EVERYONE’S WATCHING!

Everyone’s being watched!

(Part one of a two part series)

Megabytes, Gigabytes and Terabytes, oh my…

As you are well aware the home computer boom of the 1980’s culminated with the birth of the internet in 1989. ‘Smartphones’ had been first introduced in 1992, but took fifteen years to evolve into the technological marvel that Steve Jobs demonstrated to a captivated audience  at Macworld 2007 when he introduced the first Apple iPhone.  NTT DoCoMo launched the first 3G network in Japan on October 1, 2001, making videoconferencing and large email attachments possible.   For the roughly the next ten years this rapidly became the telecommunications standard. The iPhone could only have been possible with the 3G Network. Just as the Apple iPhone and many other ‘copycat’ Android smart phones continued to improve, so did the wireless network. By the end of 2010 4G was springing up, and now 5G is being rolled out. Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint have promised 5G devices for the first half of 2019, while T-Mobile says a nationwide network will launch in 2020. 5G will offer faster data and longer battery life. But network availability will be limited in 2019, and Apple’s iPhone may not support it until 2020. In terms of peak speed, 5G is approximately 20 times faster than 4G. The new technology also offers a minimum peak download speed of 20 Gb/s . When I purchased my first computer in the 1990’s the salesclerk at Radio Shack told me that the 50Mb hard drive would store more data than I could ever use. Now there are media files that are 1Gb or larger, and my computers have Tb hard drives.

The world in the palm of your hand, with a price!

In 1995, 27 satellites were launched into Earth’s orbit by the US government, creating what is now called the GPS constellation. The Global Positioning System (GPS) allows a user’s position, speed, and time to be tracked by the satellites using their equipment.  (The constellation of satellites must have at least 24 to work, but can support up to 30.)  The data is relayed through a ground control network which connects the two.  GPS is used to support land, sea, and airborne navigation, surveying, geophysical exploration, mapping and geodesy, vehicle location systems, farming, transportation systems, and a wide variety of other additional applications. Telecommunication infrastructure applications include network timing and enhanced 911 for cellular users.

All modern smartphones have a built-in  GPS receiver which trilaterates your position using data from at least three GPS satellites and the receiver in your phone.  Whenever you have your cell phone with you, or near you, it can be tracked, and so can you. Now this is nothing to be alarmed by, unless you’re a criminal.  The NSA (National Security Agency) can reportedly even track phones which are turned off.

Whenever you take a picture using the camera on your smartphone, the image is stamped by the GPS receiver with the location coordinates that is hidden in the code of the image. Software can scan the image to retrieve the data.  This is how law enforcement can determine exactly where a photo was taken by examining the geotagging hidden in the exif code .    

WiFi surveillance? WTF!

According to an article posted in The Atlantic in 2016, the human body interacts with the signals produced by WiFi, (Wireless Frequency). By observing disturbances in the WiFi field, the number of people in a room, what they are saying, or even typing on a keyboard can be monitored using sophisticated software. 

The wireless router in your home allows all the WiFi capable devices to connect to the internet or network with each other.  Even homes which do not have computers but have a cable box have WiFi because all cable boxes contain internal WiFi routers that allow the parent company such as XFinity or Spectrum to offer a WiFi guest network.

Most modern electrical meters on your house now use WiFi to transmit electrical usage to utility companies. They study the data and can tell when you are home, sleeping, or watching television by examining the spikes in kilowatt usage.

All new cell phones have the capability of being used as a mobile WiFi hotspot.

There is NO escaping WiFi.

Who needs a Nikon camera? I have a PHONE!

They say a picture says a thousand words, and anyone who was in school before the internet existed probably had some moment that they wished they had a camera to record some unbelievable or breathtaking event.  Now every smart phone produced since 2007 can record video, audio, or still pictures. With the ability to take pictures and video, as well as to transmit or receive those files via the internet, the smart phone has changed the way we see the world  Using the internet or bluetooth , they can connect to pared items such as spy cams, action cams, and video drones. Events can be recorded and shared. I once attended a music festival in Ohio. Months later while watching a video on Youtube taken at that same festival , I was amused to see myself in the crowd. I never even knew I had been videoed.  

What? Me worry?

As stated earlier, unless you are actively engaged in criminal activity, or are being stalked by someone wishing to do you harm, there is nothing to worry about, at least here in the USA, for now.  You shouldn’t worry that you are being watched, because no matter where you are, God is always watching. As always I wish you success and happiness!

Check back next week for part two FAKE NEWS?