... Secret Plan to Shut Off Cellphones ...

[NadirGP]

Cellphones and the Internet

I do not possess a mobile phone and I am not looking to acquire one either. I never liked them and only the thought of having one in my pocket gives me the heebie jeebies. The first time I handled a cellphone was in 1995 in Italy. It was when I went to Italy with my thirteen year old son to Italy this after a fourteen years hiatus from my country. We were travelling by train to Rovigo, in the north east of Italy. In the train, a passenger offered me the use of his mobile phone to call my cousin in Adria, which is just a short distance about twenty kilometers from Rovigo.

I found the experience of calling my relative with a mobile phone a bit strange. Even today, I cannot get over this feeling of oddity in seeing so many people on the street, or as they drive their cars, or on public transport, in café bars, or restaurant, while eating their meals, using cellphones continually. I have seen children, no more than four or five years old with mobile phones. Where will all this end?

Today, there is document that says that the USA government will switch off all the cellphones and the internet, any time from now.

Here it is for you to read.

The Government's Secret Plan to Shut Off Cellphones and the Internet, Explained

I find it hard to imagine why an internet kill switch would ever be a good idea, short of some science fiction scenario."
pdate: The Electronic Privacy Information Center reports that the court just granted the government more time to decide whether to release the kill switch plan. It now has until January 13.

This month, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Department of Homeland Security must make its plan to shut off the internet and cellphone communications available to the American public. You, of course, may now be thinking: What plan?! Though President Barack Obama swiftly disapproved of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak turning off the internet in his country (to quell widespread civil disobedience) in 2011, the US government has the authority to do the same sort of thing, under a plan that was devised during the George W. Bush administration. Many details of the government's controversial "kill switch" authority have been classified, such as the conditions under which it can be implemented and how the switch can be used. But thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), DHS has to reveal those details by December 12—or mount an appeal. (The smart betting is on an appeal, since DHS has fought to release this information so far.) Yet here's what we do know about the government's "kill switch" plan:

To read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... -explained

[NadirGP]

Cell phones and privacy … it now seems that you can have one or the other. Nowadays, you have to choose between having a cellphone and your privacy. You cannot have both, for when you use a mobile phone you lose your privacy; the company from which you purchased your mobile phone, keeps record of all your personal calls and then passes them on, for a price of course, to anyone who has interest in them, such as the government or/and their proxies.
For more information, please read below.

Your Cell Phone Makes You A Prisoner Of A Digital World Where Virtually Anyone Can Hack You And Track You

If you own a cell phone, you might as well kiss your privacy goodbye. Cell phone companies know more about us than most of us would ever dare to imagine. Your cell phone company is tracking everywhere that you go and it is making a record of everything that you do with your phone. Much worse, there is a good chance that your cell phone company has been selling this information to anyone that is willing to pay the price – including local law enforcement. In addition, it is an open secret that the federal government monitors and records all cell phone calls. The “private conversation” that you are having with a friend today will be kept in federal government databanks for many years to come. The truth is that by using a cell phone, you willingly make yourself a prisoner of a digital world where every move that you make and every conversation that you have is permanently recorded. But it is not just cell phone companies and government agencies that you have to worry about. As you will see at the end of this article, it is incredibly easy for any would-be stalker to hack you and track your every movement using your cell phone. In fact, many spyware programs allow hackers to listen to you through your cell phone even when your cell phone is turned off. Sadly, most cell phone users have absolutely no idea about any of this stuff.

To read more:
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... -track-you

[NadirGP]

[Continuation]

NSA tracks cellphone locations under executive order

The US National Security Agency collects cellphone location data from around the world under a 1981 executive order signed by former president Ronald Reagan.

Although Congress never authorized Executive Order 12333, the NSA said on Friday that the massive data collection does not violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes warrantless wiretapping by the spy agency, according to The Hill.

NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said in a statement on Friday legal restrictions under the intelligence law still apply to the cellphone tracking.
The spokeswoman said the agency "tries to avoid" collecting Americans' cellphone location information.

"Again, the Agency's EO 12333 collection is outward-facing. We are not intentionally acquiring domestic information through this capability," she said.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the NSA collects almost 5 billion cellphone records a day, enabling the agency to track individuals’ movements and map their relationships.

Top-secret documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveal that new projects have been created to analyze the huge amounts of data, providing the US intelligence community with an unimaginable mass surveillance tool.

The scale, scope and potential impact of the new leaks put this spying tool on top of all the other NSA surveillance programs exposed since June.
NSA agents can find cellphones anywhere in the world, retrace their movements and expose hidden relationships among individuals using them.

“The paths that we travel every day can reveal an extraordinary amount about our political, professional, and intimate relationships," Catherine Crump, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement Wednesday after the NSA program was revealed.

Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/06 ... ive-order/

[Barbara]

Good for Press TV ! Always the only accurate national media outlet on earth.

This is really breathtaking information. I hadn't heard at all but always felt immensely suspicious of cell phones
Even the very word sounds like "celluloid". Which brings to mind that bubble wrap or "popcorn" used to pack boxes.
In short, no substance in it ; just fluff.
Dangerous fluff, now.

What did the first article say about how a hacker could "hack" one - how does the author mean ?
Hack the cellphone ?
I never heard of that. I wonder what information they need : merely the cell phone NUMBER ?

[NadirGP]

Cellphone data spying: It's not just the NSA
Sun Dec 8, 2013 7:6PM GMT
Related Interviews:

America’s civil rights stripped away

The National Security Agency isn't the only government entity secretly collecting data from people's cellphones. Local police are increasingly scooping it up, too.

Armed with new technologies, including mobile devices that tap into cellphone data in real time, dozens of local and state police agencies are capturing information about thousands of cellphone users at a time, whether they are targets of an investigation or not, according to public records obtained by USA TODAY and Gannett newspapers and TV stations.

The records, from more than 125 police agencies in 33 states, reveal:
About one in four law-enforcement agencies have used a tactic known as a "tower dump," which gives police data about the identity, activity and location of any phone that connects to the targeted cellphone towers over a set span of time, usually an hour or two. A typical dump covers multiple towers, and wireless providers, and can net information from thousands of phones.

Read more: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/08 ... es-to-spy/

[Barbara]

This new info - which one might well suspect ANYWAY - is a reminder :
"Kill Your Cell Phone" - fairly soon there will be bumperstickers saying that, I predict !
I bet no one will listen though....most people are probably too "addicted" by now.
What do other people think about the likelihood of a widespread movement
to ditch Cell Phones ?

I have always thought they were terrible.
Nadir, you are smart to have no mobile.

[NadirGP]

Is It Time To Ditch The Cell Phone? Find Out Why

Excerpts only:

[…] I am not here to comment on what is going on or who is right or wrong. I haven’t paid close enough attention to the details to formulate a proper opinion. My comments are strictly focused on a blurb I read about how protesters cell phones are being used to incriminate them. On Tuesday, protesters received a mass text message indicating that their presence at the event “registered them as a participant of a mass disturbance”.
[…]
With all of the talk about the NSA as of late storing vast amounts of metadata and civil liberties being eroded by the hour it is beginning to get downright scary . Just by having a cell phone you are relinquishing a tremendous portion of your privacy. By the simple nature in which cell phones work your every move is tracked. How do you think your phone rings no matter where you are when someone calls? Simply put your phone “registers” its ID with the nearest cell towers at all times. This registration is stored on servers with the cellular companies. When someone dials your number the location of your phone is looked up in this real time database and the tower to which you are nearest is told to connect the call. These records of your location are kept by the phone company and the NSA.

Read more: http://beforeitsnews.com/r2/?url=http:/ ... uPahxDnaUk