I think I read about this in a book once...<p>"The iPhone received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the helpful sign suggested, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being checked-in on social media any given moment. How often, or on what system, the service provider plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they included everybody all the time. But at any rate they could connect you whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."