Do you ever get the feeling that someone is peering over your shoulder? It could be at the ATM or when you are on your cellphone. You might feel like someone is watching and most of the time you are right. Those its not the eyes around you that should worry you. If you own a mobile phone google, Facebook and government know almost everything about you!
You either know about all of this already or you are going to walk away feeling very uncomfortable and maybe a little trapped.
This article will not only be a look at what Facebook, Google and the Government know about you, but we will also provide some links that allow you to affect what they know about you. Yes. There are many things these entities are doing, with your permission, that you don’t know about.
These “services” have off switches and you can take advantage of those if you read on.
They Know Where You Are
Both Google and Facebook are very up front about giving you the ability to tell the world where you are. Their services are tied in with your GPS technology and you have agreed to that long before you started posting or doing anything else, they offer.
You can even get solid proof by following this link to see your own personal timeline. Google is very transparent about this data but its none the less chilling!
Make no mistake about it, if your phones tracking is on, they know where you are. Most people know about this and some even work to counteract it but there are millions that do not, and Google keeps tabs on all of them.
They Know What You REALLY Like
Google uses two mediums to really understand what you like. You know, the person you are in front of your phone is the person they want to know. The nasty things you search at night when the family is asleep, they want to know that, too.
The first method they use to really get to know you, is to save all your activity. All of it! Again, they are terribly transparent if you know where to look. This means things you have searched and things you have searched and deleted are all logged. Unless you have been very diligent and deleted things across devices.
If you are interested, you can see your activity profile with Google HERE.
The other method is your advertising profile. While Google does not sell your personal information, they basically remake you based on a variety of characteristics and interests. They are not allowed to sell your exact age, but they can certainly say that you fall into a demographic/age bracket.
This ad profile is what they use to make money on ads. They can target you with ads based on the things you search, like, places you visit and a variety of other things. In essence they know what gets you to act when you are on your device and they sell that to ad agencies. This is arguably much more powerful than your personal information.
You can stop these targeted ads by going to this link HERE.
They Can Watch You
Yeah. I know, its creepy but its true. Along with information about everything you use on your phone, everything you watch, what you like and where you go, even your calendar, you have also given Facebook and Google permission to use your microphone and camera!
Facebook and Google Stockpile Everything About You
Both services offer you options to download all the storage they have on you. Not sure how you feel about that but its definitely a service they offer. Its likely something, they will charge a lot of money for one day. Now, the most alarming part about this is the size of what you download. For all the information on you, you might need close to a gigabyte of space or more!
I have read of people requesting this information from Goggle and needing 5GB of data space for that file! That is huge.
Big Brother Is Just As Bad
The cloud has changed everything. The US Government can understand your entire daily routine based off information that doesn’t even live on your device!
To be honest, the government doesn’t have enough agents or time to track all of us with precision. However, if they were to raise an eyebrow over something that you were doing or saying. They could hone in on an individual and suspend a lot of the rights you think are part of your birthright.
We have watched scenarios like this transpire before our very eyes. We have seen the government burst from its shell and attack with full force. From pressuring tech companies to crack cellphones to people being washed from our society altogether.
Its not that they are watching you right now, but you must be honest with yourself and understand that they can, when they want to. Beyond the governments scope of surveillance, they can also tap the aforementioned Google and Facebook for all the information in their storage.
Privacy is a dissolving feature of our society. There is no getting around that. Unless you take steps from birth you are going to be part of a heavily surveilled state that can set its sights on you whenever it pleases.
What are you going to do sue the Federal Government?
The State will skirt the constitution whenever it sees fit and in this divisive day and age, there aren’t even swaths of the population to stand up for you. So, what is a person to do? Well, its more of an excuse to live free and be yourself.
If you like buying ammunition and stockpiling weapons, everyone knows about it anyway. You might as well enjoy it! In any ways the prepper idea of OPSEC has been shattered by all this and maybe that’s a good thing.
We can get to the task of preparing the rest of the world for the high tides ahead.
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Great, they even have everything ever posted on this site. No privacy anymore. Loved using land lines as a kid to communicate or write a letter, or just have a good old face to face conversation. But that all takes effort. Don’t share everything be very broad and non specific. I guess if you have a bug out location never bring your phone there. If this is all true then Artificial intelligence has already taken over.
So shit we already knew. Good job
Really guy?
Woman and yes. Unless you lived under a rock the last decade.
I have lived under a rock for years.
So, my life is inconsequential to you?
It is only about you?
This website serves no one on earth but you correct?
What is your helpful website? I want to go there and learn what YOU have to contribute.
Please share.
It would be interesting to find out what kind of surveillance can be or is being done on phones from a service like Great Call. My phone is a basic flip phone with no text, no data service, no voice mail, just bare bones basic phone service. Or are all cell phones the same little surveillance devices simply because they are cell phones?
If the battery is in it, the microphone can be hacked, to listen in.
Thank you. Hadn’t thought about the microphone on it.
Most new cell phones have non removable batteries now.
All new cell phones have batteries built in that cannot be removed.
Thus forcing you to be tracked.
if the battery is in it, the microphone can be hacked, to listen.
I have also read that hackers can hack into your computer and use your installed camera to watch you at work on your computer or doing whatever you might due in the presence of your computer. So, good idea not to have the computer set up on the little desk in the bedroom unless you want to go live on some porn website. Don’t know if that is true or not, but some recommend putting a piece of tape over the lens unless you are actively using the camera for something. Can’t verify the veracity of any of this post but I have seen it repeatedly. Could just be an urban legend. I am not knowledgable enough to pass a qualified opinion.
Phone tapping happened back in World War Two.
Police departments wiretapped in the 1890’s according to an article at legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/wiretapping. That’s only 14 years after the phone’s invention.
Not only can they hack in and listen to the mic when your not using your phone but they can and ARE recording everything! even Land lines. ALL communications are recorded. Phones (land and cellular) AND every single thing you do any any type of computer whether on a desk or handheld. I work in the Tech Industry for the past 25 years. I have been on some government jobs. even layed fiber optic cable across all the oceans and seas, linking ALL the countries. Trust me,,, the NSA records ALL of EVERY type of communications. The thing is they take is soo much data,,,, they can’t even begin to analyse 1/10th of it. Most just gets massively stored. But what they do is listen to key words or phrases. They also run programs that screen things like how many key words are said in a certain span or time or in combination with other words. Mostly though, instead listening for the “bad guys” because the data input is so massive daily that they just can’t keep up.,,, what they mostly do is after the fact. Like,,,,, if you are some sort of suspect for whatever reason,,,,,they can then search the massive data base to learn everything about you. They even do searches on people to use this information to pressure companies, business men, individuals, even politicians. They use the info as a quasi blackmail or bludgeon.
Johnny, I have a question for you. I’ve heard about using a VPN or Virtual Private Network, to protect your privacy on the internet. In your opinion, will these work? Is it worth buying? I’d be interested in any advice you might have about how non-tech savvy people can keep these people out of our lives. Thanks.
Dennis. A VPN is end to end to end encryption. It’s benefit depends on you intentions. It would be good if your intention is adding security from hacks and spoofs to secure sites and protecting you data integrity and privacy. But you would thwart your own benefit if you were connecting to “less than reputable websites” or sites that the hackers scan for open ports. Or if you otherwise allow or download a files that would give them a way in. It would also would not hide you from the NSA. Again, It’s end to end encryption but, the NSA already has direct lines into the “ends” you are connecting to. It’s best benefit is to protect you from the common hacker and data thieves. You could analogize it to a Concealed Carry permitted weapon; you could walk in public with no one else seeing it (unless you show it) but the government still knows you have it. I know that’s not the greatest explanation, but I hope that helps.
Dennis. It depends on your intentions. It would provides data security by providing end to end encapsulation. It would help to protect your data integrity and security from average hackers, spoofers and sniffers, But if you were were to visit “less than reputable” websites you could expose yourself. Hackers surf and sniff them for open ports and etc. Watch out for porn sites and Free stuff… Avoid all that,,, if you go there you could literally let them right in. It won’t hide you from the NSA though. They have lines right into the end to end sites you are connecting to even if it a very secure site. But again, it would provide with a lot other privacy. You could analogize it to a Concealed carry weapon. The average person in public wouldn’t see have it while walking around (unless you showed them) but the government still knows you have it. I know that’s not the best explanation but I hope that helps.
Johnny – you are right to a point, but you do not go far enough. I am also a college trained tech, and the government not only records everything that you say and do, but they have a file on you that they can access any time that you become a problem. This is how it works:
The phone system was completely digitized around 1990. Everything from your phone goes into the data stream. At the closest major collection point this data stream is duplicated with one copy being sent to NSA computers for recording.
What do they get in the data stream? They get your location 24 hours per day because your phone is constantly triangulating itself looking for the strongest cell tower, they get your texts, they get your conversation (voice), and they get the emotional tone of your voice calls.
All of this goines into storage where they have all the time in the world to use computer “expert systems” to build a psychological profile on you and all of your activities. Voice recognition converts your words to text which is stored for each call along with the other information.
Human agents don’t track you in real time, they don’t have to. They have all the data, and a very easy to read evaluation. They know when you are lying to your wife, and headed to your mistress, they know if you are doing or selling dope (just an example.) They know who and where your mistress and dope dealer are, because they are being tracked as well.
The shadow government has all of the money and technical expertise in the world available to them… why would they not do that?
It is too simple for them… why do you think that every time that someone becomes a problem that they just happen to have a recording of a damning conversation? Think about Monica Lewinski’s buddy “just happening” to record a random phone call… sure she did. :O lol
Even local police can call your cell phone without it giving any outward sign or record of a call, and listen to everything that is going on around your cell phone.
They also have mobile “cell towers” that collect all of the calls close to them, and pass the call on to a regular cell tower while listening and recording. (Man in the middle attack)
This is also too easy for them, because your cell phone is constantly looking for the strongest signal (as stated earlier), and their fake tower in the surveillance van down the block is the strongest signal to your cell phone.
That just scratches the surface of “what is REALLY going on.”
Recording is one thing. Tying it to YOU is quite another.
I haven’t had ANY phone in years.
I use a borrowed computer and borrowed internet.
I do not use Windows or MAC.
If I want to do something sensitive (but never with my identity), I use TAILS.
I’ve also recently, for me, it’s new, read that even the floor cleaners, like Robovac, iRobot, etc., Also listen and record and ( how it’s done I do not know) report information!!!
The courts have ruled that anything that goes over the open air waves can be intercepted as you have no right to privacy when you, yourself, are broadcasting it. That means cell phones, VOIP, e-mail, Facebook and all the social media that folks seem to love so much can be intercepted, analyzed and stored. Even the hand held unit to your land line can be intercepted because you are broadcasting it. I can’t cite the case, but it was a court decision regarding that very issue. The bad guy was using a wireless extension phone with the FBI recording ever grunt and sound.
Everything you post to this website, due to its very nature is probably scrutinized. That’s why some of us constantly warn against posting inflammatory comments.
The theory is that the courts have proscribed tapping landline phones due to the expectation of privacy and opening first class mail without a warrant due to an expectancy of privacy. However, I would hasten to point out law enforcement has long used what is called a mail cover. That is where mail addressed to your address is held and reviewed by law enforcement. That was back in the days before electronics. Today I assume that it is scanned and saved to a thumb drive and handed to law enforcement. Nothing illegal. The sender and addressee is open for the public to view, including law enforcement. It is amazing what one can learn from viewing mail. Our company maintained mailing lists for small organizations back when all those organizations were mailing a monthly bulletin out to the members. Today all that is done electronically. But we maintained the membership mailing list, printed out the labels and applied them to the bulletins that we had printed up, sorted them, bundled them and mailed them via what is now called standard mail but then was called bulk mail. Viewing mail can be very informative and we only saw monthly club bulletins.
Then there is the open question of whether the government ignores the courts’ prohibition against wire tapping. J. Edger Hoover wiretapped widely and frequently without benefit of a warrant. If the head of the FBI figures he can wiretap members of congress and political, entertainment figures, prominent church members all without the benefit of a warrant for the purposes of blackmail, can you honestly say that some little known government agency charged with “national security” doesn’t wiretap certain folk on a regular if not daily basis? Don’t you suppose some government agency knew ahead of time that the crime boss in NY who was gunned down yesterday was going to get hit just about the same time the decision was made?
If you think none of those things could possible be happening, please contact me. I have some prime real estate here in SoCal that is ripe for making a killing. I think you would go for it — ah, be interested in getting in on the ground floor.
“Don’t you suppose some government agency knew ahead of time that the crime boss in NY ….was going to get hit just about the same time the decision was made?”
Think “Person of Interest”, they have the Machine(s). The Daily News always talks about the race for AI achievement as some possibility soon in the future…..they’ve already had it for a number of years. Remember when Samaritan was activated on the show, the first thing said to it was something like “What are your orders?”, not “Hi, we are your masters, and here’s what we’d like for you to do”? ……………………Nemo
I barely get junk mail. Not much for them to see.
If I snail mail something I want to be tamper evident, I sign where the flap is glues to the envelope, then tape across both the seam and my signature.
Hard to open it without showing it was tampered with.
Oh and I don’t use pencil as the lead in it can be read via x-ray.
When you make or receive a phone call to your CELL phone — sorry about the caps but that’s the only way to emphasize in this format — your voice doesn’t go directly to the recipient of your call it is routed through the transmitter on the telephone pole or the cell phone tower you see disguised as palm trees here in SoCal.From there it is transmitted to a satellite and from the satellite back to a cell tower near the recipient of the call. That is over the open air waves, just like a radio transmission. It can be intercepted by anyone who has the motivation and the proper equipment. I have read, although I cannot verify that it is true, that all cell phone calls are recorded and the records are stored in the huge barbed wire surrounded windowless, no name building in Utah. That the super computer stored in the building can do an incredible number of searches per second and spit out everything you have ever said over your cell phone, everything you have ever sent via e-mail or other electronic means and, of course, while we can’t confirm it as true, the suspicion remains that they also have a recording of all of your land line telephone conversations too. And if they were somehow interested in you and I had a way to prove it, I would be that there is a whole lot more data stored on your that would astound you.
So, yes, all of your cell phone calls, coming and going have been recorded and are stored some place.
Or just boycott google, facebook, twitter, instagram, etc., like I & My Family do!
Why live virtual, when you can live in Reality!
You are so right. I used to think I was sort of a pariah for not being facebook, twitter, etc but I’m finding more and more people who are not either. And I wouldn’t even have a cell phone if pay phones were still plentiful.
It’s WILD isn’t it? Trying to explain to your grandkids what payphones and phone booths are? And the juke boxes from the old pizzza parlors, and . . . (they just don’t get it)! They even used to have those little mini flip jukeboxey things at Royal Castle, while you were twirling on the big orange seat? (Don’t guess it would look as big now as it did when I was 7, right?)
SO right on the money!!! I am not on FB, don’t own a computer, don’t have a tv anymore, took off caller ID because it got so expensive, so I just let the machine pick it up, cell is a simple, older, flip style with a card to add minutes, for emergencies & long distance only….I still WRITE letters and mail them….I feel so out of place anymore…I still READ PAPERS and hang my clothes on a CLOTHESLINE…
@pbpossum:
I worked for almost 40 years delivering mail. A few years ago, the USPS began having bar codes on peoples mail and we would get a message on our scanners to scan the barcodes for certain addresses. ALL mail for that address was scanned, seeing what and who you were getting mail from. So, even your MAIL is not private, and can be scanned for what you are doing via USPS.
Big Brother has been watching you for years.
The technology is so cheap now that most used car dealers put Lo-Jack type devices in every car for sale just in case you fail to keep up payments. If you think paying the upfront price in total will help you are SOL. It was put in before they put the car on the lot. Rentals have them too, so don’t think taking that rental to your Bug Out Location will keep it secret. Have someone you trust and knows what they are doing go over your vehicle checking for and disabling any electronics not required for the car/truck to run. Use an off the shelf stand alone GPS w/o the traffic/camera warning updates receiver. Or use a Motorcycle.
If you don’t use gmail for your email or the Google search engine then Google can’t track you.
The link AskaPrepper provided for changing ad preferences makes each person sign up for or log into Google to make changes. It also gives Google complete access to your phone, your contacts, and then they can track your internet usage and taylor ads to everything you do on your phone.
Do not sign up for Google and change your email address to another carrier if you’re using them. Then delete Google from your phone.
NEVER access Facebook from your cell phone. Once you do, Facebook will have access to all your contacts, your internet and other data on your phone. Delete all links to Facebook on your phone and clean your internet cache every time you get off the internet.
There is a tracking mechanism on all phones that you can turn off so that your carrier, Apple, Google and Facebook can not have access to all the locations you visit. There is a link in this article that should take you to the location in your phone where you can turn off the tracking mechanism. Call your phone manufacturer if you can’t locate it to turn it off or to verify it isn’t on. They will be able to help you.
Good luck!
HoundDogDave. Good advise, but now most of the electronics that do the tracking in vehicles is being integrated into the electrical computer system. You can’t disconnect like you could a stand only system like LO-jack. Anything you disconnect is now part of the loop in ECM. You unplug the plain ole radio and the car may not start. Whichever vehicles are not that way now… will be that way soon. This why I don’t have new vehicles. What you said is only part of what you need to do if you want anonymity. I have an OLD vehicle that is fixed up. NO electronics other the plain radio, heat/AC and lights. I do have two-way radios of different types but I can manually turn on or off or hard disconnect. I can choose when to break radio silence or just listen. Also, I would never take any kind of phone to a secret location. Stand alone GPS is Okay.
Yes, I agree that most nearly all new cars are are just tracking devices on wheels. Many come with WiFi as standard equipment now. Even some upscale motorcycles have it built in now too. But that is why I added the suggestion of using a motorcycle whenever possible because if you leave your cellphone behind, there is really no way to track you outside of license plate cameras and you have the option take the chance you won’t get caught and obscure the plate #.
From now on my phone will be inside a lead soundproof box when I travel.
A plain ammo can will work fine. You don’t need anything like a lead box. Wrap the phone in aluminum foil and close it up in a 30 cal. ammo can. There. You can’t be tracked by your phone. The upside is that you can’t make phone calls or text while you are driving.
I guess don’t use cell phones ever again, don’t use Facebook ever again, don’t use google ever again, don’t post on this web site ever again, don’t use WiFi ever again. I guess we are all screwed because no matter what we do we are a part of the matrix. Hell, just making this post is incriminating.
OPSEC is the name of the game. Don’t brag about or post your preps. I spent many years in Communications, civilian and Military, loose lips DO sink ships!
YOU CAN LIMIT G.overnment.OOGLE’S TRACKING ON YOU! First, STOP USING STUPID “smart” PHONES!! You & your family can live without them! I do have an older type flip cell phone with NO data/internet, tracking off. Pull out the battery when you need privacy for travel or talking. BY THE WAY, THEY CAN ALSO LISTEN TO YOU ANYTIME, EVEN WHEN YOUR PHONE IS “OFF”!!!!! For internet, I only use my laptop at home. Then, I DO NOT use your average internet web browsers! They all track you! Instead, try using Brave.Com for internet exploring; they are freedom minded & do not track you! Next, for searches, there are several companies that DO NOT track you, nor share with the gov’t.; I use Startpage.Com.
And for email, I use Startpage’s sister, Startmail.Com; it’s based in a free country outside U.S., & REFUSES to allow U.S. Gov’t alphabet soup agencies to glean your emails!! It costs $60/year, but we gladly pay it for PRIVACY!!
Don’t forget your lovely ”smart” appliances! And your Sony TV sets! The dishwashers and washing machines! Do not get ANYTHING Smart!!! Epic is also supposed to be a privacy browser; I use it at times. I downloaded Brave too, but I didn’t remember it was non-tracking. But then, that is probably why I downloaded it! I started using Opera after Firefox joined the ranks of the spies, and never looked back! I heard somewhere it was owned by China, but I don’t know that. As long as they aren’t in cahoots with Google! I also heard that Vivaldi is a good browser, and I think they said they were not spies. But the problem IS! Any of these companies could sell out to Google at any time; you know they are probably offered a fortune for their companies. Just like the organic companies, that have sold out to General Mills and Nestle. They want their poisons in EVERYTHING and they can afford to pay outrageous prices to companies and take it all over. It is totally scarey!
Yes, thank you, Elaine! I have older appliances, and will never buy “smart” ones! I’d rather buy good or refurbished used ones! I am not so darned lazy as to need my appliances, lights, etc. to turn on & off by voice command! Same with cars, newer ones have “black boxes” like airplanes after 2012; many (Ford & GM) before that! We buy good used cars from low-rust states. Drive them till they are totally dead. My 2000 Caravan has 257,000 miles on it, still humming along! No tracking device.
I agree with you on those “smart appliances” they are there to work in connection with the “smart meters” the power companies keep pushing. My power company has been to my home twice to install that death ray contraption and both times I said no! They havent been back since.
Scary stuff. The government tracking our every move should make us think more like the orthodox Amish. Our ancestors got by without technology, and we could too if we would just be willing.
Yep to Ben. This is why we come to this website to be prepared if things do throw back to the 1800’s
We actually have some dear Amish friends, a young couple with 3 kids that we are very close to. They use TONS of technology, but not the kind most Americans think of as technology. They use little motors to move water from their well up to the storage tank in the attic and then let gravity do the rest. They use batteries to run their electric fence so the animals don’t leave the field they want them to stay in, and they do LOADS of things like that! My husband could give you more examples, but I tell you they do use technology for SOME things, just not what we think of as “tech”. They often use wood and other fuels to get things done….And no, people are not even allowed to be inside their homes with their cell phones on, let alone place calls. BUT, if they need to call someone, they will speak over your cell phone if you place the call for them! Only for a few mins., though. Regardless, we love that little family to pieces and consider them family, as they do to us!! Those 3 kids also add a lot to our lives, as well. What sweet, thoughtful, unselfish children they are!
I dont have one of those new fangled phones like these kids nowadays have, all I have is the old flip phone that works just fine when I need it.
Dont know if “they” can track that or not.
Technology is harmful in many ways. Consider the Smart Meter Health Effects…
https://www.emfanalysis.com/smart-meter-health-effects/
So a friend showed me that there are stickers on the battery… You know its not just google, fb… ect… that is used to record stuff. it’s your phone and something attached to your phone. I think we should just m, make our own code and language! See if their mi is good! Our cars are tracked very easily.
Actually they only know what had been posted and what was searched for. That means if searching for non-interest items that is what they feel you like. Expressing made up feelings on social media they feel one thing and knowing better I know they are collecting garbage information and the one that laughs last laughs better.
This is what Edward Snowden does with his cell phone, 8:29.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dGqR4ue8dg