

ISpy: How the NSA Accesses Smartphone Data - r0h1n
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-921161.html

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jlgaddis
I imagine that the NSA was a big fan of the "instant upload" feature on
Android phones, especially for targets they had an active interest in.

I would not be surprised if Google built in the capability (server-side) to
instantly send a copy off to the NSA.

> According to one NSA document, these files contain the kind of information
> that is of particular interest to analysts, such as lists of contacts, call
> logs and drafts of text messages.

I know that when backing up an iPhone to your computer you can choose to
encrypt the backups. I wonder if backups to iCloud are encrypted. I never
enabled that option and don't recall seeing any such settings but I suspect
they are not.

After reading this article, I'm ready to ask my boss to replace my work-issued
iPhone with something else but that's probably pointless. The only option for
someone who does not want to be constantly tracked, it seems, is to completely
forego use of a mobile phone.

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r0h1n
[Edited note: this was meant as a reply to jlgaddis' comment, but I seem to
have posted it as a reply to the post. Which looks odd.]

What would you (or we) replace an iPhone with? Short of reverting to dumb
phones or maybe hoping for the elusive Firefox OS phones, I don't think there
is much we can do.

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jlgaddis
This article is very telling of the attitude that the NSA has... references to
1984, identifying the iPhone as "Big Brother" and those who purchased it as
"zombies", etc.

