Burn the technology, throw these heathen devices into the ocean and set yourself free.

OK cool your jets for a minute, unless you’re THIS granny I imagine you have become rather fond of your smartphone. You should be aware of a few things then, the latest interview with U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden revealing some alarming allegations. The BBC reports:

The former intelligence contractor [said] that UK intelligence agency GCHQ had the power to hack into phones without their owners’ knowledge…

Mr Snowden talked about GCHQ’s “Smurf Suite”, a collection of secret intercept capabilities individually named after the little blue imps of Belgian cartoon fame.

“Nosey Smurf is the ‘hot mic’ tool. For example if it’s in your pocket, [GCHQ] can turn the microphone on and listen to everything that’s going on around you – even if your phone is switched off because they’ve got the other tools for turning it on.

“Tracker Smurf is a geo-location tool which allows [GCHQ] to follow you with a greater precision than you would get from the typical triangulation of cellphone towers.”

Right, so they’re listening to everything you do and they know exactly where you are, how could it be even more creepy? They can actually take photos of you with your own phone, and apparently you don’t get to sort through hundreds of them before posting your favourite to Facebook.

If you’re wondering how the GCHQ manage to take over your smartphone the answer is very, very easily:

Mr Snowden also explained that the SMS message sent by the agency to gain access to the phone would pass unnoticed by the handset’s owner.

“It’s called an ‘exploit’,” he said. “That’s a specially crafted message that’s texted to your number like any other text message but when it arrives at your phone it’s hidden from you. It doesn’t display. You paid for it [the phone] but whoever controls the software owns the phone.”

None of this really sounds above board to me, although a spokesperson for the UK government tends to disagree:

“All of GCHQ’s work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the secretary of state, the interception and intelligence services commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee. All our operational processes rigorously support this position.”

Well that clears that up then. If you weren’t already thinking about deleting that album of nudes you use for Tinder-related purposes now might be the time.

[source:bbc]