Your smartphone is spying on you. Here's how to stop that from happening...

[Bill Ryan]

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Dear All,

I was sent this by a knowledgeable friend. I am NOT an expert in these matters (and don't use a smartphone!)... so I've simply copied his message below in full.

~~~~~~




I have 24 years’ experience designing the next generation of computers. I know what they're capable of… and it concerns me a lot.

The way these thugs are getting around the legality of spying on you is due to the fact that you buy their service. They claim that they asked you for permission to do the spying and that you knowingly gave it to them.

What truly happened is that you installed their chip on your phone — and since you put the chip in your phone, they now took advantage of the situation and maliciously installed their software without telling you the incredible number of rights they took nor asking you for permission to install anything, never mind their spying software.

The more state-of-the-art your phone is, the more they can easily spy on you. It's like in a movie, what this software is a capable of doing: from recording every sound you make, to taking pictures, videos, and knowing your exact location down to a centimeter... even when you're inside a building, including what floor you're on.

The software has rights to read your emails and your messages — even to alter what you wrote and what you read. Don't just believe me: go see the massive list of rights this software has taken without your authorization. And what's worse, they claim you gave them such rights. I say it's time to take your sovereignty back and turn that piece of spying software right off.

Here's how you can stop this software, and see for yourself the long list of rights it's taken from you.

The application icon has to be on your desktop for you to be able to do what follows, not just hiding in the list of applications installed on your phone. The name of the App is the name of your phone service provider.


Hold down your finger on the application icon.
A menu will pop up saying “App Info”.
Press it.
A new window will come up giving you the ability to “Force Stop” the application, and below you can see the most incredible list of things this software has the rights to do.

If you're having a hard time figuring how to do this, do a search on YouTube on "app info how to turn off", etc. Learn how to do it!

Ideally you'd want to remove this virus from your phone all together, but guess what? They also took your rights away from easily doing so. So you have to void your manufacturer's warranty to do so, or “force stop” the application every time you turn on your phone, because, yes, it'll turn itself back on again when you power cycle your phone.

To remove it 100%, you need to do a complex process called ROOT PHONE, something the average user is not knowledgeable enough to do. And then use an application special uninstaller program that required the Root Phone feature.

Perhaps someone reading this would like to provide this service to the community. And perhaps someday someone will start a class action lawsuit against these companies and the government for this crime against our liberties.

I no longer wonder if there is a conspiracy against us all or not. The facts are as clear as day when you read the list of rights these application are taking without your knowing consent.

Do us all a favor: make sure this application is not running on your phone. And pass out this message to everyone you can. At least if they're going to spy on us, let's force them to do it illegally and not with our unknowing consent excuse that they now use.

[justntime2learn]

Thanks Bill :highfive:
I just sent it to everyone I know :)

btw, I don't use a smartphone either ...

[transiten]

Me neither....and thanx for the info, just talked about this today, will send this to my friends and family:highfive:

[Xanth]

Think the problem is the level of technical knowledge you need to be sure. If you're on android Google have access to everything, if you're on iPhone/iPad Apple have access to everything. And thats before the agencies get involved. I'd argue that if you have a phone and its switched on (or even has some charge) if someone wants to spy on you, then they will and there's nothing you can do to stop it, apart from get rid of the phone...

[transiten]

Think the problem is the level of technical knowledge you need to be sure. If you're on android Google have access to everything, if you're on Apple they have access to everything. And thats before the agencies get involved. I'd argue that if you have a phone and its switched on (or even has some charge) if someone wants to spy on you, then they will and there's nothing you can do to stop it, apart from get rid of the phone...

Is that so :( Well Mercury is retrograde so communication will not be easy for a while, misunderstandings, information missing etc...

[cursichella1]

I've been procrastinating for months over rooting my phone. This gives me incentive to proceed. I'll report back. :/

[Xanth]

I've been procrastinating for months over rooting my phone. This gives me incentive to proceed. I'll report back. :/

Rooting your phone gives you more control - but it doesn't by itself stop the really insidious people spying on you.

Part of where this particluar rabbit hole leads involves proprietary chips sets and closed source modules. If you can't verify it, you don't know its safe - if you haven't got the technical expertise to verify, you have to trust someone who has.

I read an article recently about how the guardian were supervised by GCHQ to destroy the machines holding the snowden information. -- you begin to realise that your computer(phone) isn't just one computer but many, and each independent bit has processing and memory which can be used to store and execute subversive code - which can effectively spy on you.

[cursichella1]

I've been procrastinating for months over rooting my phone. This gives me incentive to proceed. I'll report back. :/

Rooting your phone gives you more control - but it doesn't by itself stop the really insidious people spying on you.

Part of where this particluar rabbit hole leads involves proprietary chips sets and closed source modules. If you can't verify it, you don't know its safe - if you haven't got the technical expertise to verify, you have to trust someone who has.

I read an article recently about how the guardian were supervised by GCHQ to destroy the machines holding the snowden information. -- you begin to realise that your computer(phone) isn't just one computer but many, and each independent bit has processing and memory which can be used to store and execute subversive code - which can effectively spy on you.

Which explains why most of my smart friends use old flip phones...

[prc]

I read about UBUNTU PHONE. A Phone based on a Linux Operating system as an alternative to the all inclusive spying competitors.
I also discovered a company in Ireland that One or Two years ago was fund raising to prototype a mobile phone.
This company website is IND.IE, but so far I cannot see anything about the phone anymore on their website. I just sent them an email inquiring.

Best Regards,
PRC

[Lifebringer]

Yeah Bill, thats why their price is cheaper now or included in a switch of services. You might as well have google/nsa in your phone. I've kept older models and just reserve it for "light texting of little or no significance, or just calling. Windows 8 was the intro of smuggling google/nsa in. Get an old person's phone w/big numbers, nobody want to listen in on them.LOL Used to have echo calls w/verizon or sprint. Try boostmobile phones.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Watch out for dummy corporations. Sometimes they put a new one out, so those who are looking for privacy sign on. It's tough either way, but check and verify.

[Lifebringer]

Or put it in a "shoebox at night. Works for me.

[Snoweagle]

Recently I purchased a refurbished Samsung G5 which isn't connected to any service. I intend at some point tinkering with it though currently it is parked on the shelf. I had looked at the licenses before, that's why I am not connected.

Here is the link to the licenses for Android, it is worth a look.
https://source.android.com/source/licenses.html
The link to the Apache License:
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
There are two further licenses with regard Android software from Google: "Individual Contributor License Agreement" and "Corporate Contributor License Agreement" which would require I log in to fetch, which I haven't, so I can't provide the link. It's Google.

Interestingly, Google Android have this to say about licenses, this too is worth a ponder:-)
Android is about freedom and choice. The purpose of Android is promote openness in the mobile world, and we don't believe it's possible to predict or dictate all the uses to which people will want to put our software. So, while we encourage everyone to make devices that are open and modifiable, we don't believe it is our place to force them to do so. Using LGPL libraries would often force them to do just that.

Here are some of our specific concerns:

LGPL (in simplified terms) requires either: shipping of source to the application; a written offer for source; or linking the LGPL-ed library dynamically and allowing users to manually upgrade or replace the library. Since Android software is typically shipped in the form of a static system image, complying with these requirements ends up restricting OEMs' designs. (For instance, it's difficult for a user to replace a library on read-only flash storage.)

LGPL requires allowance of customer modification and reverse engineering for debugging those modifications. Most device makers do not want to have to be bound by these terms. So to minimize the burden on these companies, we minimize usage of LGPL software in userspace.

Historically, LGPL libraries have been the source of a large number of compliance problems for downstream device makers and application developers. Educating engineers on these issues is difficult and slow-going, unfortunately. It's critical to Android's success that it be as easy as possible for device makers to comply with the licenses. Given the difficulties with complying with LGPL in the past, it is most prudent to simply not use LGPL libraries if we can avoid it.


All in all the whole digital world is corrupt from it's inception, application and practice. Every nuance of the industry sucks big time. The legal aspect is rabid. In my opinion.

[Citizen No2]

My phone is 14 years old. It makes calls just the same, and I can text well enough to convey the intended message...... not that it can't be hacked..... just doesn't give up it's info so readily on the strength of an app agreement that I have 'signed'.

One less thing to worry about.


I know from personal experience that the older mobiles can only be cell-sited to within 500 mtrs of a local tower.


No reason to be plugged into the net 24/7.......... unlike the current day generation of digital zombies.



Regards.

[Jhonie]

Yep, glad I got a dumb old phone. I wish I could actually get a land line but those are not available anymore.

[Ilie Pandia]

Hi, the email seems to be clipped as it makes references to "this application" and its icon without ever mentioning what it the application name and who is the developer.

Does it say in the email subject?

[seah]

what is it with all the spying? through smartphones, laptops...so happens that as I type this my laptop messaged saying "unknown computer found on your network". I'm really not that interesting :(

[ThePythonicCow]

The email reads to me like a bit of fear mongering, intended either to get the reader to click on something (perhaps some link that didn't make it all the way to Bill's post -- good!) or to get the reader to fear tracking by hidden apps in their smartphone. A similar campaign is afoot to get users of computer browsers (Firefox, Chome, Safari, IE and Opera) to fear tracking.

Yeah - tracking is over done, not in our best interest, and I too do what I can reasonably do to stop it.

But the fear inducing wording of such articles and messages, which have spread for at least 4 years now (see for example this 2011 article from The Atlantic: Your Smartphone Is Spying on You (http://news.yahoo.com/smartphone-spying-204933867.html)), seems intended more to put readers a state of helpless fear than empowered action.

[Xanth]

Think one of the biggest problems in this space are governments. You have establishments like the NSA/GCHQ that some would argue, are used for evil rather than good - general dragnet surveillance, subversion, propaganda, weakening of encryption standards, placing backdoors in manufacturer's products etc. etc.

In the future world where I want to live, government agencies would be used for good, using their skill and expertise to ensure all the good things that the internet could bring. So they'd actually be out there making systems more secure and enabling privacy rather than the opposite.

[Ilie Pandia]

Actually the email makes sense to me. I wrote something similar about the Angry Birds app. On Android devices each app has a set of access right that you grant by clicking install. The problem is that those are hidden so most people give their agreement without really knowing that a game such as Angry Birds would request access to your entire device. That was crazy! Why would a game need such elevated permission privileges.

I assume this email is also a warning about a common Android app, but we need the name and developer so we can actually check. And the fact that you need to "root" your phone suggests that whatever this is, comes pre-installed.

Owning an Android device I am genuinely interested what the app name is. A common one was "Flashlight".

[Bill Ryan]

we need the name and developer so we can actually check. And the fact that you need to "root" your phone suggests that whatever this is, comes pre-installed.



The e-mail was from a friend in Ecuador, and the two providers here are called Claro and Movistar. Because those would mean nothing to others elsewhere, I left the names out of my post.

I presume that (as Ilie says) the situation described is one where the phone is sold by the provider, with everything pre-installed. As best I know, that applies in many other countries... the setup is commonplace.

Regarding 'fear'... well, knowledge is power. It helps people, I think, to be aware that they ARE being spied on. But my own personal philosophy is actually not to care too much. I was told by an anonymous insider in 2006, who wrote to me, that if 'they' wanted to, 'they' could pull the thoughts straight out of my head... and I don't disbelieve that.

I just continue doing what I'm doing anyway. I don't have a smartphone, but there's no tinfoil in my hat, either. :)

[Aurelius]

.. sounds like this tip only applies to smartphones using the Android operating system?

[Ilie Pandia]

Can you write back and ask for the name of "this app" that your friend refers to? I am sure he can easily provide that.

[Carmody]

Remember my report that a major telecom provider was building chip level hidden backdoor monitoring systems, with their own keying for listening and controlling their own hardware, and that the keying involved the use of the hardware alone. ....access to the chips came in on the signals that the chip processed, it was not 'control pin latched'.

This means that any of their chips being used anywhere in the world was controllable, in the act of doing what they were supposed to do..which.... is handling and transferring signal.

This was standard in the early 1990's and it came to me as A quality or AA quality data.

This goes beyond snooping and into direct control of telecom hardware.

[Citizen No2]

In the early, early '90's, when the DEA were (allegedly) hunting Pablo Escobar, they had a piece of portable equipment that could activate a powered-off mobile phone and eavesdrop a conversation in real time.... nearly twenty-five years ago. I know that no communication system is allowed in place without first it being fairly easy to tap/hack/listen to.


Regards.

[John Hilton]

I'm resurrecting this old discussion because it's the most relevant that I can find by searching.

Why is your (Android smart)phone SECRETLY connecting to these sites to TRACK you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWY2pqUXdts
sWY2pqUXdts