I did root my phone. It took me 3 days of Google searching and reading forums to figure it out.. but I did that before I loaded anything on my phone.
The act of rooting the phone though.... to my understanding... is illegal. Or does it just break my contract with Verizon? What trouble can I really get in for doing that?
Well, you want to make sure you root and load with an image that doesn't include the spyware. I haven't been able to confirm ( or deny) that verizon uses that CID system, but if they don't I would bet they use something similar. My understanding is that a root invalidates the warranty on the device, and of course by avoiding the tethering fee you are breaking the service contract ( I occasionally do it too.. I found a way to do it on my OG droid without rooting using an APP that exploits a USB development mode) If you ever had trouble with the device you can just load the original image back on and Big Red should be none the wiser.
My issue is that, yeah... they don't have the time to focus law enforcement on everyone.. just the trouble makers. Well... I own guns, I read the Bible, I speak out against Marxism... I think I'm high on the list.
If you are on a list already you can bet thy have your name correlated with your SN (if you ever filled it out on your NICS check) and from there they can link to anything - tax forms, medical records, employment records, you kid's school records, property deeds, so on and so forth. They know where you live. The only info your cell phone gives away is the current location unless you pulled a Bruce Banner and are pretending to be dead and using an assumed name. And even then, they will just use other methods.
I had contact with a Green Beret recently.. I don't know if I should believe him or not, but he says he had someone in front of his house rechecking his home GPS co-ords, and claimed other military "in the know" confirmed that. . He is highly trained and could effectively train and lead a civilian force. He thinks they were marking his house for targeting purposes. Or he was pulling my leg. Who knows.
Bottom line, if the SHTF so bad that we have martial law, a complete break down of the rule of law, and a full on police state, you just WILL NOT win an information war with them. Yeah, you can make it harder for them, while making it harder on yourself. But if they want to know something, chances are they will find a way to do it. Safety in the herd is the only recourse. If they decide to do surveillance they will succeed- especially if you plan to use any sort of modern communications.