Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for January 26, 2024

It would be nice if pay phones were still around.

Androids can be spies?

I use my phone for memes, texting my friends, comics, and goofy pictures of my dogs. The FBI agent tracking that $hit must be so dang bored.

Would you voluntarily wear an ankle monitor? No? Well that’s just what you’re doing, and far worse, by carrying that “smartphone” with you everywhere. What if you or someone you care about needs an abortion? What if someone is stalking you? The collapse of personal privacy in the last 20 years, with the advent of the internet, cameras everywhere, and “smart” everything including phones, cars, & homes, is a complete Orwellian horror. The blissfully unaware will say “I’m not worried, I’m not doing anything wrong!” Those are some of the sorriest and most foolishly naïve words ever spoken. You have NO idea, and what you don’t know can & WILL hurt you. Being under constant surveillance is one definition of being in a prison. If one hasn’t any privacy, one hasn’t any freedom.

We’ve no way whatsoever to even know about, let alone correct, the mass of information – and misinformation – about each us that’s out there. While the government is restricted, you’ve no legal protection whatsoever from invasive and pervasive data collection by private companies. Nor do you know what’s actually considered “right” or “wrong.” That’s for Big Brother to decide, and Big Brother can change his mind about that, and his opinion of you, at any time without notice.

scarier than we think

My only phone is a landline and I don’t own any “smart” technology.

Apparently the Chinese government is doing exactly that. They even track who is walking down the street next to you.

Okay Google. Stops spying on me.

So Obama era surveillance is back eh.

That’s one reason I haven’t got Alexa, Firestick, etc. A few years ago there was a scandal here in Europe, saying that Lidl was selling food processors that listened in on things in the household. Don’t know if there’s any truth in that but I do know that the Youtube app in my TV picks up on the TV programmes we watch and feeds me similar stuff.

That is not the reason that I do not have a cell phone, but I think I may add that to the list of reasons.

I remember back in 2015 when Samsung introduced TVs that would take voice commands. That sounded good until someone figured out that everything people said was being recorded and sent to a third party, including intimate and private conversations.

Lessee, how many phones are out there? How many calls and texts do they make daily? How many people work for “the government” who supposedly read/listen to your every word? Can you imaging the poor agents who’d have to wade thru the daily inanity of “Where are you?” Or “Why didn’t you tell me?” Or “Pick up some bread on your way home.”

Really??

It’s not the government I worry about. It’s the corporate bosses who have all the information. And they have no accountability to the citizenry.

How many times have you looked up a product, and all of a sudden getting deluged with ads about that item? Big Brother is watching!

Every time you use a credit card, you are being tracked by what you buy and sent to others for advertisement purposes!

Ny daughter was given Alexa as a gift, it sits unused under the China cabinet, never activated!

Smart kid. Now, how many commenters here access this forum via a VPN?

George Carlin “Filthy Words” routine did have a nice spiel in it about a dude who knew his phone was bugged so he said “**** Hoover” whenever he answered it. For what it is worth Carlin allegedly was on the watch list of both the FCC and FBI during parts of his illustrious career so who knows, maybe his phone was bugged. Amazing talent, he had a lot of great routines about us humans and all of our “stuff” (both personal baggage and material possessions).

Get a flip phone. It’ll drive The Ministry of Truth nuts wondering what you’re up to.

The STASI tried.

Panopticon phone.

Not a new concept. Social security numbers. Even dates of birth.

I’ve accepted that someone is probably watching and/or listening to me (I have Facebook, a modern cell phone and Alexa/Ring products). What I can’t accept is how I just think about maybe researching or buying a product and see an AD for it, on my PC/phone, an hour later. :)

If the government isn’t tracking then Google surely does. This past 2-3 weeks wife and I discussed getting a new Subaru, sure nuff I’ve had at least a half dozen Subaru articles daily show up in my news feed.

According to Wiki, the East German secret police employed 2.5% of the population as undercover spies.

I mainly just use my phone for web browsing and occasionally contacting people.

Don’t even THINK about buying a new car or your phone will start showing you the new models.

My phone is usually lost or dead, so good luck tracking me.

I recently watched the movie Eagle Eye, interesting concept

From my understanding, it’s all about algorithms. At least once a day I say “Elon Musk….Call me.”. It’s just a matter of time and I’m sure he will. Please don’t tell me no one is listening.

The great thing about phones: they can be turned off.

And everybody thinks Google is benign!

Not helping, Rat!

Cameras are in the birds! Birds are robots!

I guess I’ll pile onto this mess. Years ago, in our Sunday School class, I’d ask people, what would you think if I gave you a device which would tell me where you are, where you’ve been, where you shop, how fast you drive, the groups you belong to, who your friends are, and how often you talk with them? I’d then hold up a cell phone and add that not only is this happening but you’re paying for it. That was years ago! Today your phone tracks your health, the temp of your house, your finances, and more. And for those who feel sorry for the poor agents, I suggest reading up on the capabilities of the new AI programs. Lastly, I don’t consider myself a conspiracy guy, but I do look at facts and consider the possibilities. There are shades of “1984”.

I use my phone to scan Facebook, text friends and family, and that’s pretty much it.

I use my cell phone to call AAA or 911 and to listen to audio books when I drive.

Ten years ago I bought an economy car that had options for basic communication and monitoring capabilities (“first month free, but then you’ll have to mortgage your childrens’ future”). I refused to activate On Star or Sirius – heck I even refused to pay for the “hail damage” insurance because what part of buying a car under $15K says I’m rolling in disposable income? The finance manager acted like I was breaking all ten commandments and the Bill of Rights. I wonder if he reported me to the NSA as a malcontent?

There’s mics and cameras everywhere….especially Alexa…what a nosey B¡tch!

LOL!

The other day I went out for a few hours and inadvertently left my phone at home, which is something I rarely do. Hypothetically, if someone was monitoring me, I wonder what they would have made of that.

If they really want to surveille the inside of my left hip pocket, I guess they’re welcome to it.

my uncle was a Marine then when he got out he worked for government the rest of his life…and they monitor everything and i mean everything you do online…emails, texts…everything online…remember it was the us military (and Hedy Lamarr) that gave us the internet in the first place…everything is monitored…he worked for government some 20+ years monitoring…our conversation took place many years ago, but he said even if you’re a gardening /landscaping company and you put ‘kill bush’ in a sentence, redlights went off and your content had to be checked out (obviously Bush was president during our conversation)

Big Brother speaks; Big Sister (Alexa) listens. Hey, Google!

Don’t ever under estimate what a a bad/corrupt government can do……

I don’t know, East Germany was able to do it…

If the government is not tracking me either they are not doing their job or I am not trying hard enough.

Goat’s nose looks like it has eyes.

It’s possible that the ubiquity of smart phones is allowing someone to snoop, but I wouldn’t bet on it being the government.

Whoever spies on me is in some office somewhere, a dried up skeleton covered with cobwebs. He died of boredom.

I constantly have to remind a family member that the U.S. Government has better things to do then track and spy on him…

Cameras everywhere … eek … the paranoids are after me.

Bill Gates personally placed nano-microchips in everyone who received the COVID vaccine. /s

If they’re using the camera on my phone, they have nice pictures of the lint in my pocket.

They wouldn’t be missing much on me.

Goat, Rat, CLEARLY you have NO idea or are just skimming the surface. Let’s face it: privacy no longer exists. You go into ANY country on this planet and you WILL be monitored; sound, video and anything you type in. Why? To root out the subversives? To steal our secrets? To find ways to bring world superpowers to their knees and take over? Maybe all the above.

The only way I can advise you on maintaining your privacy is to limit how much you give out or don’t give out anything. Cut off all forms of communication and secure all data from being collected. Of course, that will make you into a hermit and good luck getting far with socialized services. Not to mention, realizing there’s still data publicly available about you since birth: social security number, birth certificate, medical records, etc.

Sorry, there’s no easy answer to all this.

Of course the government does, ever heard of the “Carnivore” program that the FBI and Homeland Security use to filter our “dangerous words” that might be used in a conversation.And, given the FACT that law enforcement, will fight tooth and nail, to gain access to YOUR locked cell phone, just as they will attach tracking devices (without a warrant authorizing them to do so) to your vehicle, or install, again without a warrant, cameras on YOUR property, to monitor your activities.Law enforcement IS the single greatest threat to OUR Constitution, and the RIGHTS that we once thought were inviolate. After all, the Constitution, in this day and age of domestic terrorism, and “insurrection”, adherence to the dictates of the Constitution, prevents them form “doing their job”.

Anyone spying on me is very bored.

Pastis, YOU’RE the G.O.A.T.

It’s not gathering the info. It floods in on it’s own. It’s sorting through it for anything useful. That’s where AI will save the day. A little training on J. Edgar’s “Things Commies Say” manual and it will be ready to go.

Now the Army says no high school diploma needed….Com/

Goat is way behinds the times. This is a joke for 2016