I am sure by now everyone has heard rumors and rumblings on how the F.B.I. has tapped into our phones in order to gather information and keep this city/state/country safe. Based on the information that I was able to come across, this is 50/50 in truth. Of course, the F.B.I. has the capability to do just so, but they do not waste their time with just anyone. They are in search of actual criminals and people who could be a menace to society. So if you are being tapped by the "Feds", you are already in a heap of trouble. There are other aspects that need to be had more attention.
Now a days, phones have such high potential in what they can do and it could be drastic if a cell phone is lost or stolen. Much like Shirky's chapter feature, some people hold large amounts of vital information in their phone. Much like the phones are campaigning they can do. As we mentioned in class one day, most phones have a passcode that you set up and in order to get into the phone you have to enter the correct passcode. That task in on the consumer though. You must create this passcode or else there will not be any barriers for other to get through in order to access your phone. This could be a fatal mistake if the phone gets into the wrong hands. Their can be minor implications such as a corrupt Facebook page, but that is probably the lightest of the cases. One of the worse case scenarios could be if someone provides an adress book in their phone. Listing friends and family with their home and cell phone numbers and even their addresses. If a violent criminal gets his or her hands on that and falls off the reserve and goes crazy and stalks some in the address book, it would be awful.
To finish off, I would like to say that the major phone companies give the consumers and users the ability to protect their phone to a high degree. It is in the consumers hands. I believe that most mishaps occur when the user is lazy or not aware of the possible infractions that could happen to them.
Lock your phone and you lock out hackers and criminals.
I think one of the worst and most likely implications of losing your phone would be leaving your phone signed in to your online banking account. People could rob you blind, ruin your credit, steal your identity, etc. It is hard to protect yourself. A pass code should be a standard, but I like to think that there are still enough good people out there that they might find my phone first.
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