they were doing it.

And if you noticed...nobody at the NSA or any other federal agency has been prosecuted for what they are doing.
The only person in trouble is...Snowden.

That's how shit works when you are dealing with the United States federal govt. :(

its unbelievable, all the hand wringing about the govt intruding on amendment 4, when the real problem comes from the hackers that steal credit card data, steal identities, will encrypt your drive/DDOS your site & hold it hostage for ransom. or it can be an ex BF/GF who is jealous & sets up an app in your phone to track you, or sticks a GPS on your car. or a pervert that flies a drone to your bedroom window & snaps pics.

AKA, all this comes back to microsoft.

:2 cents:

neither of what you mentioned do it on SUCH SCALE. like surveilling HUNDREDS OF MILIONS of people, putting malware to thousands of networks, collecting metadata of all users, trying to hack to other systems/networks, putting malware , weaking security standards on purpose and so on

leaving such great power to few organisations (better yet - without any supervising and governing) it's just DANGEROUS.....

besides all laws and so on - that usually change , what they do is simply WRONG, by basic morals, basic laws, natural laws and common sense.

the only people who were doing such things without any punishment were DICTATORS....

I didn't know that. Fucking awesome! :1orglaugh:thumbsup

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/FugioCent.jpg

If you're the person that makes the laws then you can change the laws any time you want to suit your needs.

What the government is doing with digital communications is legal. Provision 18 U.S.C. § 3121 within the Electronic Communications Privacy Act allows them to do exactly what they're doing with your cell phones, tablets, emails, etc.

Where you're shocked is the massive scale and how efficiently that they're able to do these things.

For the record I agree it's not right what they're doing. But they have... (a) The technology... (b) The ability to change the laws when they want... (c)The muscle to beat anyone that complains into submission

Therefore the only solution is to avoid being spied on is to not own or use a cell phone.

Not to own a cellphone? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Using that logic I would avoid all the motor vehicle laws by just using my horse and wagon ...

Wireless communications have the same protections by law as wired (land line)

18 U.S. Code § 2511 - Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications prohibited | LII / Legal Information Institute

There is an exception of foreign intelligence and counter intelligence and hair-splitting over wireless meta-data collection.

Don't conspire to commit acts of terrorism or crimes on a wireless device or Internet IM. The only problem that is legitimate is personal and business privacy of legal communications. As a business, I wouldn't want anyone intercepting our internal business communications and profiting from that knowledge illicitly.

But then, we are a little more sophisticated than talking on cellphones and messaging on Skype -- countermeasures to ensure privacy are in place ...

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

If you don't want to be spied on then don't use their garbage and it's really just that simple.

It's not about being a luddite or being anti-progress. This is simply being able to clearly understand the problem. IE: Use the junk and get spied on.... Don't use the junk and they can't spy on you.

We lived very comfortably with a really high standard of living for decades without cell phones, internet and the other assorted electronic junk. The problem is most people are lazy and don't want to give up their toys.

Today's culture is all about

• "Give it to us fast"
• "Make it entertain us"
• "Don't make us work or think".
• "Don't make us take responsibility for anything"

Therefore if anyone's willing to buck the trend by taking responsibility to use their brains and do a little work.. They can get along just fine without cell phones, Internet, etc.

They can listen to all my calls I could give a fuck. All I use the phone for is to call the boss twice a day and order pizza!

My offer still stands. :)

I don't have the option of opting out of modern society ;O)

Well I guess that's your choice.
What you call "Modern Society" I call a "Big Mac Culture". Personally I don't do "Big Mac Cultures." Because I'm not lazy and I'm smart enough to not be dependent on the gadgets to make a buck.