I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me...

In George Orwell's book "1984", The main idea is "Big Brother is Watching You".  Here it is 27 years later and to a point there is a big brother watching us.  This is a list of who and how you are being watched because of your computer, phone or other device that can access the internet.

Your Cell Phone:
If you have a smart phone, your cell company can track your whereabouts by GPS, but even if you have a basic phone they could track you based on the distance from different cell towers.  If you are lost, this feature could save your life, there have been a few cases where this has happened.  Some people use the GPS feature to post their location on Facebook.  If you allow friends of friends to see your posts you could be telling criminals that you are not home so they can safely break in to your house.  Verizon Wireless has a product called Chaperone which uses the GPS to allow parents to see where their kids are since the kids are always attached to their phones.

The iPhone and iPod touch have a feature that comes from the factory turned on that gives the location of all pictures when you take them.  When you post these pictures on Facebook it is possible to find the exact location of the photo.  This could be dangerous for kids especially.  Dangerous people could find out what school they go to and where they hang out.  The best thing to do is turn off this feature as soon as you get your new iPhone or iPod touch.

Since your smart phone can access the internet it could be vulnerable to hacking just like your computer.  This is important since you have all of your contacts on your phone so make sure you have strong passwords on your phone.

In the United States, cell phone companies are not required to reveal what information they collect from their subscribers.

Your E-mail:
Many people have an e-mail account with their employer that they need to do their job.  The main thing to remember about your work e-mail is that there is no privacy from your employer when using their e-mail system.. It is almost a guarantee that every e-mail that you send or receive on their account is stored on a server somewhere and you cannot delete it.  The rule of thumb is - If you would not say it with your boss or HR standing next to you, don't say it in a company e-mail.

Even with your private e-mail account, the company that provides it collects information from your e-mails.  This is why some of the ads that you see on your e-mail supplier's website will look like they are tailored specifically for you.  They are.  This doesn't mean that a person somewhere is reading all of your e-mail, these companies use software to scan the contents looking for specific words that they in turn use to advertise to you.  If you talk about your golf game a lot in e-mails you might see more ads for golf equipment and trips.

Some people use free e-mail services like Gmail or Yahoo to create anonymous e-mail accounts, but if you use it at home the IP address associated with the e-mail will point to your home.  This information has been used successfully by prosecutors in criminal cases.

Your Cable, Satellite Provider or Movie service:
Cable and satellite systems have come along way.  Most of these systems are basically computers that deliver shows to your tv.  They know what kind of movies and other content that you purchase to view on your tv.  One cable company has been experimenting with targeted commercials based on what you watch.  This could be a good thing.  If you mainly watch kids programming and PG movies you wouldn't get ads for Viagra and those annoying ads to discourage meth usage for example.

The bottom line is that there are many ways that your activity is being watched usually by a computer.  The moral of the story is be careful what you do and say when you use your devices, especially if you are doing something illegal.