Now that I've said that; how does OS open your CAR DOOR FOR YOU if you lock yourself out?
What ELSE can OS 'do' that you have NO idea of?
Posted on 12/03/2011 7:56:05 AM PST by Kaslin
If you are like us, every day you pick up a smartphone and you send email, visit with friends on Facebook, send a text message or even log into your bank's website and pay a bill. These modern day conveniences have become routine.
We all believe that our passwords are secure, our data is protected, and life is easier if we don't have to write a check to pay a bill or dig around and find a stamp to send a friend a quick note.
But this morning we are no longer sure. The tech world is in a fury, which we believe will soon break out into society at large, about a little-known software program call Carrier IQ. Over the Thanksgiving weekend a 25-year-old programmer by the name of Trevor Eckhart posted a video on YouTube which graphically displays how our naïve beliefs of privacy are just plain wrong.
The video, which lasts 17 minutes and starts slowly because he methodically goes through the privacy statements on his cell phone, is frightening. If you watch it, you will never look at your smartphone the same again. We have posted the video at Floydreports.com if you want to watch.
The program, Carrier IQ cannot be turned off. But it tracks your every move. Dial a friend's phone, it sends the number off to someone. Send or receive a text message and the message is recorded and sent off. Call up your bank or another website in the allegedly secure https: mode which we have been told is secure, and Carrier IQ is there recording your username, password and any other move you make on your phone.
Rather than calling them smartphones, we should be calling them people monitors. The only action you take which it cannot record is a thought in your head that you refuse to express. These phones are even capable of recording what you say. Scary is not the word for it.
Trevor Eckhart even takes pains to turn of the GPS function for use by Google maps and search and then he demonstrates how Carrier IQ still is logging your position.
Now what can you do about it? The program can only be removed if you hack or as they say "root" your phone. But beware – rooting your phone likely violates the contract you have signed with your carrier, and it clearly voids any manufacturers’ warranty you may have on the device.
Since the video was first posted, others have gone to work and exposed how in addition to Android phones, the Carrier IQ software is also present on I Phones with iOS3 operating system and above.
The privacy issues surrounding smartphones have been numerous, but the exposure of Carrier IQ brings the threat to an entirely new level. Chances are if you have a smartphone, you have no privacy around or while using the device. Be careful.
Makes you understand why criminals all use burner phones.
Or just duct tape it to your neighbors car and retrieve it later. That way you don't have to worry about an accomplice spilling the beans.
oooh—a criminal mind.
Interesting... I use Spokeo.com all the time to verify my own customers identities (I sell Automotive programmers online) and had not bothered to put my own name in till you suggested it.
44 different hits with my name, none of them are me, none indicate an address where I live and none even in the state where I own my retirement property.
For someone who has lived online since the internet was made public, I've done ok :-)
Now that is spooky. They have 4 instances of me in Indiana, and all of them are me at different addresses!
Someone can take over my computer via Facebook?
Yes!
Someone can take over your computer via Facebook.
So warns the Feds to it’s Defense Contractors!
Yeah, you're right. From government mandated brain implants to sending a check through the mail, there's no way to assess any difference in appropriateness
And anyway, we are helpless to do anything no matter what we learn.
Jerk.
No no no... duct tape leaves a residue... maybe hide it on top of an EXIT sign in a darkened movie theatre for an afternoon matinee? (Make sure you do actually see the movie first, so you can describe it convincingly.)
Aside from the fact that I inadvertently deleted a whole paragraph before the thing about the “check through the mail” before posting (therefore making my post incomplete), I’m not sure what makes me a jerk.
Mine is relatively accurate...but doesn’t seem to know about my kids, thankfully.
I presume it’s a conglomeration of things like zabasearch.com, property records, and phone records.
Want to really get creeped out/ go to Spokeo.com and type in your name....
You aren’t kidding. The front of my house is on that page. The only thing they got wrong was my religion.
Tor has been a great friend in that regard.
Smartphones? What the hell do I need one for?
All from public records and online social networking sites. It’s just a database clearlinghouse
marker
THAT'll fix the problem!!
You are AUTOMATICALLY guilty!
You'd best fly out the back door, when they come to get THEM!
True, but OnStar® doesn't CALL and tell SOMEONE else until you wreck. (AFAIK)
Now that I've said that; how does OS open your CAR DOOR FOR YOU if you lock yourself out?
What ELSE can OS 'do' that you have NO idea of?
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