cellphones as room bugs

[Alex Alten]

At 10:21 AM 12/2/2006 -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.
>
>    The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top
>    U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a
>    New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional
>    surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping
>    him.
>
>http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-6140191.html

Cellphones maintain contact with cell towers, so they can be roughly
tracked on the ground too, even when you are not talking.  With GPS
being embedded this may become much more accurate.

As an amusing aside, for a while someone was accidently calling my
land line with their cell phone.  You could hear them driving around, with
the usual car noises, and sometimes the radio on too. Occasionally I
heard them in conversation with someone else. This went on for months.

- Alex


--

Alex Alten
alex at alten.org



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