I'm back to being confused. Why don't you just turn it off, again? When you use it, all that stuff is back on unless you disable it (in which case if you're going to be paranoid properly, know that disabling it in settings won't disable it fully). So what difference does it make?
Honestly I think the only way to guarantee all of that is to not have the device in the first place. And you probably have to worry about what sort of router you have at home and which ISP and whether to VPN for everything and yadda yadda it likely gets a bit difficult to manage when it all adds up.
If you're a law abiding citizen (and I'm assuming you are, I don't think there's a law forbidding tin foil hats), then is being tracked necessarily a bad thing?
I'm not bothered about being tracked (and I'm far from a law-abiding citizen!) and I enjoy some of the products that depend upon tracking. But I do think that one should have the right not to be tracked if one would rather not.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951
The side scrolling on that page rather than the usual vertical up down arrangement stopped me from reading the article. Is this how Canada internets itself?
Interesting thing about the article, is it's in the print edition (which is where I saw it) but not the paper's online version (thestar.com), at least I can't find it there. I had to google the title to find that website, which I agree is stupidly formatted. Bonus: you can't select text! :-O~~~ Anyway, here's a screen cap of salient bits
Hostess Saves Twinkies By Automating, Fires 94% Of Their Workforce
Yeah, you should be able to have the choice, but in Smiffy's case, that choice is being decided by the delicate balancing act between all out paranoia and giving himself up to getting spied on by everyone with access to a command prompt or as Milko said, just leaving his phone at home (where presumably the powers that be already know he resides).
It maybe his recalcitrant attitude towards the establishment that stops him for benefiting from the plusses that a new phone has to offer, whether one outweighs the other is up to him, but does offer a more fundamental choice of use it and accept that it's possible someone might be looking at his selfies, or leave it in a drawer for use when necessary.
There's another option o'course, get a non-smart cell phone. No GPS, no cameras etc... <shrug>
It's not as draconian as you make it sound. All I need is a suitably shielded case/bag/wallet to carry it in, then when I need to use whatever features I choose (including gps, camera, whatever... actually the camera is crap), all I have to do is take it out and use it. Simple, easy -- said case/bag/wallet not so easy to find though.
Bonus: I'm unreachable when phone is in case/bag/wallet. (bounce)
Did I mention that I hate phones?
Hostess Saves Twinkies By Automating, Fires 94% Of Their Workforce
I'm curious then, what do you actually want it for?
Also, if you are going to put it in a shielded case of some sort whilst leaving it powered on I'd recommend putting it in Flight Mode because I'm sure a phone without signal that is looking for signal uses far more battery.
To replace our land line eventually (Mrs.D got a cell about a year ago, we're paying ~30-bucks a mo for landline). Also some other things, like taking crap photos of stupid stuff -- brace yourselves for the deluge -- checking maps from wifi (I don't have a data plan), mp3's, checking email. Music on the nexus 7 is kind of sucky, plus it's relatively awkward to hump around.
Hostess Saves Twinkies By Automating, Fires 94% Of Their Workforce
