And I thought only free online services are sharing user’s personal data. Apparently, even if you’re shelling out $70+/month for your phone bill and have a Verizon account, there is a likelihood that your call’s metadata (information like call’s origination, destination, call time and duration, caller’s and recipient’s phone numbers)has already been shared with the NSA and FBI. Thinking of switching to AT&T?
Well, they're not any better. In 2006, an AT&T technician, Mark Klein exposed that the company was providing fiber tap to the NSA through some of its data centers.
Another one caught my attention a few days back. So Marissa Mayer wants to read my emails. Claims the company's TnS mail and messenger,"to provide personally relevant product features and content, to match and serve targeted advertising and for spam and malware detection and abuse protection." My strong intuition tells me its more for the advertisers less for protection against spams. Looks like she's bent on making Yahoo, a Google-like company in more ways than one. This idea too was stolen from Gmail. And why not. Revenues generated from such advertisements may just save this giant sinking boat.
What surprises me is that these news still surprise people and have the tendency to make it to the front page. Even today, when bills like CISPA are being approved by the House of Representatives (more than once), I doubt much was hidden from the national agencies. They do, however, act as a reminder to people that they need to raise their voices much louder and more often to whoever is taking privacy for a ride.
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