Los Angeles, CA—Cell phones have been a reality for nearly 30 years. The convenience and benefits of these wireless devices are enormous. Of all the people I know only one does not have one and he is considered strange. There is a large segment of the population that is unaware that prior to cell phones, the phone companies kept only long distance call records. Today records are kept of every call or text message sent or received. This is beyond troubling.
The records kept have been bought, sold, used and abused at an unimaginable rate. I have seen thousands of records that were gotten through illicit means by private citizens, private investigators and cops. Then there are the legal governmental channels that lawfully obtain the records and even make public the records of innocent people in court cases.
During the ongoing trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray, records were even broadcast internationally revealing calls and the private phone numbers of scores of people. This was a major privacy invasion.
Even records that have been obtained through warrants and subpoenas have been illicitly sold by government officials.
Rupert Murdock’s, News Corporation was caught with their pants down when it was discovered reporters were internationally stalking newsmakers using their private phone records.
There is a cure that’s really quite simple and that’s by forcing the cell phone companies to delete and destroy records after each bill is paid or to simply clock the phones’ usage for billing purposes.
If there are no records they can’t be abused. Cops can still get wiretap warrants so why do we need this kind of a privacy nightmare.
How many divorces have been brought on by spouses checking each other phone bills?
The GPS issues of cell phones are yet another Orwellian disaster. The abuse of those records is also rampant.
The cell phone companies and our government of course, continue with that disingenuous refrain, “Were only doing this for your safety.” That’s the same old line handed out by Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels during the rein of the Third Reich.
We need to kill this monster before it kills us.
