The government of New South Wales, Australia is giving people large discounts on specific TV’s, refrigerators, and other appliances, claiming there is a need to reduce energy consumption.

According to Mum Central:

“Older models of appliances use up crazy amounts of energy. The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage is offering sizable discounts on replacements for your energy-sucking refrigerators and televisions.

If you do qualify for this offer, you may be able to get 40% off the cost of a new fridge and/or 50% off the cost of a TV. The OEH has a detailed list of qualifying products from The Good Guys. The specific models have been chosen based on several factors. These include the energy star rating, affordability and quality. To qualify, fridges must have an energy rating greater than 3 stars and TVs must be greater than 5 stars.

Along with product descriptions, the site also includes the retail and discounted prices for comparison. For example, Samsung’s 341L Top Mount fridge retails for $849. But, the discounted price is only $447!”

As if the state cares about protecting the environment from people’s level of energy consumption, they are encouraging people to buy certain appliances: I wonder, can the specific products that qualify be used to spy on people?

Could the US government, known for it’s power to surveil people worldwide, be participating in this? Australians weary of government surveillance use chat apps such as “Signal” to communicate, but the CIA has been known to access even allegedly encrypted messages from that app, overseas, as was further detailed in some 2017 WikiLeaks revelations.

Common sense will tell you that the most mainstream allegedly encrypted chat apps such as Signal are bound to be penetrated.

Further, this could be an action influenced by multinational corporations such as Samsung. It’s not uncommon for government agencies to receive influence from corporations such as Samsung, or General Electric in the United States.

For example, the American FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is in bed with telecommunication giants, pushing for the mass installment of 5G cell towers that emit “experimental” high frequencies.

The WikiLeaks revelations earlier this year further cemented people’s understanding of how “smart” devices are used to spy on people.

Reading from an article by the Intercept titled “WikiLeaks Dump Shows CIA Could Turn Smart TVs into Listening Devices”:

“It’s difficult to buy a new TV that doesn’t come with a suite of (generally mediocre) “smart” software, giving your home theater some of the functions typically found in phones and tablets. But bringing these extra features into your living room means bringing a microphone, too — a fact the CIA is exploiting, according to a new trove of documents released today by WikiLeaks. 

According to documents inside the cache, a CIA program named “Weeping Angel” provided the agency’s hackers with access to Samsung Smart TVs, allowing a television’s built-in voice control microphone to be remotely enabled while keeping the appearance that the TV itself was switched off, called “Fake-Off mode.” Although the display would be switched off, and LED indicator lights would be suppressed, the hardware inside the television would continue to operate, unbeknownst to the owner. The method, co-developed with British intelligence, required implanting a given TV with malware—it’s unclear if this attack could be executed remotely, but the documentation includes reference to in-person infection via a tainted USB drive. Once the malware was inside the TV, it could relay recorded audio data to a third party (presumably a server controlled by the CIA) through the included network connection.”

This is common sense, and people have known about it for years. In 2012, CIA director David Petraeus said they will spy on people through their dishwashers: he wasn’t lying. People could deduce this was possible before he said it.

Any time a government hands out something for free, it’s bound to be a trap: they disguise control as philanthropy, and it remains one of the most effective archetypal ways to institute their plans.

Please share this with as many people as possible.

(Image credit: the Mind Unleashed)