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Cellphone carriers can listen in through your phone
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 11:09:55 -0400
From: Cellphones URL: http://cellphones.engadget.com/entry/1234000563053276/ Sent from: djf (dave () farber net) Sent to: dave () farber net Comments:Cellphone carriers can listen in through your phone?Aug 5, 2005, 10:20 AM ET by Ryan Block
We’re always a little wary of that very blurry line between protection of the general public and infringements on basic civil liberties, but it would appear that according to the Financial Times by way of the Guardian, at least one UK cellphone carrier not only has the power (and mandate) to remotely install software over the air to users’ handsets that would allow for the kind of monitoring we thought only perverts and paranoiacs had access to: picking up audio from the phone’s mic when the device isn’t on a call. While don’t think the backlash on this one has really gotten underway yet, and though we do hate to rock a cliché, we can’t help but be reminded of that classic Benjamin Franklin quote, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” What’s worse, a cellphone carrier and The Man are gonna take it from us without our permission on the sly?
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