[35fbe7d3d5b9]

> EDIT: Just to add a little bit to this reply. Using your example, counting the number of cars on a highway is clearly surveilling the group of highway goers. This could perhaps allow you to note that one demographic travels more on Sunday than another, or that a remote farmer himself was out for groceries last Tuesday.

Analogies suck, don't use them: 13038042-A0D5-4E76-8964-AF27B0EAD352 travels more on Sunday than others, and BD1DC4FD-2D17-44E3-91CF-198403C5E2B4 was out for groceries last Tuesday. There is no database that correlates bd1dc4f to anything; indeed, check back soon and the physical phone that used to be bd1 is now f0f4442.

Spot the difference?

[nixpulvis]

Much trust in these hashes we must have, no? Much more trust in the absence of catalogs of them that others have. I can't prove anything, nor do I try, but still it rests on my mind.

[35fbe7d3d5b9]

Sure, the NSA could backdoor an opt-in system around a political third rail that is hardly if at all used in the United States.

Or, it could attack the radio processor that runs a parallel operating system on our phones that we can't inspect.

Or hell, if the goal is "tracking people", they could attack the legal infrastructure that is used to legally track people via cellphones today.