Our total immersion with technology is well under way, and there is little doubt we are
about to become even more reliant on the devices that connect us to the Internet.
Research suggests that the average American adult will spend around 86 hours a month using
their smartphone, not to mention the use of PCs and countless other gadgets that fall
under the umbrella of the Internet of Things.
Some experts are wondering when we will start spending most of our free time in virtual
worlds, rather than navigating the physical world?
Others question how long it will be before we are confessing our most private thoughts
and feelings to chatbots, or unleashing our primal desires on sexbots endowed with artificial
intelligence?
We should all know then, that what we do online is watched-over, collected, exploited, and
sold.
Big Brother is definitely watching you.
Today we’ll find out how, in this episode of the Infographics Show, 10 Surprising Ways
the Government is Spying on You.
Don’t forget to subscribe and click the bell button so that you can be part of our
Notification Squad.
Number 10: PRISM First of all, we know that our data is collected
so that we can be targeted by companies that want to sell us things.
We also know that data is analyzed to better understand us, or even to help us become healthier.
But why is the government spying on us?
The harbingers of techno-doom tell us government surveillance mirrors George Orwell’s dystopian
novel, 1984.
His Big Brother creation was omnipresent, lurking in the shadows, a frightening entity
verily not employed to serve the public.
Spying governments say they are just protecting us, while their detractors would say they’re
controlling the populace.
PRISM is one of the United States government spying, or in less ominous terms, “monitoring”
mechanisms, which was famously exposed by Edward Snowden.
PRISM was supposed to collect data concerning terror threats that leave a footprint on American
servers.
Unfortunately, reports suggest PRISM did not only look for terrorists, but watched over
the ordinary Joe-public.
PRISM doesn’t have direct access to the huge servers such as those of Google, Facebook,
Apple and Microsoft, but the threat lies in what it can demand.
Number 9: Intercepts In the words of Edward Snowden, “If they
want to get you, over time they will.”
Using something called Intercepts, Snowden famously said the NSA can easily get your
emails, passwords, phone records, and credit cards.
Intercepts are basically spying methods, collection systems that run through telecommunications
networks.
It has been revealed that such systems intercept around 1.7 billion communications a day, via
phone, email, online chats, and texts.
Number 8: Talking on the phone One of Snowden’s revelations was that most
American telephone companies had been handing over people’s phone records to the government.
According to NBC News, the U.S. monitors every single phone call that is made in America.
But this isn’t only happening in the US.
Recent news reports tell us just lately the Kenyan government has demanded that communications
companies hand over all their data.
The UK, where the fictional Big brother was created, has often been called one of the
worst surveillance states in the world.
In 2015, it was reported that the UK’s version of the NSA, the Government Communications
Headquarters, or GCHQ, had hacked millions of phones by stealing encryption keys built
into SIM cards.
Number 7: Internet activity Everything you’ve ever done online can be
collected by the NSA’s widest reaching spying technique called XKeyscore.
It’s basically a gigantic search engine run on over 700 servers used by the NSA in
the U.S., and in many other countries such as Australia, Great Britain, Denmark, Mexico,
Spain, Canada, Japan, Sweden and New Zealand.
In 2012, it was revealed Xkeyscore processed and stored around 41 billion communications
in a month.
According to Snowden, if he was sitting at his desk, he could easily hack anyone, from
an accountant, to a federal judge, or even the president of the united states.
Number 6: By literally watching you through your laptop or phone camera
Did you know that former FBI director James Comey covers his laptop camera with tape?
He also once said that in government offices, the machines come with a little flap that
covers the lens of the camera that sits on a monitor.
You think he’s crazy?
Well, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg covers his webcam with tape too, as well as his audio
jack.
Zuckerberg fears his laptop camera being hacked, and for good reason.
The Intercept reported that the NSA can use a plug-in called GUMFISH to take over a webcam,
while the Wall Street Journal reported in 2013 that the FBI can hack microphones and
cameras on devices.
5: Watching you watch TV Your TV could be monitoring what you watch
and even listening to you.
That is according to WikiLeaks documents that show us the CIA and British authorities had
been hacking smart TVs.
The documents explained that programs such as one called Weeping Angel could make your
TV record everything that was happening around it, the audio at least, while collecting information
on what you watch.
Having a telly you can talk to might not be so smart after all.
Number 4: Other connected devices Did you know a smart sex toy maker was sued
recently because it was tracking users' sexual activity without them knowing about it?
This is perhaps not an area the government is wont to exploit, but other connected devices
are apparently fair game.
The U.S. government has made demands that Amazon relinquish data recorded on one of
its Amazon Echoes.
Amazon declined, citing the first amendment and privacy rights.
Nonetheless, having the smart assistant Alexa in your home might be running the risk of
opening your door to a government spy.
Number 3: Closed Circuit Television There used to be a myth that in a big city
you’re never more than 6 feet away from a rat.
That might not exactly be true, but it’s probably true that you’re never more than
6 feet away from the view of a CCTV camera.
The UK is said to be the most heavily surveilled country on Earth regarding CCTV.
The country has an estimated 5.9 million cameras, one for every 11 people.
London alone has 420,000 cameras, while Beijing has a whopping 400,000 surveillance cameras.
American cities follow on the list of most watched over cities, with Chicago, Houston
and New York all having what some might say is an inordinate amount of CCTV cameras.
Number 2: Texting Another NSA program, Dishfire, collects information
from your text messages.
Along with the UK’s GCHQ, billions of messages have been intercepted on a weekly basis, while
location, contacts and credit card details have also been intercepted.
The NSA called the program a goldmine, and didn’t seem to mind that information received
was not from any specific, dangerous target.
Number 1: By being smarter than you The recent global ransomware hack called WannaCry
was apparently partly created with stolen NSA hacking tools.
Government spying is hardly a transparent activity.
Reports have suggested that the NSA coerces manufacturers to build exploits into their
products so that they can be hacked.
You think you have an impregnable firewall and the latest security measures, but what
if you’re using a product that was purposefully built with hidden flaws?
It’s a dirty game, this surveillance business.
The NSA has been accused of hacking foreign banks, oil companies in Brazil, the Mexican
government, businesses and government leaders worldwide.
They may even be watching you right now.
To quote Snowden again, “Even if you are not doing anything wrong, you are being watched
and recorded.”
So, what are some of the ways in which you safeguard your privacy?
Let us know in the comments!
And if you liked this video, be sure to check out our other video called 10 Surprisingly
High Paying Jobs!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!