There's a smartphone that monitors everything you do. It takes screenshots without your knowledge. It shares usage data. It even prevents you from writing certain words. Think this is pure dystopian fiction? Think again: this smartphone really exists. And it's marketed to millions of people.
Streaming platforms are full of series and films based on dystopian stories where all or part of the world becomes a dictatorship. In these stories, access to free information is no longer permitted. Only official channels are available, with all the filters that this implies in terms of content. Disinformation. Rewriting. Denigration. Anything goes to shape reality to the advantage of the leader(s). Some examples: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror (with season 7 available on Netflix), The Man in the High Castle, or Silo (season 3 of which is available on Apple TV).
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While some of these stories are very far removed from our daily lives, some strangely remind us of the harsh reality. That of dictatorships where all the information disseminated is at best biased, if not censored, or even false. This is the case in North Korea, for example, where the 25 million citizens don’t really know what’s happening on the other side of the borders. Worse still, surveillance is omnipresent and freedoms are violated.
This smartphone has no internet and constantly monitors the user
As proof, we have a video posted on TikTok by our British colleagues at the BBC. They were able to take a locally sold smartphone out of the country. This phone, which looks like a Huawei P30 Pro, runs on a modified version of Android. While it may look like an innocent-looking overlay, it's deceptive. First of all, the phone has no internet access. However, it does have access to official feeds that disseminate information aimed at denigrating South Korea and all Western countries.
Disinformation isn't the only method used here against South Korea. The report reveals that the smartphone's virtual keyboard has been modified so that it is impossible to write certain unauthorized words, such as "boyfriend" or "South Korea." If you try to write them, it will change them and inform you that it is not an accepted word.
And that's not all. The operating system takes screenshots at regular intervals to check what the user is doing with this smartphone. It seems obvious that this information is then transmitted to services that will then analyze this data. There is no doubt that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that other censorship and surveillance functions are swarming in this smartphone.
@bbcnews North Korea is fighting an information war, as South Korean films, TV dramas, pop songs and news are smuggled over the border in a bid to challenge the country’s propaganda. A North Korean mobile phone, smuggled out of the country late last year, shows how the regime is cracking down. #NorthKorea #SouthKorea #KimJongUn #Military #Internet #KDrama #KPop #News #BBCNews
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