[116689] in Cypherpunks
FW: Cell Phones Become Instant Bugs! from Telecom Digest
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Stewart)
Wed Aug 18 04:47:21 1999
Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990818011833.009a43d0@idiom.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 01:18:33 -0700
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
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Reply-To: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 99 14:37:28 PDT
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
Subject: Cell Phones Become Instant Bugs!
Greetings. A disturbing application for the new generations of digital cell
phones appears to be developing -- many models can be easily used as
remote-controlled clandestine listening devices ("bugs"), often with little
or no modification.
It turns out that many current cell phone models can be set into modes where
they are completely silent (no "boops" or "beeps") and will answer incoming
calls automatically. This latter mode is designed for use in hands-free
(headset) situations. A cell phone left in a strategic location set in such
modes may be silently interrogated from virtually anywhere on the planet
with a simple phone call, and will happily transmit the room conversations
back to the caller. When the caller hangs up, the cell phone resets, ready
for the next call.
In some cases, phones can be placed into this "automatic answer" mode
without any accessories being required. For some models, a headset
connector needs to be plugged into the phone, which may be modified to allow
the phone to continue using its built-in microphone when in its "bugging"
mode, or could trivially have a remote microphone wired via a very thin
cable to the actual cell phone some distance away.
Even without an outside source of power, many modern digital cell phones can
have standby times of a week or more, and be able to transmit conversations
for a number of hours. With an outside power source, they could perform
their bugging functions indefinitely.
Since various commercial firms are now planning to offer a wide variety of
location-based services using cell phone location tracking capabilities,
(which were originally mandated for 911 use), it seems likely that planted
cell phones may soon be usable to track the location of persons or moving
vehicles as well. Just picture a cell phone hidden in a car trunk with a
tiny microphone wired up behind the rear seat, for example. The car wiring
would also provide an ideal source of continuing power for both bugging and
tracking via the cell phone. Simple, cheap, and accessible from practically
anywhere!
Cell phones can also of course act as communications platforms for a variety
of other add-on devices, such as tiny cameras, small Global Positioning
System (GPS) units (for highly accurate location tracking that works
*today*), and so on. While the current generations of cell phones have
fairly limited data rates, and there are a variety of technical analog vs.
digital issues involved, many cell phones can still be used for such
"enhanced" applications even in the existing limited data bandwidth
environment. It must also be pointed out that a hidden cell phone could
also be used to remotely control or trigger apparatus connected to the
phone, under the command of the caller.
With cell phones becoming smaller and the associated networks ever more
ubiquitous, this whole area has a great deal of potential for serious
privacy-invasive and other abuses.
Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum --- http://www.vortex.com; Host, "Vortex Daily
Reality Report & Unreality Trivia Quiz" --- http://www.vortex.com/reality
[An earlier version of this appeared in Lauren's PRIVACY Forum Digest,
(http://www.vortex.com/privacy/priv.08.11)
Saturday, 7 August 1999 Volume 08 : Issue 11, which he has augmented for
RISKS. PGN]
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