FBI can turn on your phone mic?

[The Stig]

Original story HERE on foxnews

Feds move to surveillance tactics associated more with underworld of computer hacking
Published August 03, 2013
The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. government is expanding its suspect-surveillance programs to include tactic developed and more commonly associated with some of the world’s most sophisticated and criminal-minded experts – computer hackers.

Court documents and interviews reveal new details about the closely-held programs, including spyware that can be sent to computers and phones through email and Web links -- techniques more commonly associated with attacks by criminals, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2awPRRkps

This is the part that made my heart skip a beat.....

A former U.S. official told The Journal that some of the technology allows the FBI to remotely activate the microphones in phones running on Google Inc.’s Android software to record conve

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2awPftZn5

Ok...let's not get all tin-foily wacky here but I thought this was some intel worth passing along in light of the recently revelations about who's keeping tabs on whom.

I know I've mocked people before for suggesting this. Apparently I owe them a deep apology.

[The Stig]

Original story HERE on Wall Street Journal

Excerpts from the main story on WSJ

The FBI develops some hacking tools internally and purchases others from the private sector. With such technology, the bureau can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google Inc.'s Android software to record conversations, one former U.S. official said. It can do the same to microphones in laptops without the user knowing, the person said. Google declined to comment.

Earlier this year, a federal warrant application in a Texas identity-theft case sought to use software to extract files and covertly take photos using a computer's camera, according to court documents. The judge denied the application, saying, among other things, that he wanted more information on how data collected from the computer would be minimized to remove information on innocent people.

[bacpacker]

Sounds like a wire cut or maybe a little desoldering is in order!!!!

When confirmation of stuff like this comes out, it really makes me wonder how much of the far out/whacko stories are real. I heard stories about being able to activate mics on phones, computers, as well as TV sets years ago. Hard to believe that was true back then, now it is confirmed. Makes you wonder what else.

[greg48]

If it makes anyone feel any better big sis/brother, DOD basically all the agencies with the inclination to kick in your door, has the ability to develope 3-D images of your house, in map form etc...to include rooms and in most cases tell what furniture is where in each room etc... don't know if the ability can reach into deep rooms in basements? Bascially seeing into your house...DOD has the ability to turn a phone on in your pocket. Before someone thinks I'm looking for black choppers, with out to much OPSEC breeching, I know both these to be fact.

[ak474u]

If it makes anyone feel any better big sis/brother, DOD basically all the agencies with the inclination to kick in your door, has the ability to develope 3-D images of your house, in map form etc...to include rooms and in most cases tell what furniture is where in each room etc... don't know if the ability can reach into deep rooms in basements? Bascially seeing into your house...DOD has the ability to turn a phone on in your pocket. Before someone thinks I'm looking for black choppers, with out to much OPSEC breeching, I know both these to be fact.

One of my customers was an engineer at a defense contractor, and told me they can see people in their house with a satellite, and capture the Floorplans from space. So... That's not too far-fetched. I remember NATGEO or pop science doing a magazine article back in the early 90s with a photo of a book cover next to a guy napping on a blanket in Central Park taken by a satellite. That was then, I'd be ashamed of them if they couldn't do better now.

[Gunfixr]

This is rather old news.
Yes, they can turn on the mic of the phone, the screen will either not light up, or flash on for only a second or two and go back out. It can then be used to listen to anything that it would normally be able to pick up.
They cannot turn it into a "super mic".
Your computer can have the camera for chatting turned on, or if you have a gaming system, and it has a camera, or tv that can do live chat, they can be turned on.
The only requirement is a link of some kind. For the phone, it's either wifi or the cell signal. For other devices, it'll be the same link that the system already uses.

I personally don't do live internet chat anyway, so I put electrical tape over all the camera eyes on the computers, etc. I don't worry about the phone, it's not sitting where the camera can see anything anyway.
Of course, the phone can be tracked at any time via gps. Some new phones do not allow the gps feature to be turned off.
Turning off the phone will not defeat it, the battery must be removed.
Interestingly, many new phones do not have removable batteries.

[MegaCPC]

I've always thought this was a possibility for a while now, since everyone uses cellphones.

I always put my phone down with the camera facing down, but there's not a whole lot to do about the mic.