Thursday, December 4, 2025

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Surveillance, Privacy, EFF communication, Raangi & Reality

 

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Re: [#NG-G4431] Unusual Experience
From:"Srikanth Kidambi" <#####>
To:"Thomas Albin" <info@eff.org>
Bcc:#####
Date:Dec 2, 2025 8:21:46 AM

Thomas:

I appreciate your reply.
 
The reason that I reached out to your team was based on EFF role in creating awareness and more pertaining to digital rights and protection against uncalled for surveillance, and more. The fact that the ISP or Carrier or another third-party can control our sms messages which forms the basis for OTP, 2FA authentication and more leads to many questions such as tracking, blocking contractual services, putting consumer on hold to push for new or other connected products and more, which would come consumer rights. Even there are several cases connected to OTP, where man in the middle attack or interception of OTP has led to unwanted wire transfers and more. 
 
When it comes to the role of EFF in such cases? I believe EFF over the years has presented many articles connected to telecommunications not confined to one specific digital rights. Here is one that EFF had shared to the world a while ago on sms and its vulnerability. Based on what I have seen over the years, I believe this area would also be a connected area tied to EFF's areas of focus.
 
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/07/eff-fcc-ss7-vulnerable-and-telecoms-must-acknowledge
 
Sincerely,
Srikanth Kidambi PhD, MBA, MS (BME), MS (EE), Dipl. CA and more
Quote: It is not only what you have done for the country, but it is also about what the country has done for you. It is called the "Law of Reciprocity" - Dr Srikanth S Kidambi
 
 

Sent: Monday, December 01, 2025 at 4:04 PM
From: "Thomas Albin" <info@eff.org>
To: #####
Subject: Re: [#NG-G4431] Unusual Experience
Hello Srikanth

Thank you very much for reaching out to us at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). I am not certain what you are experiencing but it's doesn't seem to be a violation of your digital civil rights. As a small, grassroots legal advocacy non-profit, EFF is dedicated to defending civil liberties and constitutional rights in the digital world. We focus our limited resources on impact litigation at the federal level, typically addressing novel legal questions or concepts that have not been addressed by the courts. Consequently, our mission is narrowly defined, and we are not equipped to handle all issues beyond this scope.

Best regards,

Thomas

Electronic Frontier Foundation
####
#####

On Fri, 28 Nov 2025, ##### wrote:
> Team:
>
> We had an interesting experience recently, which has happened in the past
> as well in other ways, and would like to get your insight on how this
> could have happened. The issue pertains to sms messaging service, which
> was coming through without issues until it stopped all of a sudden. We
> usually have a 84 days subscription before recharging for another 84 days
> period.. This message stopped coming through for a while. We even renewed
> for another term well in advance and also filed a complaint without any
> resolution. Instead of resolution, we got a message about a new roaming
> plan. Something similar happened last time as well, and we subscribed for
> a roaming plan, though it was not needed then costing us money. We even
> filed a complaint with FTC without much resolution. However, this time we
> decided to wait. At the same time, we recharged the second phone number
> present in the same phone (dual sim), and that line was receiving sms
> messages without any issue. We were conversing about that at home, and
> were thinking of switching the second line to a different carrier soon.
> Also, we use Google voice as well on this particular phone, which also
> needed recharging, which we did. Suddenly, after the google voice recharge
> and after the other line service recharge which happened a day or two
> prior, we started getting the sms messages the following day for the first
> line as well. What could be the reason? Is the carrier tracking the line
> or Google? Has anyone experienced something similar before, and had shared
> with EFF. Please note that the first carrier service was still active,
> when the sms suddenly stopped coming through.
>
> Your reply and input would be appreciated.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Srikanth.

What is the connection between Raangi & this post?

In this day and age, where those who define the world strategy want to make our private lives public, while they take every effort to keep theirs as confidential as possible, and with so many social media platforms and programs that promote reality shows, sharing a scene from a movie seems the best way to get the message through. In this movie, there is a scene where the lead female character reaches out to International Human Rights Organization with the expectation to get protection, and then finds out not to be the case. Just the fact that we are seeing these issues clearly shows the reality and effectiveness of these global organizations. 

As per one public forum, when an user entered the phrase, "create a problem", a leading search engine supposedly offered an autocomplete option "sell a solution". The point of sharing this is that this is the world we are in. Sometimes, problems are deliberately created as there is already a product out there. 

While discussing proverbs, there are some other proverbs tied to this topic:

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  • "Pillaiya killi vittu, thottila aatradhu", meaning, "Pinching a child and then oscillating the child's hammock". (Rough translation)
  • Steal the goose and give the giblets in alms.
  • sau chuhe maar billi haj ko chali [After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage]  


The point of sharing this movie scene, and these proverbs in this post on email communication with EFF is for the reason that whenever you submit a complaint to OHCHR or World Human Rights Commission, one of the questions put forth in the questionnaire is that whether the submitter has tried every avenue in the country of origin. It seems oxymoron in a way. When someone is reaching out to Human Rights Commission, obviously that individual must have reached out to various avenues before coming to a global human rights entity. 

Secondly, to share the reality of how the world works, when you send communications to various connected parties sharing your experience and concern with the expectation of getting support, one type of response received is shared above. Such communications turns out to be futile and a total waste of time. Many times, it leads to more misdirection and even belittling the sender's overall acumen/knowledge as can be seen in the above email communication.  

Let me provide another example. If you share a concern to an attorney general about a consumer issue, the attorney general sends a booklet claiming that it is not the attorney general's jurisdiction. However, as per National Attorney General 101, Consumer Protection happens to be the number one focus of an attorney general. 

  • https://www.naag.org/issues/consumer-protection/consumer-protection-101/

For that matter, the attorney general at the state and federal level even has the ability to take action on the governors at the state level, and even the President at the Federal level, obviously for valid reasons. Instead of addressing real issues, the attorney generals would be busy posting in social media platforms claiming to be a consumer protector, while sending a contact list booklet, somewhat like a laundry list to further confuse the individual, who is already reeling from misuse of power.

It is also the reason that it is time for the world to have meaningful "World Organizations" that really works. It is not sufficient to present articles and white papers on the ever-increasing corruption, but timely action should have been taken. If not for that, we would not be seeing what we are seeing right now. Here is one example, where we would expect the least likelihood for corruption, and that is where we see the most lately. Another example in the sports arena is the mechanical doping on top of performance doping that has been brought to light over the recent years. 

  • https://www.unodc.org/documents/corruption/Publications/2022/Global_Report_on_Corruption_in_Sport_Full_report.pdf

For this "Emails and More" section, we will leave it there. There are many stories to be presented here, and in our ecosystem. As a wrapping statement for this article, just the fact that we are seeing the same group of leaders running countries and organizations either as ruling or opposition parties, when the world just saw the most number of health-related deaths that affected certain demographics, more so in ordinary classes, where a large section of politicians, bureaucrats and corporate leaders would also be part of, but were not affected to the same extent as whatever limited numbers suggest shows the reality of the situation.

Anyways,  Wait & Watch for more !!

  • https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/02/transparency-international-reports-high-rates-of-corruption-worldwide/


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