"I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under." (Edward Snowden)

Are you doing anything online including your all business activities; from sending emails to clients, collecting records, money transfers anything? And aren't you the one who spend his social life on the internet via mobile apps like the WhatsApp or the websites like Facebook, to link to the friends, family, relatives, clients, customers etc?

If the answer is yes then you are one amongst those millions of the people who are being watched, checked and even stalked for any "wrong" activities by the big brother!

But lo and behold! Still we see some incident or the other happening across the globe! What the heck is going on?

Who is the big brother?

The major countries of the world like the US, have proper rules which allow their intelligence agencies to carry out surveillance of all the private internet space including emails, messages, conversations video cons and even the location etc which may be very important for an individual, a group or organization for their privacy and hence they try to keep such things secret.

How does the Big Bro poke his nose into the private space?

The agencies have the capabilities to scan through as many as millions of emails exchanging throughout the world, see through the SMS, listen mobile calls, tap the land lines, track the location of the caller or receiver by mobile tracking, bug the smartphones which gives them easy access to the user's data including; call logs, messages of all the apps including the Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype etc., usernames and passwords, account ID's, secret information of the Credit Cards and surprisingly, all these things without even the slightest of his knowledge or doubt!

These agencies do have capabilities of silently switching the mobile into the calling mode and hence turning on the microphone and transmitter of the mobile which transmits all the conversations taking place around the mobile! Not only this, but also they can switch on the cameras or both mobile as well as the laptops which lets them to see the real face working on a specific computer or the owner of a specific number.

These agencies use multiple costly tools like "Remote Control System" (RCS) or the Remote Administration Tool (RAT) or sometimes their own programmed software and hardware for this dirty job. One definitely feel insecure when one feel that one's conversation of romance and love or an organization's secret business strategy is being listened and seen live by someone out there who has no concern in the matter!

What maximum can they target and who?

Iran's about 60% computers were hit by a virus created expectedly by the US and allies to steal secret nuclear data from the Iran's Uranium enrichment plants in order to bring Iran on her knees as she was not surrendering and agreeing for negotiations even. So, it is not merely a person or a company of the highest level which can become a target. Sometimes, their target can be a whole country even!

So, if I Am Patriot Citizen of My Country, Am I Still Under Threat?

Finally, the question is that since merely a few black sheep or more, may be affecting a country's system then why should one feel insecure by this "espionage for public safety"? Well, it may not only being carried out by own agencies.

There are more of these doing on the lands of other countries, especially, in the neighborhoods or those who are considered as hostile by a country. Such hostile agencies may impersonate someone easily by the hacked data including user IDs, passwords, Credit Card information, family details etc and can exploit these for their nefarious designs. So, data protection is the responsibility of the user as well as the state herself!