A new alert system allows the US government to send out messages to citizens, but experts say it comes with a catch.
Earlier this week, the US government rolled out a new program that allows various agencies to send messages out to every US citizen with a cellphone. Unlike the Amber and weather alerts that many Americans are already familiar with, there is no way to turn off or opt-out of the Presidential alerts.
The FCC says that no user data is collected through this process, and that the alerts are secure. However, cyber security expert John Mcafee pointed out that these alerts are capable of giving the government control over “every function of your phone.” Mcafee Tweeted:
“The "Presidential alerts": they are capable of accessing the E911 chip in your phones - giving them full access to your location, microphone, camera and every function of your phone. This not a rant, this is from me, still one of the leading cybersecurity experts. Wake up people!”
https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/1047585232831041536
Mcafee’s advice to his followers who want to opt-out was, “Find a phone that is 5+ years old and use only that.”
Former NSA analyst and whistleblower Edward Snowden also chimed in on Twitter, saying:
"The same centralized infrastructure that lets them send something to everyone enables them to read anything from anyone...All our lives dangle at the end of a wire. Ask yourself: who controls it? How else might it be used? #PresidentialAlert”
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1047562087059341312
Snowden then linked a 2016 article from JustSecurity.org that explained the vulnerability in greater detail. The report states:
"Upstream surveillance represents a new surveillance paradigm, one in which computers constantly scan our communications for information of interest to the government," the article states. "As the legislative debate gets underway, it's critical to frame the technological and legal issues that Congress and the public must consider -- and to examine far more closely the less intrusive alternatives available to the government."
Shortly after the notifications went live, three New Yorkers filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, demanding an end to the new alert system.
To bad the lawsuit will end in nothing, even if they win.
And even if the president never abused the power of controlling your phone,
This is a door into your phone, and one that you cannot lock. It will only be a matter of three presidential communications before all krackers know how to use it too.
It seems that all the "toys" T.H.E.Y. try to sell us, market to us, are not ours at all. We don't own any of it. We don't control any of it.
Microsloth can turn off your computer at any time.
Zony can tell you what to watch on their TV at any time.
Fjord can make "your" car Found On Road Dead.
This will be the undoing of corporations.
This abuse will lead to a lot of redevelopment.
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I would say that the redevelopment is already happening it is just a matter of time before that get adopted by the masses. One great example is the new computer company purism which sells both laptops and phones. They build the hardware more securely and run open source operating systems of your choice. I am not a big techie so if you would like more details then go to https://puri.sm/about/ This will be both my next computer and phone purchases. the unwinding of the old world order is already well on its way so the sooner we prepare the better because one day it will all just tumble in the blink of an eye and we will wake up in a new world order and its up to us to make that a good decentralized order so no ass hat can come gain central control.
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Just the beginning. They will come for our encryption next.
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