Smartphones and your privacy right - the FBI is concerned (but not necessarily in a good way).

The FBI states that it is "concerned" about Apple Inc.'s and Google's attempts to encrypt information on your smartphone, that will increase your privacy and and limit access to your data by outsiders.

FBI Director James Comey on Thursday said he’s bothered by moves by Apple Inc. and Google Inc. to market privacy innovations on smartphones that put some data out of the reach of police, saying agency officials have been in touch with both companies.

“What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law,” Mr. Comey said in a briefing with reporters, reports WSJ’s Brent Kendall.
Mr. Comey said he still wants to get a better handle on the implications of the technology, saying FBI officials have engaged in discussions with the companies “to understand what they’re thinking and why they think it makes sense."

Article here (via WSJ law blog). 

My take on this is that Apple & Google are thinking they are better off not getting sued by users (who could very likely join in a class action suit as well). So that they will wait to be forced to give up users' privacy until they must (probably through a federal court ruling).

What's my expectation of privacy in a cellphone call?

The answer: not very much at all. But you knew that already, when the NSA and related scandals broke earlier this year. The good news is that an organization has made the FBI release records of its of cellphone surveillance technology. Article here.

From the article: "The FBI says it uses the tools to track the locations of individual suspects. But the technology is controversial because, by design, it collects data on innocent bystanders’ phones, and it also interferes with cellphone signals in a way that may be prohibited under a section of the federal Communications Act."