IP: Cell Phones Become Instant Bugs! from Telecom Digest

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

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] 
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 12:28:45 -0700 
From: "Clark, David" <Dave.Clark () BCHydro bc ca> 
Subject: Cell phone sends jet off-course 
> From: "Telecom News - August 6-9, 1999" News Summary
> "CELL PHONE SENDS JET OFF-COURSE", *Ottawa Citizen*, 7 Aug 1999 
>
> "A Chinese plane drifted 30 degrees off course because a passenger failed 
> to switch off his mobile telephone. A crash was narrowly avoided after the 
> cabin crew found the phone during a desperate search while approaching 
> Beijing airport. Mobile phones are banned on planes worldwide but a direct 
> link with instrument failure has never been proved. The Beijing incident 
> is likely to provoke new air safely fears in Asia where at least one crash 
> is attributed to on-board phone use."