Imagine the following scenario:
You walk into a store to buy a microwave. After choosing one, you proceed to the checkout counter, where the employee tells you:
”We will sell you this microwave under the following conditions: First, you must allow us* to read every email that you write or read on your mobile phone/device from now on. This includes any private emails that you may send or receive from lovers, friends, business and personal acquaintances, and anyone else who communicates with you. Second, you must allow us* to read any SMS messages that you send or receive. Third, you must allow us* to watch and listen to everything you do or say from now on, via the microphone and camera on your mobile device. This includes private moments – intimate moments with your spouse or lover, moments when you’re showering, preparing for work or for play – moments when you would expect a level of privacy. Fourth, you must allow us* to read your contacts, send messages to them on your behalf (without your knowledge or consent), then read any replies to those messages, and delete them before you see them if we so choose. Fifth, you must allow us* to make phone calls on your mobile telephone without your knowledge, and you agree to pay any charges incurred for these calls. Sixth, you must allow us* to modify you contacts list, or any other element of your mobile phone/device that we may choose. This includes, but is not limited to: turning off the ringer/vibration function, powering up your device after you have turned it off, or disconnecting you from your WiFi, and reconnecting you to a WiFi of our choosing. Seventh, you must allow us* to listen to and record every phone call to or from your mobile device, and distribute it to anyone we choose.”
*’us’ includes Our Corporation, and any/all employees, sub-contractors, and over-seas workers we may ever hire.
“So now, just press the “I Accept” button on the checkout register to agree to these terms, and we can sell you the microwave”
I suspect very few people would agree to these terms in order to buy a microwave oven. Yet nearly everyone agrees to terms just like these when they download the average mobile application. For example: it was recently discovered that all of the ten most popular ‘flashlight’ apps for mobile phones includes such agreements and equivalent malware. This report on Fox News confirms this statistic:
And it’s not just flashlight apps. Nearly every free app that you download requests permissions that are absolutely not necessary for the functions performed by the app. Over half the free Bible apps (apps that read Bible passages aloud) for example, request permission to access your contacts, read and write SMS messages, read your emails, turn on your camera and microphone, and make phone calls. If you are running one of these apps, then you have agreed to their terms. You can’t run any app without agreeing to their terms.
If you have any doubts, then I recommend you download DCentral1 (A Future Tense Central product) from Google Play, and let it scan your Android phone or device. It will tell you exactly what every app you have downloaded has asked permission to do – and you will be shocked. DCentral1 is my own app, and it asks for no permissions, as you will verify prior to installation.
https://play.google.com/store/
The question you have to ask yourself is: Why do you gladly accept outrageous terms and invasions of your privacy in order to get an app you want? You would never dream of accepting these terms when buying something like a lawn mower, microwave, car or even a house. I’m baffled.
Some of you are aware of this gross intrusion, while many others doubt that a mobile app could have the capabilities described above. It does sound like science fiction, or possibly rampant paranoia – yet it is real. Anyone can download one of the thousands of spyware applications, many for free, and can remotely plant the software on anyone’s device — anyone — a spouse, a boss, a neighbor, a teacher, a parent, the local sherrif — anyone. The world’s largest Spyware manufacturer – Finfisher – was recently hacked, and thousands of it’s internal documents showed up on Wikileaks, including much of their source code for the spyware – meaning anyone can have access to it. Here is the story about the hack:
http://www.zdnet.com/top-govt-
The following links to FinFishers sales videos, showing the astonishing capabilities of spyware, should be a real eye opener. Keep in mind this is only one of thousands of companies who manufacture spyware for mobile devices.
http://www.zdnet.com/top-govt-
https://wikileaks.org/
https://wikileaks.org/
https://wikileaks.org/
https://wikileaks.org/
https://wikileaks.org/
#LegalizeFreedom
John McAfee
2014
December 9, 2014 at 8:09 pm
Yikes……….!!!!!
Don’t remember when, but I’m pretty sure I bought that there micro.
David
We must really fascinate them.
November 9, 2014 at 1:08 pm
alex…..read this before you start telling crap!you are wrong!http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2771566/iPhone-It-s-spyphone-Apple-devices-record-movement.htmlthank you!
November 9, 2014 at 12:49 pm
John McAfee is so right!! Thats why they want him in jail or kill him….
The story of the microwave is so clear that everybody should be concerned about these apps ! Its getting really out of proportions these days….cameras everywhere, mic’s in your television and telephone spy towers in your neighborhood! its crazy !!! people should think twice before buying smartphones and smart tv’s. i have a smartphone myself…(but mine is not so smart anymore) i have rooted it and throwed all apps away…yes even the YouTube app! Anti gun laws (just like Hitler wants 80 years ago) It looks like nazi Germany and people should stop saying…i have nothing to hide!!! We all have something to hide….its called PRIVACY!! PEOPLE should stop running around in the Streets with signs and flags screaming that they dont agree with government spying on them!! They should take all there money out of the bank!! All together we can make a difference!! John McAfee…can we help you in any way?? Let me know! Greetz from Holland (where the basterds spying on us too)
October 14, 2014 at 2:44 pm
Get a friggin iPhone and you’ll be asked every time an app requests permission to read contacts etc. Just dump crap-oid!
October 13, 2014 at 6:48 pm
I run CyanogenMOD as the os on my Nexus 4, it has options to let you lie to apps about much of that, if you want. Sure, they can see some sort of contacts. 😉
October 13, 2014 at 5:33 am
But what if I have kept my phone secretly in my neighbours shower to record them, how can the sick people who distribute these apps view my content.
October 12, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Gotta love Cyanogen.
October 12, 2014 at 6:20 pm
Shocked to know about that flashlight app
October 12, 2014 at 7:42 am
Hello,
I think it is very important to note that neither a microwave oven nor a cellular phone should be used while in a shower, as they represent a potential electrocution hazard.
Even with water-resistant enclosure, one could still drop the cell phone and hurt their toes, or possibly hurt themselves trying to catch the device or while attempting to pick it up.
While I haven’t used it myself (and therefore cannot make any claims as to its efficacy), there’s a program called ‘Unchecky’ for Windows which claims to block the installation of potentially unwanted applications that tend to “sponsor” free software programs. Not exactly like DCentral1, but the Android environment isn’t exactly like Windows, either, although the amount of malware on Android has a nice hockey-stick growth curve that’s pretty much identical to what we saw in the DOS world in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
October 11, 2014 at 2:59 am
Such a limited use of “us”! What about affiliates, strategic partners, their employees and subsidiaries?