Smartphones are an important way for governments, tech companies and bad actors to snoop on you, as you leave a digital paper trail. But how does this happen?
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden detailed just how smartphones can be used to spy on users in an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast (see the featured video above).
Snowden noted that the biggest change in how the government conducts surveillance is that it’s moved to a “mobile-first” approach owing to the prevalence of smartphones. He explained once again how bulk collection of data for surveillance works.
Bulk collection revisited
The whistleblower said that carriers are able to track your device and therefore figure out your identity via cellular towers. Snowden adds that the movements of your phone are the movements of you as a person and are unique, as you go to your home and workplace every day.
“What this means is that whenever you’re carrying a phone, whenever the phone is turned on, there’s a record of your presence at that place that is made and being created by companies. It does not need to be kept forever, and in fact there’s no good argument for it to be kept forever. But these companies see that as valuable information,” Snowden explains.
for full topic please visit the source