About a week ago, my old iPhone 3GS proudly notified me that my carrier settings had just been updated. This was a little odd since this phone has not had cell service for over a year – I just use it on wifi.<\/p>\n
This morning at 5:30 AM, my phone started emitting the EAS tones but followed by no message. I had read a couple weeks ago, this functionality was being tested and that created alarm in people who didn’t know this capability was being demanded by the government. In this case, a flash flood warning was issued by the national weather service, which I found in my alerts.<\/p>\n
Combine this capability with the NSA data gathering of every call placed by everyone – let me paint you a hypothetical scenario from far in the future:<\/p>\n
*beeeeeeeeep*<\/p>\n
Good day – don’t be alarmed that your cell phone is talking to you. This is the voice of Homeland Security. In accordance with federal laws we passed during secret hearings, the president has declared a national security emergency. During this emergency, you will find that you will be able to call only phone numbers we have authorized. This is to prevent terrorists or subversive groups from communicating with each other. <\/p>\n
We know there are people you need to call – if you login to phonepermission.gov and enter your phone number, you’ll be shown a list of phone numbers that you have called over the past 3 years, indicating if the access to that number is blocked. If you find a number is blocked, simply tell us who the person is and why you want to call them. You’ll find that most businesses like your bank and cable TV company are automatically not blocked. In these dangerous times, I’m sure you understand why we have to take these actions to protect the public. Thank you and have a good day.<\/p>\n
While I was typing the last paragraph the alarm went off again. Since I live close to the desplaines river, I suppose I should look outside. If the web site goes down, you can guess why<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
About a week ago, my old iPhone 3GS proudly notified me that my carrier settings had just been updated. This was a little odd since this phone has not had cell service for over a year – I just use … Continue reading