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Mobile phones set to become secretive new surveillance platformJamie Doward, home affairs editor Sunday April 1, 2007 The Observer The
home office is seeking to include a potentially controversial new provision in
an upcoming extension of the UK Terrorism Act. A section of the
draft tabled in the House of Commons last week, expected to see first
reading on Tuesday, will include the stipulation that all mobile phones
sold in the UK will enable authorities to remotely activate the handset
microphone for law enforcement purposes. Effectively, all mobile customers will be carrying 'bugs' that can be used to eavesdrop on their daily activities and interactions. While it is already the case that police have virtually unregulated access to mobile phone networks' handset location data – meaning that the locations of mobile handsets are able to be triangulated to within approximately 100 metres, on average – in addition to the fact that mobile calls are transmitted over unencrypted and easily-monitored public radio spectrum, the ability to listen to sounds and voices transmitted from 'inactive' phones will be a powerful new tool in the police anti-terrorism arsenal. Most mobile phones manufactured for the European market within the last 2 years, including those from makers Motorola, Samsung, and Nokia among others, are already shipped with the feature in a disabled state. Other manufactures are expected to be required to add the remotely controlled "Passive Listening Mode" feature to all new models introduced as soon as Autumn of this year. Deputy UK privacy commissioner Rila P. Loofs said Saturday "The commissioner is very concerned about this provision. It leaves the door open to serious abuse of citizens' privacy rights and will rightly be seen as yet another step forward toward the surveillance society. How will we be sure our phones aren't helping somebody to eavesdrop on our private conversations?". Passive Listening Mode can be enabled by a remote command from the network service provider. Counterintuitively, many mobile phones remain in a 'sleep' state even when switched off, and maintain a low-powered connection to the provider network. Such phones are able to provide handset location data when sleeping, and will similarly be able to be turned to passive listening even when they appear to be inactive. Short of removing the battery, there will be no sure way to know that your mobile isn't listening. The proposed addition to the Terrorism Act (2007) will not require authorities to secure court authority before making use of the new surveillance technique. The measure requires a "good faith belief that [using the feature] will result in the prevention of criminal activity"
South Africa
Zimbabwe government Movement for Democratic Change Commercial Farmers' Union Zimbabwe Independent Zimbabwe Standard Zimbabwe Herald Africa News: Zimbabwe Amnesty report on Zimbabwe Advertiser linksThe Morgan Stanley Credit Card0% interest for nine months on all balance transfers. morganstanley.co.ukCompare 0% Credit Card DealsUp to 12 Months 0% on Interest on Balance Transfers &... balancetransfers247.co.ukCompare 0% Credit CardsFind 0% balance transfer credit cards for 12 months,... creditcardexpert.co.ukPrintable version | Send it to a friend | Save story  |
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