Government spies can see everything you’re doing with your phone on a plane

If you like your privacy, don’t fly the friendly skies with your phone connected to in-flight networks. American and British intelligence have been surveilling phone use aboard civil aircraft since at least 2005, according to a new investigation by Le Monde based on secret documents from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Simply turning on your phone when the plane is flying above 10,000 feet will reveal your location to the NSA, according to an article from a classified internal newsletter.

The spy agencies were able to extract a range of information in near real-time under a program aptly named “Thieving Magpie.” They include: BlackBerry PINs and e-mail addresses, e-mail addresses, Skype identifying data, Facebook and identifying data. The agencies then correlate this data with other facts, like the plane’s passenger list, the flight number, and other details in order to pinpoint a particular user.