--Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren@vortex.com
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum --- http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
>Host, "Vortex Daily Reality Report & Unreality Trivia Quiz" http://www.vortex.com/reality

 Date:    Sat, 7 Aug 99 16:14 PDT From:    lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein; PRIVACY Forum Moderator)

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!

 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 abuses.