

Your iPhone works for the secret police - hype7
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/06/your_iphone_works_for_the_secret_police.html

======
Terretta
Annoying link-bait title.

Given the iPhone's lack of fully integrated "Google Now" Apple seems notably
less likely to be able to provide watchers with structured data that 'knows
what you're doing before you do' than, say, an Android phone syncing with
Google, or Blackberry phone with RIMM's cloud (in fact, we know RIMM made govt
data pipe agreements).

The only mention of "iPhone" in the article is in the headline. Nothing in the
article itself singles out Apple.

For today's TLDR crowd, the headline scanning takeaway is "damn, guess I
better get any phone that's not an iPhone" when that's not the author's intent
at all.

I'd consider this headline actually harmful because it's not the device that's
doing anything to you or with your data. It's not Apple, it's not Android, and
it's not even Google Now software, no matter how potentially scary that big
data insight might be.

It's the corporations, the "all American alliance" he describes, that you sign
ToS with, and the senators and representatives we elect to oversee the
agencies that oversee them. Put the spotlight where it belongs. Put that in
the headline.

~~~
hype7
OK, I'm the article author, and I think that's great feedback. I didn't pick
the title; originally it was "Rebuilding the Berlin Wall"… but editors will be
editors :)

I was a little annoyed at the arbitrary change, but on the basis of your
feedback, went back and asked the editor to change it. It's still not exactly
what I wanted, but it does address some elements of what you've written above.
The iPhone clickbait is out.

As a writer, honestly, it does get mighty exasperating when this happens. And,
fwiw, you guys have all got insight into the messiness of the
editorial/content process :)

\-- james

~~~
Terretta
Thanks for remaking the sausage.

------
rdegges
I never thought I'd end up pitching something I worked on in a Hacker News
thread, but here it goes anyway:

I actually just finished building an MVP of a product business with a friend
that we're launching later today:
[https://www.burnerphone.us](https://www.burnerphone.us)

Essentially, we sell these pre-paid disposable cell phone kits that 'expire'
after 30 days of usage (and come with unlimited talk and text, nationwide US
coverage).

We actually built the thing with security in mind, specifically because of the
incredible amount of information that's now gathered not only by phone
companies, but by the government as well. Want to make a phone call that won't
be personally associated with you, from telephone company phone records? If so
-- you really need to use a separate device (a Burner Phone).

Anyhow, sorry for the plug in this thread, but thought it could lead to an
interesting converstation.

~~~
awayand
GREAT idea! I ordered 5 of these with my credit card...

~~~
dkroy
That made me laugh, I didn't even think of the fact that you needed to use a
credit card. I suppose you could get a prepaid card.

------
tswartz
Comparing what the NSA is currently doing in the USA to what was going on in
East Germany is a stretch. I hope we learn more about how the NSA is scaling
their operation due to the absurd amount of data they have. In East Germany
they had to use lots of people listening to every phone and apartment bugged
conversation. That doesn't seem realistic for the NSA. Do they have software
that is processing the data looking for keywords or phrases? That seems
useless because an actual terrorist probably doesn't say 'bomb' on the phone.

~~~
betterunix
"Comparing what the NSA is currently doing in the USA to what was going on in
East Germany is a stretch."

Well, let's try this: which agency, the NSA or the Stasi, does the following
describe:

* Keeps records of who talks to whom

* Knows personal details of most citizens' lives

* Monitors the personal, business, and political communications of large numbers of citizens

* Operates in secrecy

* Has the cooperation of the nation's industry

* Collects more information that it can possibly process

* Claims to be working to protect the public

No, the NSA is not kidnapping people; that's the CIA's job. The NSA is a
signals intelligence service. The Stasi's signals intelligence/surveillance
system is what is relevant to conversations about the NSA, and there is
nothing wrong or stretched about the comparison. Where the Stasi had
informants, the NSA has Facebook. Where the Stasi had wiretaps, the NSA has
room 641A.

~~~
youngerdryas
We need to teach more history to the youngsters.

------
youngerdryas
This could never happen on Android.

