Is Your Android, Nokia or Blackberry SPYING on You?

It seems my old nokia E72 is carrierIQ free. since I only use prepaid sim cards (much more convenient and cheaper for traveling in my experience) there isn’t much data to be collected anyway and I am not contracted to any carrier to have my info be combed over anyway. I suppose my new iPad mini isn’t quite as safe though.
 
"...Without transparency there is no basis for trust. Which brings us back to MeeGo. For the first time, I can inspect every line of code running on my mobile - it's all available online. If I find something that I suspect might endanger my privacy, I can substitute my own programs, ones which I know are secure. I can guarantee that my N9 can not be turned against me, something that I can't promise for any other mobile.
Were I running a secure organization - like ASIO or the ADF - I would insist that my staff used the N9 for secure mobile communications. Were I in a profession that depended on my ability to keep secrets - the law, or medicine - I would insist my peers used N9s. The same holds true for businesses which need to keep commercial confidences. Only when things are open can they be secured. Open source is the only protection against prying eyes.
I'm holding onto my N9. Not only is a great mobile, it's the only mobile I've ever owned that I know I can trust. That means a lot now, and it will come to mean more, as we learn what kinds of mischief can be made with the secrets we fail to secure...."


The whole article here:
http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2011/12/06/3384952.htm

I wanted a Nokia N9 because it was the last of the real Nokia phone. For me it was a jump from Symbian to MeeGo, and it was also going to be obsolete, but it's open source, which I've been off and on learning on my own.

Also, someone made an app for it to have manual control of the camera, AND lets it shoot in RAW. That's a bonus for those of us who don't want to buy a digital camera but sometimes needs one.
 
PKR said:
Well, let me reply with: no device is really "secure". Some things may be more secure than others for a longer period of time.
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Sure, as an admin of either a network or a single device you have a usability vs security decision, how much you lock down can impede users and therefore make for poor user experience.
Users at the college I work would love to run executables have right click etc Also all their iPad/phone must be authenticated against our NTLM and have passcodes, MAC address recorded the ability to remote wipe etc.

So while no device is secure, how you treat those devices does matter and my main issue was with your statement that iPhones were the least secure system which is false.
No systen is secure and some are better than others, the weak link in the chain is often the user...
 
I don't think my phone is spying on me. But I certainly might be "spied" on from elsewhere due to the mere fact of my owning a mobile phone 🙂

EU citizens should know about EU data retention directive. If you have a mobile phone in one of the 17 or so EU countries that have implemented it into law, you're tracked. Can't avoid it. (It's an EU directive, so member nations don't have much choice, although several are fighting it.)

"The highly controversial Directive compels all ISPs and telecommunications service providers operating in Europe to collect and retain a subscriber's incoming and outgoing phone numbers, IP addresses, location data, and other key telecom and Internet traffic data for a period of 6 months to 2 years. This applies to all European citizens, including those not suspected or convicted of any crime." (EFF)

A German politician had to sue Deutsche Telekom to get a copy of the information about him. From ZEIT's Betrayed by our own data:

Each of the 35.831 rows of the spreadsheet represents an instance when Spitz’s mobile phone transferred information over a half-year period. Seen individually, the pieces of data are mostly inconsequential and harmless. But taken together, they provide what investigators call a profile – a clear picture of a person’s habits and preferences, and indeed, of his or her life.
Click to expand...

ZEIT took this Excel file and made a fascinating interactive map: http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention
 
Rangefinderfreak said:
There was a nice incident lately in Finland. Woman got her cellphone stolen. Suddenly she had images on a man appearing in her album: Phone images. The thief was shooting pictures of himself and the app transferred the images to woman`s computer. Woman sent the pictures to police and the guy was identified as a "previous customer of police" hehe.
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This is cool when it works on your own behalf..

For Android there is an app in the store called 'Carrier IQ', it's free.. and it will tell you if your camera is being logged or not. My phone is pretty old but it was free of that software.
 
Why I have a $15 Go phone which is mostly off. I never text . I do not do electronic banking. My credit has been frozen so nobody can get a card in my name. All mail is shredded. My wireless network is encrypted. The two most used computers are hard wired. I do not use Google. No social networking like Linkedin, Facebook, or tweeter .

Nothing is put in email I would not want the world to see because it is all out there somewhere forever. Government has a vast network of spying based on the Patriot Act. There are hugh complexes of both underground and above ground buildings devoted to domestic spying in Washington DC. You have no idea what the government is doing.

Watch what you say and to whom you say it. Google FEMA Camps and FEMA busses and you will understand. We are being watched 24/7 Next step is domestic drones.
 
For sure. A while ago it was the ole social security number that you give out, fill in, anywhere you go. These days they want your cell phone number. Your email account provider, facebook, twitter...or shops like Radio Shack tells you it's better if they have that so in case you get locked out..blah blah blah, some make it appears that you HAVE TO give it before you can get to your business. The scariest, most unsafe situation though, is that one person working for, say, the dentist, who've decided she/he will just steal your social security number, no huge technical savvy needed, just copy it down on a piece of paper. Or, the sales guy at Radio Shack decides that he could have anyone's cell phone number he wants complete with their home address. it's exactly like you say, there are no secrets.

I'm often thankful that the majority of the people who could have, didn't; there are way more decent people than crooks.
 
Are we becoming a police state? Five things that have civil liberties advocates nervo

Are we becoming a police state? Five things that have civil liberties advocates nervo

1. Indefinite military detentions of U.S. citizens

2. Targeting U.S. citizens for killing

3. Arresting witnesses for recording police actions

4. Using GPS to track your every move

5. Surveillance drones spying on American soil

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-kno...have-civil-liberties-advocates-nervous/12563/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz
 
As far as I'm concerned, your privacy isn't safe anymore on the Internet as a whole. You think you're safe here in RFF? Think again.😉
 
CameraQuest said:
and there is no way to opt out, Thank You very Much!

"Eckhart wrote an exhaustive blog post about his startling findings: CarrierIQ collected lots data, including keystrokes, and there's no way for the user to opt out "without advanced knowledge."

See the allegations at http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/11/your-smartphone-spying-you/45575/

Take note there is no mention of Apple - apparently iphones don't have this wonderful feature.

Stephen
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Very interesting article. Interesting that this snooper was placed by the Telcos themselves and not by malicious actors. Visibility and customer reaction may get the Telcos to change their practice. Nice to have the white-hat über-hackers looking out for us.
 
andersju said:
EU citizens should know about EU data retention directive. If you have a mobile phone in one of the 17 or so EU countries that have implemented it into law, you're tracked. Can't avoid it. (It's an EU directive, so member nations don't have much choice, although several are fighting it.)

"The highly controversial Directive compels all ISPs and telecommunications service providers operating in Europe to collect and retain a subscriber's incoming and outgoing phone numbers, IP addresses, location data, and other key telecom and Internet traffic data for a period of 6 months to 2 years. This applies to all European citizens, including those not suspected or convicted of any crime." (EFF)

A German politician had to sue Deutsche Telekom to get a copy of the information about him. From ZEIT's Betrayed by our own data:



ZEIT took this Excel file and made a fascinating interactive map: http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention
Click to expand...

Thank you. This is one of the best displays I've seen. (Hit the "Play" button to see.) When one can subpoena Telco information and integrate it with social networking data, it's a remarkable detailed picture. Good to know that the good-guys can track the bad-guys.
 
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