Your Smartphone Is Spying On Your Child and You!
PART ONE
Let’s discuss one of parent’s greatest fears and how the mobile phone industry put us all into apathy on the subject of protecting kids on their platform.
First off, I am the geek that took the very first smart phone to the cloud, the Blackberrry device. This was of course before APPLE launched the iPhone or Google the Android. Back in those days we didn’t call it the cloud, we called it, “Over-the-Air Real-Time Sync”. : )
Yes I know that sounds funny! I will never forget the day when the Blackberry engineers at Research In Motion (RIM) headquarters in Canada were on a WebX call. We instructed them to send a text message to our BlackBerry. After a few seconds we refreshed the browser and voila, the text showed up online! After about 5 minutes of screaming excitement, we asked them to send an email, again everyone was gasping at the speed being almost real time. We experimented with calendar appointments, adding and removing contacts and more. Finally came the most exhilarating concept yet, we told them to simply just take a photo. Within 4 seconds this photo turned up online on our Nice Office application. Talk about excitement, it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Little did I know or understand the ramifications of what we had just developed.
I am only sharing this so you know, along with my 8 patents, there are few that understand more clearly than I, the implications of smart phone technologies and the Cloud. While i could easily write several articles on the ups and downs of this tech journey, lets stay focused on the child safety issues for now.
Note: If by the way, you find this or other of my writings informative and useful, please consider subscribing to my SubStack. You can also send me feedback back and participate in interesting surveys and discussions. Or you can shop at our LibertyLinkUSA Store and get great deals, part of the profit goes to help keep children safe. However, if you do subscribe or make some purchases from our store, we will provide access to exclusive content, and consulting, to help to protect your child on line and on smart phones. Now back to the purpose of this article.
In the meantime, consider the FREEDOM Phone, as a way to keep your as children, family and personal data safe! Check this out, Child Safe FREEDOM Phone
So one day I get invited to Motorola Headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois, to attend an event in our honor of our signing a significant agreement to enable all of Motorola phones with our technology. Sitting next to me at the front table was Martin Cooper himself, the inventor of the cell phone. At one point the speaker pointed to our table and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, at this table sits the past and future of Motorola!” At this point the crowd arose from their tables and clapped. I can’t tell you how honored and excited I felt.
Returning from the trip was a high point not only in my career and life, but also a huge turning point for our company and our great investor family. It just so happens that I was also a volunteer “Professional Reserve Sheriff”, for the County Sheriff’s Department. I ran recidivism programs in the jail as well as sat on the Sheriff’s advisory board. The first thing that happened upon my return was a personal call from the sheriff himself. After a brief hello he said, “Hey Bob, don’t you know something about cell phones?” “Yes sir”, was my answer which opened the door to a conversation that sent my life on an unexpected life changing path. By the way, all of law enforcement and most government folks including POTUS had blackberry smart phones back in the day.
The Sheriff went onto describe to me a case involving an 11 year girl who was visiting her grandmother for part of the summer. Turns out grandma took her to a water park and gave her a flip phone with instructions to call when she was ready to be picked up. At some point during her adventure, the little girl was approached by a 29 year old man who convinced her to share her cell number. Not long after this, the adult began sending her illicit pictures and soliciting the same from her. Of course it did not take long for grandma to realize what had happened after which she reached out to law enforcement, thus my call from the Sheriff. You see, back in those days it was very difficult if not nearly impossible to get arrest warrants or search warrants for illicit cell phone activities/crimes against children. Thus the Sheriff called me.
What happened next will one day become the content for a new Documentary Series I will call, “Radar and The Watchdogs”, more on this another time. Suffice it to say the Sheriff sent three detectives from his Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) , to meet with me. After several meetings we decided to port the capabilities of our Nice Office platform over to a new law enforcement version called RADAR. Now every law enforcement BlackBerry became a forensic investigative device specifically modified to facilitate investigations into crimes against children on phones.
So let’s hit the pause button for a moment. I am going to guess that if you have gotten this far in my story, dozens of questions are popping up in your mind. I mean, the ramifications of I have just written and very broad implications. There is simply no way to tell all of this story in one Substack article. My gut tells me to let this sink in and ask yourself if you actually want to hear more. The twists and turns that are coming are not for the faint of heart. This would be a good place to pause and allow you to reflect in the nuances of this story. Don’t forget to comment, and don’t miss part 2.
To put your mind at rest, by the end of this series, you will KNOW how to keep your child safer and you will learn how to support those of us who have led the charge and paid a price for doing so.
In the meantime, consider the FREEDOM Phone, as a way to keep your as children, family and personal data safe! Check this out, Family Safe FREEDOM Phone
We will be back soon for Part 2. Keep in mind my blog is free as is my advice however, if you want to help, k]just skip Amazon once in a while and shop with us at SHOP LibertyLinkUSA! Up To 70% OFF Smart Phone Accessories.
God Bless, let’s talk again soon!