If you have a cell phone, The FBI can hear you.

Here is a very disturbing video from FOX news of all people.

The FBI can activate you cell phone mic to be on even if your phone is turned off

This is pretty disturbing to me.

Fine with me. I feel sorry for them listening to all the pointless conversations people have all day long. Unless they have some supercomputer to process all the call they are probably going nuts already.

Privacy is overrated, it just leads to more crime and people hide stuff from others for selfish reasons.

I don't think they have to listen through mindless conversation. If you for any reason raise any sort of suspicion like say, voice your opinion on a site like this ,to be red flagged. They can target you like a gps and listen to what you are saying. Maybe you don't have a problem with big brother, thats cool

but I do.
and I don't think its cool.
I don't think its cool at all

[edit on 14-7-2007 by kleverone]

As far as that goes, you can plant a rootkit on someone's computer and turn on mikes and webcams if they have any.

And you can do it so that it doesn't show on their software firewall.

poor FBI. having to wade through footage of couch potatoes sitting in their underwear in front of computers and listening to them belch. i almost feel sorry for them. almost.

Originally posted by whitewave
poor FBI. having to wade through footage of couch potatoes sitting in their underwear in front of computers and listening to them belch. i almost feel sorry for them. almost.

Why would they have to wade through? They could track you by your IP address. They would't just wade through random IP addresses.

Regardless, the post was reffering to cell phones and how they can turn your mic on, on your phone(even if your phone is off) and listen to whatever conversation you may be having with the person sitting next to you.

I don't think they can if it's powered off, but just incase and if this actually worries you, pop the battery out before you say something you shouldn't...no battery = no mic, no matter what agency they work for!

This is just opinion but it's backed up withlots of paranoia based on the governments previous lies and sneakiness.

When they come out and say we can hear you "Unless you take your battery out", don't believe a damn word of it they can still hear everything. No I don't know how they do it but you canbet your ass they can.

This is true of land lines, as well, and has been true for almost as long as I can remember.

I'm surprised that it works while the phone is turned off, though.

Removing the battery would fix that problem, as Smith points out.

I don't know why anyone would be surprised that Fox would air this information.

I don't like every show on Fox, but as someone who's been watching the news for a long time, I will tell you that Fox's news shows, the one with Brit Hume, the one following with Shepard Smith and the Sunday show with Chris Wallace, are about as good as it gets, unless you're looking for programs that just tell you what you want to hear.


[edit on 2007/7/14 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by kleverone
Regardless, the post was reffering to cell phones and how they can turn your mic on, on your phone(even if your phone is off) and listen to whatever conversation you may be having with the person sitting next to you.

There's a couple of things happening with this.

The phone has to be one that can have new software pushed from the provider side, or you have to get your hands on it long enough to load the software.

That done, not all phones can be turned on programatically from a hard 'off' state, that is, where you pushed the button to cut the power off. However, all of them can be "answered" in such a way that you don't know they're active.

So for some phones, you'd have to have the phone on but not be actively using it. An incoming call can be placed in such a way that the new software will auto-answer but not notify you. No ring tone, no display, no LED, nothing, it looks like it's sitting at idle but it's got someone listening at the mic or looking at the camera.

For others, you can have the phone physically power up occasionally to see if
it needs to go into the bug mode.

A corollary of this is, GSM bugs are the big rage. It's really handy to be able to call the damn thing from nearly anywhere and not have to be in the next room over. There's an industry in close-to-postage-stamp sized GSM listening devices alone. Grant you, your clientele is a bit limited but the gubmint's always got money for that sort of thing.

They can stick them in monitors, desk lamps and what not.

Three things to clear up:
First, the FBI ability to listen in on cell phones does not apply to ALL types of cell phones.

Second: as mentioned earlier, they can only listen in if you have the right sort of phone and it is TURNED ON. A powered off cell phone is dead and they cannot activate it remotely.

Third: they cannot track you like a GPS unless you have a GPS enabled phone. Most phones do not have GPS and they best they can do is to locate which Cell Tower is receiving your signal, but not your actual location.

Keep in mind, that the FBI, and several other government agencies, can also, and does regularly, tap land line phones. If you are saying something that you don't wish the Government to hear, then don't do it over any type of phone. Power off your cell phone for better privacy, and if all else fails, simply behave yourself and avoid any devious activity in the first place.

Hey, if you like that one, if your car is set up to support hands-free Bluetooth phones, I can listen in to whatever you say in the car, as long as I can keep my vehicle in range.

Yep, Bluetooth is relatively easy to crack into. Far less secure than Cell Phones or Wifi. The good thing is that Bluetooth has a very short range so they have to be quite close.

[edit on 14/7/07 by Terapin]

Originally posted by sb2012
Privacy is overrated, it just leads to more crime and people hide stuff from others for selfish reasons.

OMG, really? People are selfish if they desire privacy? People who desire privacy lead to crime? That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on here. That's even more ridiculous than reptilians trying to take over the world.

I remember talking to someone in the 90's when i was young. He reckoned that in northern ireland all lamp posts in major parts of northern ireland had microphones in them. Just shows you they had the suspicion back in the early 90's, before all todays paranoia came about.

Don't know if true, but you wouldn't be surprised.

Originally posted by Terapin
Third: they cannot track you like a GPS unless you have a GPS enabled phone. Most phones do not have GPS and they best they can do is to locate which Cell Tower is receiving your signal, but not your actual location.

Make that Cell towerS (triangulation)
But yeah, indeed it isn't exactly the super pinpoint laser targeting system you might think it is.

It DOES have the chance of pinpointing your location, but it's rare. (Though a lot of nice estimates can be made)

That said, I remember when the whole fuzz was about america tapping lines all across the world on triggers by saying certain words.

*cough*BOMBS*cough*AIRPLANE*cough*TERRORIST*cough*

[edit on 15/7/07 by -0mega-]

Once i tried something. On a mobile phone i kept ringing 999(in uk), and putting the phone down. Within 3-4 minutes there was a police car outside our house. They knew exactly where the call was being made from.

You mean i can actually power my phone off and in the "privacy" of my living room go into a rant about the government and be listened to?

I think i'll put it to the test. In any case, the tv is also watching us, so is our web cams and that big fly i cant get rid of in my house...that was sent by the government.

When are they opening up the camps? I must pack.

Originally posted by dgtempe

You mean i can actually power my phone off and in the "privacy" of my living room go into a rant about the government and be listened to?

I think i'll put it to the test. In any case, the tv is also watching us, so is our web cams and that big fly i cant get rid of in my house...that was sent by the government.

When are they opening up the camps? I must pack.

LAWL thats funny......let me know ill be sure we go to the same camp.

Originally posted by theindependentjournal
When they come out and say we can hear you "Unless you take your battery out", don't believe a damn word of it they can still hear everything. No I don't know how they do it but you canbet your ass they can.

Haha the first thing that came to mind when I heard that on the news clip was a backup button cell battery in the phone somewhere. Paranoia for sure, but a part of me is wanting to crack open my cell phone right now.