– Snowden documents show NSA gathering 5bn cell phone records daily (Guardian, Dec 5, 2013):
The National Security Agency is reportedly collecting almost 5 billion cell phone records a day under a program that monitors and analyses highly personal data about the precise whereabouts of individuals, wherever they travel in the world.
Details of the giant database of location-tracking information, and the sophisticated ways in which the NSA uses the data to establish relationships between people, have been revealed by the Washington Post, which cited documents supplied by whistleblower Edward Snowden and intelligence officials.
The spy agency is said to be tracking the movements of “at least hundreds of millions of devices” in what amounts to a staggeringly powerful surveillance tool. It means the NSA can, through mobile phones, track individuals anywhere they travel – including into private homes – or retrace previously traveled journeys.
The data can also be used to study patterns of behaviour to reveal personal information and relationships between different users.
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I carried a portable phone from 1995 until one year ago.
In the beginning, it was a luxury, and it was a nice thing to have. Operators made your phone calls for you, they were analog, and the reception was as clear as a landline. If I wanted to talk, I turned it on. If not, I left it off. Nobody could bother me…….and my privacy is important.
Over the ensuing years, they got worse. Then, the advent of the smart phone, allowing people to go online anywhere. It was interesting, I carried one for a while, until I realized it was no longer an asset for me, but an electronic leash.
I decided to go to a simple cell phone which I can use if traveling. Otherwise, I don’t touch it. It sets in the drawer…..most of the time, I don’t need it.
People need to take some serious inventory. Study the Need vs Want list. These clowns could not be tracking everyone if they carried phones, stayed off the Internet, and stopped reading US propaganda from the news sites readily available.
Boycotting the smart phones would be a good beginning.
I have done it, and recommend others try it.