AND I THOUGHT I WAS SAFE FROM SNOOPING

For years I have turned off my cell phone unless I was sure I was going to get an incoming call because I didn't want to be tracked by local, state or federal authorities. I really don't have anything to hide but I also really don't want to be a willing participant in the New Security State. I've suspected that turning off wasn't enough and now I know that's true:

Homeland Security Arms Local Cops With Super Spy Bug
By Peter Robison August 27, 2014
Bloomberg Business Week

The Tacoma News Tribune reported that police in Tacoma, Wash., bought—and quietly used for six years—surveillance equipment that can sweep up records of every mobile telephone call, text message, and data transfer up to a half-mile from the device.

Known as a Stingray and manufactured by Harris (HRS), a Pentagon contractor based in Melbourne, Fla., the device is small enough to be carried in a car. It tricks a mobile phone into thinking it’s a cell tower, drawing information, the paper said.

Is there any defense for phone users? Not really, says the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The technology can track phones even when they’re not making a call and often when powered down. The group says the only way to avoid tracking is to remove the battery, or to do something even more unthinkable: Leave the phone at home.