I used on of those phones for about 9 months. The phone was given to me by a friend, he got it from his mother. We still have it in the car for emergencies, call time&temp once a month to keep it active. If they have been listening to me for a year, they must not be listening very well. They also must not be listening to some of my friends who use these phones for actual deals. Openly talking deals is stupid to do on any phone, but there is nothing especially dangerous about these govt issued phones.
Indiscriminately eavesdropping would be a very poor way to get leads if you need your leads to later pan out in court, and what happens when they overhear child abuse, organized crime, murder conspiracies, tax evasion plotting... how come we do not hear of people like this being found by listening to their phones? Do you suppose they ignore cases such as these for the sake of keeping phone tapping a secret? How big of a secret would it be if you can go to a stoners website to have it confirmed? Just some questions that come to mind.
Do you know why law enforcement gives lie detector tests? They know they are useless in court. They know the results mean nothing, but the criminal doesn't know that. Often, giving a lie detector tests ends up delivering a confession. What I am trying to say is that fear is one of the biggest tools the DEA has. If you are afraid to grow, it saves them from having to do a lot of actual work. If you think they are listening, you will be a good boy. Imagine the manpower it would take to actually screen every call from every phone sent out.
I believe the applications are sent to any address which has received govt assistance of any kind. All you need to get one of these phones is to be getting help from the govt in any way, so you bet the company behind these phones is going to want to send a letter to every potential customer they have.
Growing comes with risks, and there is no way to manage those risks if you do not properly identify them. If you are too busy running from shadows you will be distracted from the actual threats. I don't mean to sound as if I am lecturing you, I am just trying to ease your concern. They have no idea about you yet, and if you are smart they never will.