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US and UK spy agencies scoop up private data from 'leaky' phone apps

theguardian.com

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Re: US and UK spy agencies scoop up private data from 'leaky' phone apps

#2
Anymore, it seems prudent to simply assume that if you use the internet at all, all of the details about you are available to determined individuals, public or private. Even details you've never consciously given out over the internet are available to those with the power and desire to infer from your browsing datasets (see: Target and the pregnant daughter).

Someone, please tell me I'm wrong.

Re: US and UK spy agencies scoop up private data from 'leaky' phone apps

#3
post #2

Anymore, it seems prudent to simply assume that if you use the internet at all, all of the details about you are available to determined individuals, public or private. Even details you've never consciously given out over the internet are available to those with the power and desire to infer from your browsing datasets (see: Target and the pregnant daughter). Someone, please tell me I'm wrong.

You are not wrong sadly. There are too many leaky apps, platforms, and technologies.

Re: US and UK spy agencies scoop up private data from 'leaky' phone apps

#7
post #2

Anymore, it seems prudent to simply assume that if you use the internet at all, all of the details about you are available to determined individuals, public or private. Even details you've never consciously given out over the internet are available to those with the power and desire to infer from your browsing datasets (see: Target and the pregnant daughter). Someone, please tell me I'm wrong.

You are dead on.

Re: US and UK spy agencies scoop up private data from 'leaky' phone apps

#8
The only solution is to move to a phone OS that is 100%, completely, open. I.e. Not even apps developers are allowed to ship blobs - its All-Source-Code, All-The-Time.

I know, its a highly unlikely scenario, but I can't help but feel in the midst of this human rights disaster, Open Source can come to the rescue.

Re: US and UK spy agencies scoop up private data from 'leaky' phone apps

#10
Many interesting "nuggets" buried in this report. For example:

...A more sophisticated effort, though, relied on intercepting Google Maps queries made on smartphones, and using them to collect large volumes of location information.

So successful was this effort that one 2008 document noted that "[i]t effectively means that anyone using Google Maps on a smartphone is working in support of a GCHQ system."

At this point it is perhaps not wrong to conclude that the whole internet is bjorked by these agencies. Open to snooping and manipulation at any and every level for any user.

It is time for a reboot, this time with much more focus on security.

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