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After the news that China has decided to force manufacturers to standardise phone charging ports to the mini-USB format, it turns out that there’s an even easier way to get the industry-wide feature you want implemented: just be the FBI. What cellphone manufacturers are reluctant to include in-among all the blurb about Bluetooth and high-speed data connectivity is that apparently every recent phone sold in the US has a built-in tracking device that, once activated remotely, can be set to keep the microphone powered on even when the phone itself is switched off.
The FBI used the technology in collecting evidence for the recent Genovese crime family trial, and it should be made clear that they can only do so with the relevant court order. Saying that, just how difficult is it to get a court order in our age of super-terror? The only way to circumnavigate the tracker is removing the battery, which then makes the phone rather useless. In fact, you’d be better off carrying a small child’s shoe, which could at least be used for storing your keys.
I’d be very interested to find out whereabouts in the phone circuitry the tracking device is located, from a purely geeky point of view. Anybody fancy hacking open their KRZR and going looking?
The Blotter [via Neatorama]
can we get a source on this?
Lol, those ********, if I found out where it is, I’d publish a howto on removing it.
Source?
I’ll just hit the mute button. My phone is only for the listening side of conversations with my girlfriend anyway. :)
Just wire a hardswitch in between the battery and phone contacts.
Open up your phone, buy a smaaallll switch and cut a little hole in
the side of your phone to install it. wire the switch between the
battery contacts and the power-in on the phone circuit board.
Done. Tap-proof.
cordially,
Doc
JM and Joe:
The sources are posted right before the signature “-Chris Davies”. See? There’s a link for the Blotter and for Neatorama. Pay attention.
For a discussion with little hype on this issue check out this reputable site:
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000202.html
Looks like we’re building our own dystopia, here.
What made it more reputable than this site?
Boy, won’t this be fun once its hacked…
idiots…
This is gone too far taping phones putting up traffic cameras and al types of cameras.
THIS IS VERY INTERESTING AND DISTURBING. THIS DOES NOT SURPISE ME. THIS SOUNDS LIKE 1984. THE GOVERNMENT HAS A LOT OF POWER THAT NEEDS TO REGULATED.
Ok, so it’s probably not much more than an urban legend yet, but this unauthorized listening could be defeated by putting the phone in a sound-proof carrying case with an electrically conductive lining. This kills both the detection of audio and the ability to broadcast the detected audio to the cell network. It should be easy to build and test such a box. Expect to see such cases offered for sale.
Or just leave the phone in the car while you talk in the house.
But make sure all your friends do, too.
Or don’t become the target or friend of a target of an FBI probe.
Two words - metal box
Just a switch to disconnect the Mic is far easier if you’re worried.
Good idea, but only for those who only MAKE calls.
It doesn’t matter. American model phones are terrible anyway. Buy korean or chinese with GSM tri-bands.
Do you have any evidence that such device actually exists? What reason do you have to believe this?
Seems like carrying a cell phone while doing something illegal is a bad idea.
dunno. would like to see a more reputable source on this. possibly some documentation.
“Two words - metal box”
So much for receiving calls…
Sexy Time
What about hacking the protocol, if somebody get such control, he will be able to do terrible things…
And what about the EU?
Reminds me of Enemy of the State…
Crazy that the movie was made in 1998.. It’s so relevant today.
“The FBI used the technology in collecting evidence for the recent Genovese crime family trial, and it should be made clear that they can only do so with the relevant court order.”
No they didn’t, they just used the regular tapping of a couple phones.
I’m officially starting a company that makes cell phones that run linux and dont’ let anyone tap the phone.
I too would like some source info on this article, as in who is claiming that all of the new cell phones have this spy technology already built in???
Also the best comment I read was about making a cell phone that can disable the mic (the disabling the battery idea is idiotic unless you never receive calls).
If you are just afraid of s.o. listening to your conversations you might better just interrupt the microphone line with a switch. This way you can still receive phone calls. But beware: as there is a constant exchange of information between the phone an the base station you could still be tracked in this case …
old news.
http://news.com.com/FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool/2100-1029_3-6140191.html
Far be it from me, but isn’t doing most illegal things usually a pretty bad idea all on its own?
If you done nothing wrong, i dont think there is anything you need to worry about. However, mis-use of it will be another issue of concern
Actually, a lot of these phones have a backup battery inside as well, so the FBI can keep hearing you even when you remove the battery.
Look it up at infowars.com
If you are worried about misuse, hope to God no Democrat gets into the Presidency any time soon. Especially if they have ANY connection to the Clintons.
I think you may be on to something there Shawn :P
I’m sure the functionality would be part of the firmware.
To anyone who says they never do anything illegal, it is impossible for anyone to say that since no living human knows all the laws he is subject to. The fact is, EVERYONE does something illegal now & then. Mainly you’ve only gotten away with it as a matter of severity and whether the hardware is yet in place to catch you in the act. But the latter is changing. With sufficient surveillance, everyone will be arrestable. Soon, even your car’s computer will tattle on you.
Ever discard your old telephone book in the trash instead of recycling it? Ever send a box of brandy chocolates to a relative in the states of Florida, Maryland or Michigan? If so, that’s actually a felony. Ever cut the tag off your mattress? Fail to submit state sales tax on an internet purchase? Oh, you are a real sinner. Ever drive without your seatbelt fastened? Exceeded 55 miles per hour? Failed to come to a complete stop at an intersection? Forgot to signal your lane change? If so, you are a scofflaw and deserve to be jailed for the good of society!
You are SO, SO BUSTED!!!!
Can someone tell me how a mic is supposed to work without a power source? The phone is turned off, yet someone can still listen in? Did IQ points suddenly drop while I was away? (Thanks Ripley! :)
You can find a similar article on CNET
I would have to say Ben is a moron. The Rethuglicans, who were already kicked kicked out of office for their wrongdoings, have demonstrated a very healthy proclivity for misusing and abusing power, thank you very much.
I wonder if it would be possible to activate this without being the FBI? Could be an interesting hack if someone figured out how to call a cell phone and activate the feature. Do that to enough phones, and you could cripple the wireless grid with cell phone usage. Would cause trouble for emergency service.
What a mess. And sadly the FBI couldn’t be held liable for such damages, since it’s pretty close to impossible to hold a Federal agency liable for doing (or not doing) anything… just ask Hurricane vics, 9/11 families, etc. etc.
This could be such a gigantic mess if it were hacked. And it’s not something that could easily be fixed either. At a minimum a firmware upgrade would be needed, so all but a handful of phones need to physically be taken to the store, since FOTA is only supported on a few phones.
Can you imagine congress passing an emergency law requiring cell phone users to get a firmware update within 30 days?
Scary if it’s really true.
And how do we know you have done nothing wrong if we don’t investigate you? Of course if you have done nothing wrong there is little need to worry and when we do investigate you we will be discrete and neither tell you of the investigation nor leave any trace that in fact you were investigated unless of course we do uncover something but even then it will be our option.
Why don’t you just stick a wad of juicey fruit in the mic. hole?
Hey guys,
This is so easy for us, the techies. Just put on a costumed flip-close switch in series with the mic. That’s all…. Because if the phone is not flip open, the circuit of mic and main amplifier will be open, hence no voice signal can go through to reach the amplifier. And that once the cell is flipped open, the mic completes with the circuit. Simple as pi. :-)
The real issue here is if such a thing did exist, it would be used by parties other than the FBI far more frequently. Imagine how much personal info the identity thieves could get from you by using this? And to say “Oh its not crackable because we never told anyone how to do it” is BS.
Someone will figure out how to take advantage of it. If its real (I doubt it) then its only a matter of time.
The Mini-USB charging is a good thing IMO. How f’ed up is it to change your charging adapter every generation or so just to make consumers pony up another $39.95 for their 2ndary chargers, car chargers, etc.
I waer my phone on my hip, in a leather case, i know for a fact that you cant hear anything if you are listening while the phone is in the hip case. I know this, becuase until i learned to lock my keypad, it would often call people and they woudl get to hear ambient noise for a while.
I am skeptical of such a ability being added to recent phones. I suspect that this is actually a rehashing of a bluetooth exploit that was actually closed by the phone comminuty in recent years. The said exploit only worked via bluetooth and was limited by the physical range limitation of bluetooth.
However I wonder if there is anything to actually add to a phone to make this technically feasible. The phone carrier is already connected to your phone in a passive way. It is possible to conceive that they could send a signal that opened a call. hmmm.
Another way around is to wrap the phone in foil, sound will get through, but nort EM radiation. This takes care of hidden batteries, remote commands and proximal cell identification.
Why not just wire that switch to disconnect the mic instead? That way at least you can still txt ;-)
I don’t actually believe this. The FBI, probably did what they have done since the 1920’s, which is modify the phone so when it’s “on the hook” or in this case not on a call it’s transmitting to somewhere close by. Meaning they probably got the phone modified, and had a longer range transmitter installed. There are plenty of sites on the internet that will show you how to do this for yourself.
Not to mention it’s mostly the phone calls they listen to, which they just get a warrant (or not) to listen in, and it’s easy as cake to listen into the call, but for ops where they want to listen when the phone is off the hook it draws battery power. My guess is somehow they switched out this guys battery with one that had the transmitter installed, or somehow modified his phone.
If this was built into every phone, I think we’d probably know about it (there are always leaks). There are many models of phones (even 5 years ago) that could do this simply by going into diagnostic mode, and changing options where it would be transmitting to the cell tower when you ended your call.
I used telegrams until western union stopped that service a couple months ago. now i have to send someone money to include a message, what a crock.
To quote a friend of mine: “should come with a sticker “FBI Inside”"
What the hell is wrong with you people, if you are not selling weapons to terrorists or are a terrorists and you are not doing anything agenst our country what the F@CK do you have to worry about… Do you really think that your conversation is going to be that interesting to the FBI… do you really think that you are that important to them… GET A LIFE… If the FBI wants to listen to my cell phone conversations between me and my girl friends it is going to sound like a *** hot line… And if you are one of those Terrorists ******** I hope the FBI listens to your cell phone conversations and Kick’s down your door and SHOOTS you in the head… Welcome to America…!!!
GET A LIFE… If the FBI wants to listen to my cell phone conversations between me and my girl friends it is going to sound like a *** hot line…
A Concerned American… @ Dec 31st, 2006 7:20 am
Yeah, right. From the tone of the rest of your comment, you sound like a classic bull-fruit.
Lauren Weinstein runs the “Computer Risks Digest” which is the web version of the usenet newsgroup “comp.risks”. Comp.risks has been around on the Internet since the 1988 (pre-Web, pre-Gopher, etc.) and Lauren has been a regular on the ‘Net even earlier. Comp.risks has a long history of being the first place to hear about all manner of human-engineered computer and machine threats to life, limb and liberty. In many ways Comp.risks is an education in the dark side of the profession of human-designed interfaces of machines as compared to user interface design a la Apple, Don Norman, et al.
This is not to say that this blog is not reputable, but only that Lauren and comp.risks has a demonstrably longer legacy of reputable information about this kind of subject.