cellphones as room bugs

John Ioannidis ji at cs.columbia.edu
Sat Dec 2 17:15:02 EST 2006


On Sat, Dec 02, 2006 at 10:21:57AM -0500, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
> 
> Quoting:
> 
>    The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic
>    surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a
>    mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby
>    conversations.

Not very novel; ISDN phones, all sorts of digital-PBX phones, and now
VoIP phones, have this "feature" (in the sense that, since there is no
physical on-hook switch (except for the phones in Sandia and other
such places), it's the PBX that controls whether the mike goes on or
not).

I've always wondered what legitimate use the ability to turn on the
microphone of a *mobile* phone remotely was.  No mobile telephony
company has ever advertised this as a feature.

/ji

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