Cell Phones a Much Bigger Privacy Risk Than Facebook

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,497544,00.html

Facebook has become the one of the most popular websites on the internet. Today almost everyone is a member of Facebook, from middle school kids to adults of all ages. Some of the adults are now cautious of what they post on Facebook, like pictures, information about them and their status on how they feel because some know that it can be easily leak out to the world. Many hiring employers use Facebook to check out or find information about a person who wants to be employed with their company. Everyone thinks Facebook is a big privacy risk, but cell phones are surprisingly becoming a much bigger risk.

In the foxnews.com article, it explains that “Facebook has nothing on cell phones, which have become the most powerful weapon of privacy invasion ever.” It also explains that “with the appropriate use of cellular technology, parents can fence in their children, spouses can read their partners' text messages and the government can pinpoint a caller's location to within a few feet — all facts of which most people are unaware.” The article also points out that “A New York judge ruled in 2005 that the government could obtain a phone's tracking data without a warrant, as the user voluntarily chose to carry the phone and so implicitly allowed the transmission of tracking information.” I think it’s more a privacy issue when the government can get your cell phone information and pinpoints of where you are.

In the international herald tribune article it states that “Mobile operators already know who their customers call and how long they stay on the phone; location information lets the carriers know where a person has been and where they normally go. Calls can also be tracked based on patterns and key words and the operators can see all the text messages that are stored on a SIM card even after they have been erased from the operator's servers.” A lot of information is being tracked about everyone. Facebook is least of our problems; we need to be attentive of our cell phones information.


References:
FoxNews http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,497544,00.html

Internation Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/06/technology/wireless07.php