Mobile phone applications are being used to siphon massive amounts of information including your biometric data into Big Brother and Big Tech’s hands.
By General Maddox.
The notion of “Big Brother is watching” is rather ubiquitous in society these days and has become part our online psyche. Before we know it, our kids have email addresses, YouTube accounts, even their own smart phones and tablets. It’s pretty much a prerequisite for any kid in high school now to have an “online presence” or “digital fingerprint”.
Next is the applications we use on these devices. It’s already accepted that Big Tech probably listens to and sees everything we do with our phones. But then we have specific software developers who create apps which are marketed to be fun and exciting. If you don’t download it you’re almost seen as an outcast and will be alienated by your peers.
The apps I’m referring to are social media apps. Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Instagram, SnapChat among others. What most people aren’t aware of is that many are owned by a parent company. For example Instagram is owned by Facebook and of course YouTube is owned by Google. But were you aware even Google has a parent company? Alphabet Inc. owns them.
Another shocking fact is the ties these Big Tech companies have to the US government intelligence agencies. Facebook, Google and Twitter among many, many others are prime examples. The CIA’s venture capital firm In-Q-Tel, invests heavily in the social media market. Millions and millions of dollars are put into companies to ensure the spy agencies can peek into their back door as well as make allowances so they can soak up hoards of information on the public.
Companies, like Facebook for example, use your smart phone to track and trace everything you do. The calls you make are logged, the messages you send and receive are logged, the photos you take and where you are geographically are logged the very cameras and microphones themselves on the device are used by the social media giants to watch and listen to EVERYTHING you do and say.
So far as I’m aware it’s not as simple as just downloading the app. You have to actually open it, create and account (digital fingerprint again), and agree to the terms & conditions which no one reads. Once you do that the default settings are set so that the track and trace can begin.
Who cares about privacy? I haven’t done anything wrong so what have I got to hide?
This has got to be one of the most infuriating statements by people who simply don’t understand what’s at stake here. The only response is this…
Saying you don’t care about privacy because you’ve got nothing to hide is the same as saying you don’t care about free speech because you’ve got nothing to say.
No one considers the future. Too many are living in the now and going with the flow. Not a terrible way to live but this apathetic view to life is ultimately what’s dragging society further into the muck. What happens when the day comes when you do have something to say?
Or, something to hide?
The coming technocratic agenda and the age of the IoT (Internet of Things) will see practically everything in our lives connected to the internet and, by extension, to the intelligence agencies who are tapped into it.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid an online presence as well as a social media fingerprint. So what can be done to help preserve some kind essence of privacy while online? Sadly not a lot. But we can at least make an effort not to gift Big Brother so much of our precious data.
No selfies or face photos, deny apps access to your camera and microphone, deny apps access to your physical geographic location, use false details about yourself when creating accounts to access apps, and ultimately stop falling victim to the peer pressure or marketing pressure to use certain apps.
Sure this aging app looks fun. But you’ve now given your biometric face data to a Big Tech company to use for whatever purpose they want.
I guess it’s now a matter of mindfulness. We must constantly tell ourselves that if our privacy and our data is so important that the CIA wants all of it then it should be just as important if not more important to us to keep it secure and out of their hands.
Real News Australia 