FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool

[seafan]

Heads up to the new Congress

FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool

By Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache
December 1, 2006

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.
Nextel cell phones owned by two alleged mobsters, John Ardito and his attorney Peter Peluso, were used by the FBI to listen in on nearby conversations. The FBI views Ardito as one of the most powerful men in the Genovese family, a major part of the national Mafia.

The surveillance technique came to light in an opinion published this week by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. He ruled that the "roving bug" was legal because federal wiretapping law is broad enough to permit eavesdropping even of conversations that take place near a suspect's cell phone.
Kaplan's opinion said that the eavesdropping technique "functioned whether the phone was powered on or off." Some handsets can't be fully powered down without removing the battery; for instance, some Nokia models will wake up when turned off if an alarm is set.

While the Genovese crime family prosecution appears to be the first time a remote-eavesdropping mechanism has been used in a criminal case, the technique has been discussed in security circles for years.

The U.S. Commerce Department's security office warns that "a cellular telephone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone." An article in the Financial Times last year said mobile providers can "remotely install a piece of software on to any handset, without the owner's knowledge, which will activate the microphone even when its owner is not making a call."

Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones, said James Atkinson, a counter-surveillance consultant who has worked closely with government agencies. "They can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time," he said. "You can do that without having physical access to the phone."

snip

Court Says FBI Can Use Your Cell Phone To Spy... On You

by Vic Walter and Krista Kjellman, ABC News
12-6-06

Cell phone users, beware. The FBI can listen to everything you say, even when the cell phone is turned off.

A recent court ruling in a case against the Genovese crime family revealed that the FBI has the ability from a remote location to activate a cell phone and turn its microphone into a listening device that transmits to an FBI listening post, a method known as a "roving bug." Experts say the only way to defeat it is to remove the cell phone battery.

"The FBI can access cell phones and modify them remotely without ever having to physically handle them," James Atkinson, a counterintelligence security consultant, told ABC News. "Any recently manufactured cell phone has a built-in tracking device, which can allow eavesdroppers to pinpoint someone's location to within just a few feet," he added.
According to the recent court ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, "The device functioned whether the phone was powered on or off, intercepting conversations within its range wherever it happened to be."

The court ruling denied motions by 10 defendants to suppress the conversations obtained by "roving bugs" on the phones of John Ardito, a high-ranking member of the family, and Peter Peluso, an attorney and close associate of Ardito, who later cooperated with the government. The "roving bugs" were approved by a judge after the more conventional bugs planted at specified locations were discovered by members of the crime family, who then started to conduct their business dealings in several additional locations, including more restaurants, cars, a doctor's office and public streets.

"The courts have given law enforcement a blank check for surveillance," Richard Rehbock, attorney for defendant John Ardito, told ABC News.

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http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1165815713294600.xml&coll=1">Police wiretaps can turn dormant mobile phones into live bugs

BY KEVIN COUGHLIN
Star-Ledger Staff

December 11, 2006

The FBI converted the Nextel cell phones of two alleged New York mobsters into "roving bugs" -- microphones that relayed conversations when the phones seemed to be inactive, according to recent court documents.
Authorities won't reveal how they did this. But a counter-surveillance expert says Nextel, Motorola Razr and Samsung 900 series cell phones can be reprogrammed over the air, using methods meant for delivering upgrades and maintenance. It's called "flashing the firmware," said James M. Atkinson, a consultant for the Granite Island Group in Massachusetts.

"These are very powerful phones, but all that power comes with a price. By allowing ring tones and stock quotes and all this other stuff, you also give someone a way to get into your phones," Atkinson said.

Privacy advocates call such use of roving bugs intrusive and illegal. Web cams and microphones on home computers soon may be fair game for remote-control gumshoes, too, they fear.
"This is a kind of surveillance we've never really seen before. The government can and will exploit whatever technology is available to achieve their surveillance goals. This is of particular concern, considering the proliferation of microphones and cameras in the products we own," said Kevin Bankston, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Converting mobile phones into stealth microphones violates the Fourth Amendment protection against overly broad searches, Bankston contends.

"They are planting a bug on a person and roping in conversations with many other people, wherever they go," he said.

snip

The FBI also has attempted to secretly monitor conversations inside cars equipped with dashboard communications systems like OnStar. An appellate court rejected the practice in 2003 -- not for privacy reasons, but because snooping interfered with the system's emergency features.

[TheWraith]

1. This is a bit light on technical reality.

For starters, you can't use a cell phone as a bug if the phone is actually turned off. Yes, with some models it's hard to turn it all the way off, but when they are, off is off. What they mean to say is that you don't need to be consciously making a phone call.

Second, they greatly overestimate the accuracy of the Assisted GPS technology used for E911 calls. It's more like within a hundred feet, rather than within "a few" feet, and that's assuming that your phone carrier can even do it. Most of them have fudged the requirements on E911 compliance because doing it right would cost too much money.

Not saying this isn't a concern, just that it's media salesmanship trying to parley it into big gobs of fear.

[Canuckistanian]

6. I agree

I work with GPS technologies and electronics. If they are able to do this exactly as they say, there are going to be a lot of pissed off customers with batteries lasting less than two days.

Even "sleep modes" require the phone to be on.

[file83]

7. 'When they are, off is off' - NOT TRUE.

The "special" software that the phone company can remotely upload to your phone can be designed to make the phone look "off" when it really isn't. They are, essentially, converting the phone to a bugging device - the one easy way to tell if they are doing this is if when your phone is off, the battery dies after only a few hours.

The only full proof way of making sure they aren't bugging you is to remove the battery.

[TheWraith]

11. There isn't actual software that does this.

That's just media bumbling of the technology involved. What it requires is a reprogramming message sent to the phone, ordering it to connect to another phone number silently. It can't affect whether the phone is actually off or not, and it can't be received if the phone IS off. The thing is that many people don't really understand the fact that most of the time, their phone isn't really "off," but in a standby state where it's still connected to the tower. If you turn it all the way off however, there's nothing doing.

Besides which, as you note, eavesdropping this way would be pretty painfully obvious to anyone in the know, since your cell phone would be constantly transmitting. That would not only result in the battery dying within hours, but also in being unable to place or receive a call, and with GSM phones, you'd probably hear the phone causing speakers to buzz if you hold it up to them.

[obreaslan]

2. The only thing that comforts me any more...

is their complete incompetence. If I thought they could actually find their collective asses with two hands and a flashlight, I would be more worried than I already am.

:cry:

[Imagevision]

3. Well, at least they were nice enuff to let us know....

[kenny blankenship]

4. It's NOT a bug

it's a feature!

Seriously, this sounds like one of those backdoors left in by mistake on purpose as part of the global corporate-policestate entente.

[Gregorian]

5. Can you hear me now?

You know what really _ahem bugs me about this?

Think for a moment about how they develop and implement this stuff. We are spending huge money on groups of engineers to devise techniques. They came up with many different ideas before settling on the cellphone mike. And not only that, but they are ripping cars apart and spending who knows how much money on fixing them microphones and equipment. Thousands of dollars to rip a car dash out and retro for sound?

My mantra is that we could have health care.

[file83]

8. What about the security implications of this? What if some Chinese government hackers

figure out a way to do this, say, to the cell phones used by agents of the Secret Service, or the CIA, NSA, etc...

Keep in mind that the very same hacker who broke into Paris Hilton's phone was also able to gain access to a Secret Service agent's phone through the same compromised servers.

The security implications are astounding.

[TheWraith]

12. It's worth noting that according to the cellular carriers...

According to them, this isn't possible except with their explicit cooperation.

By the way, that "hacker" got access to Paris Hilton's phone records by guessing her password. Nothing more advanced than that.

[elehhhhna]

9. Imagine the corporate espionage capacity of, say, a Halliburton or Carlyle Group with

access to this.

[OregonBlue]

10. I read somewhere that the way to test if your phone is really "off" is to

turn it off and place it next to your satellite TV of satellite radio. My satellite TV and my satellite radio always buzz and click when my phone is on. If the article is correct, that the phone can be accessed remotely even when it's off, would it also cause the buzzing and clicking if it was being monitored?

[TheWraith]

13. It's the speaker, actually, and yes.

GSM cell phones (T-Mobile and Cingular in the US) tend to cause buzzing in speakers when they're transmitting.

[OregonBlue]

14. I tried it yesterday and sure enough, when on it popped and buzzed,

when off, no sound. Not that I'm all that paranoid, but for those who are, leave your phone next to a speaker when you're not using it.

[TheWraith]

15. Bear in mind that it will periodically transmit during normal operation.

Every so often, the phone will talk to the tower, or conduct a coverage scan to make sure that it's using the strongest available signal. During these times it will transmit and receive data even if you're not using it.

In general, though, I don't think that this is worth being too worried about.