Legal Spying Via the Cell Phone System 139
An anonymous reader writes "Two researchers say they have found a way to exploit weaknesses in the mobile telecom system to legally spy on people by figuring out the private cell phone number of anyone they want, tracking their whereabouts, and listening to their voice mail."
Re:Legal? What about the new caller ID law... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:remove battery? (Score:5, Informative)
Or maybe batteries just have a tendency to run dead when not in use due to self-discharge [wikipedia.org]. Now get off my tech site.
Re:remove battery? (Score:5, Informative)
I once worked in a secured facility (DOE lab) where security briefings included being told that one of the reasons cellphones are not allowed is that they can be remotely tracked, accessed, and the microphones can be activated--even when the phone is off.
Whether its true or not, at a minimum, the people involved in setting security protocols for the DOE certainly think it is.
Re:it's not the headline that's bad. (Score:3, Informative)
You started out so well...
With the ability to read the constitution - and reason above a third grade level - it is 100% clear that spying on a US citizen's communications without probable cause AND a warrant is not an authorized power for the US government or a US state.
But then you had to go and ruin it:
It is also doubtful that there exists, or can exist with constitution as currently constructed, a justification for a private citizen exercising such a power.
The Constitution does not apply to private citizens. It is a document which enumerates the powers granted (or explicitly withheld from) the federal government and the states. It may be argued (though I would disagree) that the Constitution permits the federal government to prohibit private citizens from sending or receiving the radio signals required to eavesdrop on the cell phone system. If so, this would be in the domain of the FCC. However, nothing in the Constitution requires the federal government to prohibit such actions.
Unauthorized interception of someone's physical mail, or tapping into a wired communication system, is prohibited under common law as a violation of another party's property rights (in the mail or the wires, not the content--note that it is up to the owner of the wires to guarantee communications privacy to the end-users). Transmitting radio signals so as to alter the behavior of the cell system could be argued to fall under the same heading. However, nothing in the common law would prevent anyone from passively receiving and decoding the signals that system transmits over the air. If that is a problem, either (a) encrypt your over-the-air communications, or (b) communicate through a channel over which—unlike free-space radio—one can legitimately claim property-rights.
You missed something (Score:1, Informative)
In Soviet Russia, phone calls you!
You missed a small detail. It's supposed to be funny, too.