Is My Phone Spying On Me?

We ask Valerie Steeves, University of Ottawa surveillance expert

- Courtney Shea

I’m calling you from my cellphone, so first question: Who, if anyone, is listening?

That’s a tricky one because of the lack of transparency on the part of service providers. What we can say for certain is that, through our smart devices—our phones, tablets and computers—they are capable of capturing and storing our data. We tend to think of “spying” in terms of eavesdropping on conversation, but these days it’s really more about companies capturing digitized information: your texts, emails, photos, preferred routes and even the barometric pressure of the air around you.

But I never said that was okay!

You have to dig into the terms-of-use agreement to figure out what data is being saved by the corporation, and what is being disclosed to third parties. Often we don’t realize what we are consenting to when we use certain apps and programs. If you give Instagram permission to access your photos and microphone, they can record you any time the app is on and use that information for their own purposes.

MY PHONE COULD KNOW THAT I’M AT STARBUCKS AT THE SAME TIME EVERY MORNING.

What kinds of purposes? And what possible reason is there for tracking the barometric pressure in the air around me?