I don't think my cell phone would give them much info as most of my conversations are to my kids and conversations around the house are pretty much talking to Izzi. I don't do any kind of business on my phone or even talk about it. I am afraid they would find my conversations pretty tiring! :) Nice to know they can do that. Thanks for posting.

Sue

While it is true that a cell phone can be used to spy by keeping track of a persons movements using the built in GPS and activating the mic to listen to conversations in a room, one can avoid this by taking out the battery. It is now common for business meeting to have a "batteries out" rule during meeting or even for personal cell phones kept at a desk or in a purse. This does not help for someone who is listening in on actual phone conversations though. A good rule of thumb is to never discuss sensitive information on a cell phone.

There has been lots of articles in the news where a stalker uses a persons cell phone to track them and gain information.

Don't forget that your computer, if it has a mic can also be used. If you have a web cam keep the lens covered when not in use. It CAN be activated and used to look into your home. A lot of people keep their computers in the bedroom. (And no, your monitor cannot be used to look at your like so many think.)

My cellphone has a service available to parents so they can monitor their kids cell phone locations. I haven't had to use it, my youngest is 19. My kids have cars, no curfews, so what's the point ? They could be at a bar or in their boyfriend's bed, and I couldn't do much about it. I know I get "robot" calls. Some company a few towns away sends me a text message every morning. I don't even look at it, delete,delete.

My cell phone location can be set to "Location On/Off" or "911 Only"..but even if someone cared enough to track me, they'd pretty much find me at home or a Walmart! lol

They wouldn't get much with ours as we seldom even use it.Don't do a lot of running around these days,and the few times dh took it,he never turned the Da** thing on.Ask me how i know.LOL
Kathi

They would find my life pretty boring also- they would run to the next person!

I got that email the other day, and I was mildly surprised at how someone could snoop on another person without them knowing it. I knew that they could listen in while you were on a call, but that's all I knew. I didn't know they could listen in when you weren't even on the phone. I know three people who have scanners, who listen for emergency activity (fire/police /ambulance), but a couple of them also listen in on phone calls (portable phones). This is a small community, and sometimes they know the people they are listening to, and sometimes they don't. One of the people (I really don't care for her), found out a policeman was having an affair, and even though she didn't know him, she found out who his wife was, and went to his wife and told her. Btw... she had an affair herself, not too much later.

We gave our cells phones up when we moved into our present home because we cannot get a signal. Not even VERIZON can "Hear us now". We kept them for awhile to use while we are out and about and on the road, but the cost to keep them for "emergency" just did not seem worth it, so we just cancelled our subsriptions and that was the end of that. If someone were to listen in on our conversations, unless they wanted to hear us talk of gardening and cooking and the kids, they would die from boredom and you would find their still cold bodies sitting with the phone in their withered hands.

Helen

helencolby, you might want to consider prepaid cell phones for traveling/emergency. The cost is very cheap if you're interested in having the extra security.

That's what we have~~~~~~~~~~~Pre-paid.
Kathi

Where do I find a prepaid cell phone? I never knew they existed.

Helen

I've bought 2 of the Net10 Pre-Paid cell phones at Walmart. One for my MIL and one for my husband. They actually got a better signal that mine with Verizon. The phones were around $30.00 each and came with 300 minutes. Those 300 minutes are good for a couple of months and if you add minutes BEFORE the due date, the minutes roll over. I had both phones set up on bank draft (you can also buy the cards at Walmart,CVS,Etc.) adding 150mins a month. When my husband died, I transferred the minutes from his phone to his Moms phone. She has about 3,000 min built up now!! lol