iSpy: NSA Controls Your iPhone [VIDEO]

It’s no secret that the National Security Agency has been spying on the American people -- between WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, we’re at least aware of the fact. We just don’t know how far it runs.

Der Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, has revealed another NSA spying program codenamed “DROPOUTJEEP.” In it, we learn that the NSA has had full control of the iPhone.

For six years.

That means that yes, they were watching your FaceTimes. And reading your texts, listening to your voicemail, and tracking your location history. Once the NSA’s software was on your iPhone, it meant they could remotely enable your camera and microphone, as well.

Where’s my tinfoil hat?

Now, considering what we knew about the NSA’s actions beforehand -- seriously, they were spying on World of Warcraft, hoping to uncover terrorist plots -- it’s not that shocking to learn that the agency has a hold of the country’s most popular line of smartphones. If they were to target any one phone specifically, the iPhone is the logical choice.

If the NSA has had complete surveillance over the iPhone since 2008, then what does that mean? In that span, we’ve seen four complete operating systems from Apple - so the question remains, how much did Apple know about this, or possibly contribute to it? Keep in mind, that early in December, Apple was part of the eight-company coalition that put their names on the “Reform Government Surveillance Act,” but Apple didn’t actually sign on to join the group. And Tim Cook didn’t release a statement.

And Apple has willingly tracked its users in the past.

Are Android phones immune to this sort of treatment? Not completely, but maybe not to the same extent as iPhones. It’s one thing to crack a piece of software that lives on one device, while there are countless varieties of Androids.

Windows users might be worried too, if there were a large number of them. Then again, Microsoft also has a history of supplying user information to the federal government. Surely the latest report will not be the last we hear of this phone hacking.

You can follow the author on Twitter.