Can You Hear Me Now?

“Cell phone users, beware. The FBI can listen to everything you say, even when the cell phone is turned off.”
This is the worst kind of sensational journalism, implying that the FBI is listening into everybody’s cell phone calls. Only in the last sentence do you let the reader know that the FBI “maintains” it strictly observes the law and only engages in surveillance after obtaining a warrant from a judge(requiring evidence of probable cause that a crime has been committed and this person committed it). Why not just say “Homeowners Beware-The FBI can come in your house and search all your belongings!!!!”

If you don’t want a dictatorship then stop building one!

We are officially turning into East Germany.

This is insane that this judge gave the government this kind of blank power to surveil. What a nut job.

What about ONSTAR? I guess the FBI can listen to every conversation while we are driving in our cars, doing business transactions or making out with our girlfriends?

This ia a crock. ABC news should do more checking before publishing a story!

That was a STOOOOPID vote. According to the article the FBI gained access through a judge to use this procedure. They could and can do that by bugging a home or office. No difference as long as they got the courts approval. Orwellian? Doubt it since, we as individuals open our lives to “Big Brother” or scum of the earth voluntarily by subcribing to cell phones and internet. Dont get a cell or access to the net!

How far away does the listening post have to be? I don’t think they can with a encrypted satellite phone. Can you give me details? I need the info for a future illegal wire tap, right to privacy court case. Thanks Lucy.

No, i dont’ think it’s fair.
Everyone has personal lives that don’t want to be invaded.
I understand if the government is trying to keep us safe, but this has gone too far.

If you’re not doing anything wrong, then you should have no worries about being bugged!

I commend and applaud the FBI for following the laws of the United States of America by obtaining court orders and submitting to ongoing judicial scrutiny for all electronic surveillance it conducts. Maybee the White House, the NSA, and CIA will also start following the laws of the United States of America. Maybee not. The difference between the (White House, NSA, CIA)and the FBI is “THE LAW”. The FBI follows it but the others arrogantly & flagrantly desecrate & destroy it.

I approve of cell phone eavesdropping on the Genovese crime family. There has to be some balance or recourse for the abuse that will happen, though. Perhaps a fine for illegal use, or the ability to civilly sue the agents who deploy it, their supervisor, department, and judge who approves it. Nothing restrains a person’s behavior like having money removed from their wallet.
Ed

This is way tooooo much. Enough spying on us…you can’t have privacey in your own bedroom. The government needs to stop it.

“The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live – did live, from habit that became instinct – in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness, every movement scrutinised.”
George Orwell, 1984
“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.”
George Washington, Circular to the States, May 9, 1753
It’s not “You have nothing to fear unless you’re doing something wrong”.
It’s “You have nothing to fear unless the government is doing something wrong.”
SearingTruth

WEll…it’s not surprising that out government would take advantage of technology to spy on it’s citizens; given the free reign that the judicial branch has given our “prezodent” to execute warrentless wiretapping on “people of interest”.
It’s just another tool to undermine the freedom they say they’re trying to protect. It used to be freedom from oppression, to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; but now it seems more and more like it’s the freedom to control the every movement of it’s citizens. Are we free anymore?
With this new development, anyone with a cellphone has to wonder if the government is listening to them and judging the life they live.
I see us decending into a world where every word and thought is broadcast to those in power, robbing us of the freedoms that our constitution was supposed to guarantee. A sad day indeed.

I feel this whole thing is wrong and should’t be allowed to be done to anyone.It is an disshoner to be an American in this world today. Where will this world be in life in a few years. Nothing is yours, not even your own words and thoughts.

What if… you can also be heard, or seen, through your TV or monitor via cable, internet or even AC power…?
Well… it’s been posible for years!
Why be so paranoid? All you do is waste your life away in front of the TV anyway!

I don’t agree with it unless it is used in the same way as wiretaps. As in, it requires a court order to allow this “celltap”.

I would be more concerned with what the Angels hear you say than the FBI. The Government can kill your flesh but after that they can do nothing more. Oh, does your cell phone have a camera?

I THINK THIS IS CRAZY WE HAVE NO PRIVACY I THINK THAT THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO INVADE ON ANYBODY PRIVACY LIKE THAT WHAT GOES ON IN PEOPLE HOMES IS NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS

Where are we safe from government intrusion? Cell phones are pervasive – now so is the government’s ear. Maybe worse, so is the ear of anyone else with this technical capability. Think about that – criminals monitoring victims, terrorists spying on law enforcement, political opponents doing what Nixon did. No checks and no balances and you never even know it’s happening. Ask yourself: Is this the country our Founding Fathers envisioned…

They are using the “terrorist” as a reason to pass any law, and we are indeed a communist state, or getting very close to it. Pretty soon the SS will come busting down your door, hell, they are doing this already, they are just called the “police” and not “SS”.

With all the laws being passed in this country it’s no wonder things like this happen. Joe Citizen wants the government to look out for him, his kids, his food, his health,his car. He doesn’t want to have to think for himself, he doesn’t want to have to take care of his own, not when we can pass laws to take care of it for him. Well Joe, looks like you’re getting just what you wanted!

Gosh, I forget to charge the cell phone half the time. Does that mean that once the battery is out of juice any potential intrusion is thrwarted?

This is crazy. I wonder if I can take my new phone back to Verizon and tell them that I want out of the contract because of this and that it was never disclosed to me?
This is total BS.

Anyone who believes that the FBI or any government agency always follows the “rules” need only to look at their circumvention of the FISA courts. Power corrupts, period. I’d rather they not have a loaded gun in the office, because over time, there’s a good chance he’ll use it on me.
THose who give up liberty for security deserve neither, they are cowards.

The implication for me is not whether the FBI follows the letter of the law in it’s own use of this technology but rather who else is the technology available to and will they be as scrupulously judicious in their use of it as the FBI apparently is?

LOL @ everyone who assumes this isn’t done legally. It says so in black and white right in front of your faces, yet you still whine about your rights being violated. Didn’t these people notice that this was done with a judge’s approval in a criminal investigation involving organized crime?? And for those of us in federal law enforcement, it’s sad that these people will never understand just how difficult it is to get a T3 order sometimes…. Sad.

This is not at all the same as searching someone’s house. When the FBI knocks on your door and searches your house you know exactly what’s going on and they obviously can’t do it without a warrant. But in this case anyone within the FBI can just spy on you, no one has to know. Obviously this system is extremely vulnerable for abuse.

Unfortunately, but true to uniform, the one Law Enforcement Officer who shows up here calls us whiners and demonstrates first class the line they themselves have drawn between ‘Us and them’. Pretty typical LEO mentality. Whose whining? Us or you? Like I used to say in the military, you put on the uniform, quit complaining about it and serve.
The potential for abuse and misuse of power is what is at stake here. In this instance, a judge signed off in a “criminal investigation of organized crime”. So what, right? Good that they put away scum.
But the erosion of true freedoms, not civil liberties but real freedoms, like the right to bear arms or a right to privacy always starts innocently and under another guise. Dont believe me? Look at the McCarthy era. Look at America today.
Good luck Bubba. I am sure when the time comes you will be the right ‘tool’ for the job.

You people are all having delusions of grandeur if you think the “government” wants to listen to you talk on the phone. This program, if it really exists, is meant for serious Federal crimes to which dozens of agents are assigned to and which are meant to either put dangerous criminals in jail or to capture terrorists. The “government” (which by the way is made up of people who also speak on cellphones) has no interest or time or personnel to listen to you talking to anyone. Get over yourselves.

Vic and Krista. Doin’ the high level reportin’. Did you guys get your credentials from Chuck E. Cheese University? Nice job of inflamatory reporting. What ever happend to objective reporting? Does this concept even exist at ABC? I’ll bet your editors used to work for fine and upstanding print media like, The National Enquirer, The Star or perhaps The Sun. I think this is a great tool! No more dangerous or misusable (is that a word) than bugs and other listening devices. 1984? Indeed. Get a life.

While this story’s primary value is to sensationalize non-proprietary facts of modern life rather than to crack some super secret, most of the bloggers responding need to pull their heads out of the sand and read. We want complete priveledge and convenience and safety with no personal cost. You want to use plastic instead of cash – that identifies you, tracks you and profiles you. You buy clothes and items from Walmart which have RFID chips imbedded – allows the same as your plastic. You want a TIVO box in you living room to record shows or movies for your convenience but do you know what it provides to the service? Don’t panic, just become aware of the trappings of modern life in a technologically driven World!

I have no problem with it. Little stuff like this is nothing compared to the sacrifice our service men and women are making to keep this country safe. i don’t consider myself a radical nor do i have any affiliation with the government. i’m a normal working man who appreciates his privacy but if this helps keep me safe, so be it. i’m not crazy about someone listening in on me but guess what…it ain’t gonna kill me. PEOPLE…LIGHTEN UP!! this wouldn’t be the end of the world, and (commenter Josh on 12/5 will love this) i’m not doing anything that i have to worry about. with the state of the world we have now there are a LOT of bigger issues to worry about.

They can only tap your phone if they go through a due process which means they would have had the right to bug you by other means. This does not give the FBI the go ahead to listen to just anyone’s conversation. Assuming they stay within the realm of the law.

…and anyone who is stupid enough to believe that the FBI or any government agency actually pays the slightest attention to the law (which they are charged with upholding!) deserves what they get – namely, spied on.
Where is the independent oversight? Where is the check and balance?
Anytime your privacy is invaded – especially if you are unaware of it – you are directly affected, and Big Brother wins again.
It’s people like pappy, above, who are the real problem: “just role over and take it” cause the govt know best…tell me this pappy…there are laws on the books in most states regarding sexual practices defined as “illegal”. By your logic, since you have nothing to hide, then you won’t mind having a policeman stationed in your bedroom just to make sure?
Or do you suddenly “get” why it’s called “PRIVACY”?

They could easily do the same thing with your telephone – listen in on the telephone’s microphone, or even easier to use would be the microphone on a speakerphone which is found in almost every office. However listening in within people’s homes or businesses is very serious business which MUST be over-seen by Congress.
However of course the Republican-lead Congress has had minimal over-sight over the electronic eavesdropping activities of the intelligence agencies, which may have encouraged the development of some of these more invasive listening techniques. I wonder if we will see electronic counter-measures, for example a device that you can attach to your cell phone to notify you of unusual radio waves etc.

Everybody, I really don’t have a problem with this. What’s the big deal if they know what I’m saying. I have nothing to hide. Besides, if you’ve got a problem with it, just take out your cell phone’s battery. Forget about aluminum foil. The only thing that worries me is that this turning into both of the Orwell books “1984″ and “Animal Farm.” You all know what happens in “1984,” but some of you might not have read “Animal Farm,” so I’ll tell you. Basically, It’s based on the Soviet Union. The leaders are pigs and they slowly change the rules until the animal “utopia” becomes a slave farm. All rights are taken away and the leaders are greedy and turn into the humans they had revolted against. That’s what I’m worried about. Our leaders will turn into the one thing we fought against in the first place, in the American Revolution. You know what they use to persuade the animals into going along with it? “Surely, comrades, you don’t want Mr. Jones [the human who had previously run the farm] back?” You know what my respone is to that? “Surely, Americans, you don’t want the tyranny [British]back?”

I knew my battery was draining faster than normal when I wasn’t using it…I’ve got to flush some things down the toilet.

To think of all the people who died for freedom, and now we have random microphones everywhere.
Walking on eggshells all the time is not a life worth living.

Rioght on J.F. Pepper…we should be spending our Tax dollars on tech that can save lifes instead of trespassing on liberties…How about an army of bomb sniffing dogs, have them run down the road or robot go carts?
Yes this needs a judges approval…but with domestic spying going on, does that need judges approval as well….???

I figured someone might be able to do something like this.
The recent phones they refer to are probably the phones that include the 911 location information systems. I always thought it would be easy to watch the location the phone moved in purely by watching the phone’s location tracking satellite info.
As for kicking on the mike/camera operations – I’m surprised a good hacker couldn’t figure out a way to do this. The new phones are heavily computerized and this would just be a programmed activation, a common feature on newer phones. Similar methods are used when the cellular provider activates a new function on your phone remotely. They change it and it pops up as active on your phone. This would rely on remote phone’s internal programming being accessable to the cellular provider.
As for the remote power on function, I was surprised by that. It would explain why the new phones don’t have near the battery life of the pre-911 system phones. The phone in essence has to be “on” at a minimal level all the time!

“Wake up and smell the coffee” anybody with a radio scanner can eaves drop any conversation carried by any cellphone. In my previous job, a co-worker listened to “private” conversations with his radio shack scanner, which by the way now it is prohibited.
Let’s face it: the air waves are open and public. don’t use the darn thing, if you want privacy.
we listened to a woman having an affair with a doctor, a kid who was demanding the insurance company and he confided to his friend over the phone that the car was dumped in a canal to claim money. and these conversations were carried like 60 miles away.
so I’not surprised at all

Brothers and sisters: we are so far beyond 1984 that Orwell no longer applies. When I read his book 40 tears ago, it left the impression that there would be no escape from the eye of Big Brother, but we made it to the new millinium, and could actually have a private moment if we paid hiking fees to the government for visiting our wilderness areas. A place where there where there was no 60 cycle per second magnetic hum from the wiring in our homes, business’s and streets. A place of exquisite quietness that can’t be described but only felt.
That is before the cell phone, which operates on microwaves emmiting from the towers that you see whever you might travel. You can take your trusty cell phone with you into places like the Mount Jefferson Wilderness, and many people do for security, without even considerating the trade off. To be sitting by a mountain lake, and have your only contact with the outside world play a robotic little electronic tune, and disrupt the peace and harmony of the moment is not cool.
Now George Orwell was speaking of the government keeping track of you through your TV set, which did indeed seem like a scary prospect, but the US has taken it out of the living room, and put it on the person of millions of people on this fragile planet.

it should be a crime to eavedrop on someones convesation. what is this world coming to . No privacy.

I am at the moment within the surveillance, “love the FBI!!”
Not to be disclosed you would be in shock where I am bugged, and how I am bugged at the present moment. It is hilarious, non fictional. You want to make a bet? You will lose!
May all go to h@ll within the limit of depriving the FBI the rights of all agents to conduct federal affairs, may they listen, and keep on tracking with the “electronic babysitter technology,” goodness that is why I am alive today!!
Thank’s for violating my rights[but wait, it is, thank you for saving me!!], within the limit of the legal scope!! I stated please bug on, and place more electronic surveillance, babysitter technology into my home, cell phones, home phone, bug it up the walls!! Do not forget the lamp!! Infact place a “James Bond – technology, manner into real life affairs.”
Infact “I ask for coily on my computer everyday now!!” [and yes, it seems far fetched, but you would be in shock to how they respond!!] it is basically ;
Hello, federal agent!!
It is good morning FBI Agent!!
It is good evening FBI Agent!!
It is now also, “I am awake FBI Agent, and doing well!!” You got my sleep schedule down packed!!
It is also “FBI AGENT etc.. NEXT!!”
Now it is get it out there agent, the hell with the rights of the people of the country, please, what do you have to hide from the “BIG BROTHER?”
Totally true!! And hello FBI!!
Sincerely to FBI agent/whatever Federal Agents!!
Seems crazy?
Seems far fetched?
Seem un real?
Totaly true!! Do not doubt my words, I have NO privacy, and I never committed a crime!!” within no limits of being in an area of a crime!! But ty!! FBI AGENTS!!

well lets see, what will I do??? I will leave my cell on, I beleive in the security of our nation, I believe that there is a terrosit threat to us all.. Now that I said that….Would someone that is listening, please send any of my phone calls ( that have been recorded ) and let them listen to one…It won’t surprise them…the cost of living is high, got to work two jobs, to pay heath insurance, gas prices etc; all of it..Oh forget it, I may win the lottery, and have enough to live on for a couple of years…Don’t forget the great benefits we get when we retire…The average person, may as well work till the day they die. thats they only way to survive…Our priorites for this nation and people have changed…maybe this election we all ought to look and see what choices we have, and what they have done in the past, not what they promise us for the future…I think we would all be surprised………………

Onstar, the new RFID and facial mapping used for the new toll roads being built, the ID of this computer connection I am using, phone taps, email taps, My Space traps, it’s all crap to protect your well being. I’ve become comfortably numb…

Cell phone insurance companies all accross American are allowing cell phones to be stolen each day and building in the cost to the insurance. I work for a company that insures cell phones. In the last 6 weeks, I have stopped over 150 cells phones from being stolen. How many roadside bombs have been stopped? None probably, but I am trying. allowing them to be stolen is ridiculous. This can be stopped if anyone tried to do it. I could do it. But, big business does not care. It is the cost of doing business. Ever wonder why your cell phone service costs so much? Stop wondering, it is because it is easier to screw you than it is to stop theft.

“I just shouldn’t buy the phone?” Last I checked, I didn’t buy a cell phone in order to have this functionality. This functionality isn’t just a function of my phone, it’s a function of deals that security agencies make with phone manufacturers and OS developers. Technology is what we build and how we build it, not just a given that falls from the sky.
My phone contract does not disclose this functionality in any shape or form, so I’m not “complicit” in my own bugging by just signing the contract. Please.

Why is anyone surprised by this? I have known this is possible for a long time. It is why I will not own a cell phone.
And memo to those who are screaming about your “right to privacy”. You are using a public network to utilise devices such as Telephones (both landline and cell). The keyword is PUBLIC, folks. If you are so worried about this then you should not use any public networks. No telephone, no internet, no cable/sat TV.
The courts long ago decided that you have no assumption to privacy when utilizing a public network. Just like they have stated that you have no “right to privacy” when using your employers phone or computer.

I am an American Citizen, I have rights. Get this un-constitutional law out of our country, and back to Nazi Germany where it belongs. This is a direct breach of both our 4th Amendment rights, and FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act).
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
-Benjamin Franklin

If only Gore got elected in 2000, none of this war, terrorism, and civil liberties bullshit scare would’ve happened.

Its not that we actually have freedom here, We are in the 1984 scenario and have been for years.
The simple fact is this: The American illusion of freedom is better than the other countries illusions of freedom. So we stay and enjoy the illusion while we can. If i had the money, no, I wouldnt live in the US. but where would I go? There arent many places that have the freedoms (remember, still illusions) that we do.
Its about choosing the lesser evil, because theres nothing good left.

Hey, listen don’t be surprised I’ll give you something else you might not know. Now when you buy a Dvd or something at the store examine the entire thing (the case) and see if you can find a white sticker, peel it off oon the back side of it is a tracking device.

Who pay the bill?? the user??

Do you REALLY believe the FBI has nothing better to do than listen to your mundane daily conversation or you “making out with your girlfriend”? Get a clue. Unless you’re a member of a crime family or terrorist group or any other type of criminal, there is no probable cause for a warrant.
You live in a make-believe world if you think you can have total freedom and total security. The two are mutually exclusive.

As one that has been raided and harassed by the FBI and then proven “clean”!! I can tell you that the FBI is arrogant, dangerous and not all that smart. The idea that we are protected by the process of a judge signing off on a warrant is a joke – judges sign what ever the FBI puts in front of them. They misinterpreted an email from someone they were investigating to my wife and it cost us $10,000 and a year of hell. The are fascist and have no common sense. I am looking into filing civil charges.
SW

So, if there is a leak in the Witness Protection agency, and the guy who is the leak wants to find the person(s), he can activate the cellphone?…
The FBI, just like cops and CIA agents, have people who get fired for abusing things. Can you imagine a possessive agent using this on his ex-girlfriend? Using it to get credit card numbers and other sensative info? What to keep hackers from finding a way to do this?
If you make jokes about terrorists and such, do you get RED FLAG and a file at the FBI office?
There are sites that tell you how to remove the EDR from your car; I await one for this. I have nothing to hide, but as said in the TV series, “The Prisoner”, “…my life is my own.”.
So I guess this means other devices, like OnStar, can do this as well…..

Is aluminum foil the same as tinfoil? Or does aluminum foil make a better antenna?

Please – everyone take a chill pill. Courts have ruled for decades that law enforcement, when properly justified with a search warrant, can ‘wire tap’ your phone or ‘bug’ your home or office. So now they plant the bug by turning on the mic in your cell. Or your portable. Or desktop. And the difference is ???
If you’re not into anything seriously illegal you have nothing to fear.

WE ALL NEED TO KNOW FOR SURE WHICH MOBILE/CELLULAR AND WHICH MODELS HAS THIS FEATURE.

Eveything you read to yourself causes your vocal cords to move.
Much of what you think about causes your vocal cords to move. How low of a range can be listened to? Can they listen to thoughts? If your vocal cords move sound is emitted right? Can that sound be detected? Makes one curious!!

Those among us that spend their time worrying about barcodes on one’s wrist and micro-chip tracking are a day late and a few dollars short. The DAY you strapped on a cell phone was your demise. Yeah, bit<h about the Patriot Act…"We must not sell our freedoms!" What a joke…they've already been sold to Verizon.

i think everyone who assumes that the FBI, or any government entity does everything legally is stupid. people who say that they cannot do it without a warrant are stupid. you assume that the government is willing to process every and all law breaker. well i have some information for you. the government protects its own. on the oglala native american reservation, starting in the 1970s, the FBI came in with full attack gear and bombed and tear gassed and shot up dozens of unarmed native americans. then, when the armed native americans came over and attacked the FBI, the FBI declared the native americans with guns as “terrorists.” the definition of terrorists changes with each new regime of power in the United States. the fact that all these laws and infringments upon our freedom are done to protect us from a disputable word, well, thats just scary. welcome to Orwell’s world. Big brother is here

I am embarressed to be an American. This regime exploits the environment, the countries of the world and its own people to satisfy a need for power through deception. Our country was born by individuals seeking to escape abusive governments. How long until Americans begin to seek asylum in other countries?

Yah, what if they are listening in on your phone converstations and acting on everything you say.Then sending devious people to affect you and your life? Plus pushing you into rotten situations then pointing the finger at you like everthing is you fault.

This is common in Colombia. The Colombian authorities have intercepted some cell phone models, and they have modified its software to use the phone as a mic. But, it is easy to avoid this interception. It is just necesary to take off the battery when the user needs some privacy..

I feel this is something that should be known, because it can and is often abused.
What it is and what it isn’t.
It is not “tapping phone calls”
It is not a “outgoing call”, so detecting the RF transmissions by placing the phone near a speaker will not alert you to being bugged.
It is not “built in” the phone from the factory, It is a modification to the firmware in the phone, uploaded from the central network.
Because of this it is customized to the phone make and model.
On “most” phones it does not work when the phone is powered off. However on nearly all current phones when the phone is in “standby” mode it can bug you.
HOW IT WORKS
Modern cellphones are powerful computing devices. Your phone has a feature on it you most likely never use, the voice recorder. Well the bug uses a modified routine based on that, the codec used for the voice recorder is far higher bit rate than the “bug” application. That codec is based on the speex codec at only 2.15 Kbit / second. There are two banks of memory on cell phones, application / OS memory, and user data. Using only 1MB of application space(so as to not show up when you look at memory usage) just over 1 hour is recorded. Using the new highspeed data services that 1 MB file can be uploaded and listened to.
SO wrapping your phone in foil when you are conducting “business” will do you no good.
As for listening to phone calls… EVERY CALL IS LISTENED TO IN THE USA.
Using advanced speech and word recognition software, calls are monitored and “tagged” for review by personnel. While there are hundreds of millions of telephones on average less than 15 million are in use at any time. With data center clusters placed throughout the country nearly all calls are monitored.

It’s not just the FBI. We have a local techie kid who is terrorizing “the cute girl” with this method. Death threats, telling her mom what she’s doing in the kitchen. The whole thing.

PS nothing derogatory or disparaging meant against my former employer by my above remarks; I would expect any reasonable person or company to have acted similarly in the current environment where there is no longer any mechanism to provide a check or balance to the unfettered power of the current police state in the US.

Whats the difference between listening to criminals at a stake out while hiding somewhere and listening through a cell phone? How is one to collect evidence if at some point some spying is not used? What is the big deal that this technology can be used now? Ok so it’s easier to spy – so what? That’s good in good hands and bad in bad hands. What’s new? Government will never be perfect but hey – how many people here would NOT use this technology if it was available to them when they had strong reasons to suspect their spouse was having an affair, but they just didn’t know? How different is this than the really “old” days when you just sort of walked to a location you knew your spouse would be and sort of looked to see if they were with another lover? Both are “spying” – I think it’s human nature to protect ourselves and to use whatever method we have in order to do it. Is it wrong? Maybe – sometimes – is it justified? I think yes, sometimes it is, in both cases. For both terrorism and infidelity. How different is that than asking your neighbor or friend to look out for you / “watch” your spouse for you? Hey, if you’re gonna do something, be prepared to be caught. And please tell me, what ARE “ethical” means of catching criminals, terrorists, etc? When you see them commit the crime alone? Only when they come to confess? No? We need to be more aggresive? What, then, shall we do that 100% protects everyone’s privacy rights? It’s an issue with these two things naturally at odds, period.

This ability to ‘tap’ into your privacy is an extension of the stripping of your civil liberties. Hear me out. Here is the set-up. The ruling faction — in this case the government — is cooperating with corporations that have no allegience to America. These corporations are global and are not restrained by or loyal to geographical boundaries. You may have noticed that the ‘powers that be’ who are supposed to be champions of the American people and the American ideals have changed team colors. There isn’t anyone carrying that flag anymore. They carry the flag of Corporations and use patriotism to get citizen ‘buy-in’. I need only to point to the inordinate and flagrant increase in out-sourcing (agriculture and manufacturing), the unbelievable influx of immigrants (in spite of 9/11) and the super highway they want to approve that runs from South America up through the US to Canada…to name a few. It is not even logical to allow these decisions to pass after American vulnerability has been so painfully demonstrated. No one seems to be concerned with protecting Americans’ liberties and rights except us — the American citizens.
Folks, the days of being able to blindly trust those who lead us unfortunately is ebbing. If you get past the nauseating feeling in your stomach, you will see the truth for what it is. I AM a proud American. I LOVE this country and all that it stands for. I HONOR those who have served to protect her such as my father who served in WWII and my brother who served in Vietnam and as I do those who are serving their country now. They did (and do) what they did and are doing because they are patriots and want to serve the country that provides them and their families rights, liberties and the freedom to pursue happiness.
My concern is that times and loyalties have changed in the highest offices of our country. So when I read “The FBI can access cell phones and modify them remotely without ever having to physically handle them,” and “Any recently manufactured cell phone has a built-in tracking device, which can allow eavesdroppers to pinpoint someone’s location to within just a few feet,” I am sad to say I am alarmed. Not because the federal government is utilizing new technology to track criminals, but because I cannot trust the government to limit their power and usage to only those incidents that warrant it.

(final thought)
Protect your rights and weigh the protection of those rights against that problem that they are trying to solve by taking that right away. Does it make sense? Have they taken all the other obvious measures?
I come back around to national security. It takes me 2 hours to get through security at the airport in order to protect the American citizens against terrorist attacks. I am ok with that. But I have to ask myself why then is immigration is up at alarming rates in spite of the evidence suggesting the immigration system is fallible and unable to sustain the current immigration activity? Why are they are opening a super highway which requires additional security measures even though we can’t currently secure the border as it stands? And why are they encouraging the weakening of the American infrastructure and America’s ability to sustain ourselves by outsourcing manufacturing and agriculture to other countries? It just doesn’t add up and that, my friends, and that is when I worry about the motivation and agenda behind the laws being passed and revisions to our constitution. Protect your rights now before we inadvertently give up our right to protest and protect ourselves (see the first and second amendment). In fact, this is a good time to read the US Constitution. Decide what you are willing to part with. Do a little research and understand what type of government control the forefathers had experienced that led them to choose these particular articles and amendments. By eroding these rights you are opening the door to the very government controls they were getting out from under. Pay attention. Think. Take action. You may not agree with me, fortunately we have the right to disagree and form and express our own opinions!
So, yeah, the cell phone thing bothers me.

This is great!!!! If your not doing something illegal you have nothing to be concerned about now do you? 99% of people have nothing to worrie about and if the FBI can stop one crime so we can sleep better at night than great!!! What if they could have prevented something like 9/11. If they would have prevented that, than they would have been heroes!!! selah… think on that!!!

this lyric tells us who is lost inside without emotions of us.We ll never be able to get loved or find where we are.Cause it is our destiny,it is our end,it is,it is … for ever!
we missings… ( ( ( (
: : : :

I’m not suprised at all. Most governments in the past all over the world have lasted on average 200 years, which puts us right there towards the end.

FBI STINKS

Well well well… I saw on TV a few nights ago EXACTLY how anyone could use this “bugging technique” themselves. I can’t remember what station it was on (Damn!), but the TV Tech-Jock illuminated the fact that there IS existing software that will facilitate the endevour seemlessly for you… I wish I had the method…. It’s like haveing a master key…. you never really use it, but it’s damn nice to know you have it! ;=) Anyway, the program showed how you could ‘intercept’ a suspect’s phone number with a laptop (and the gee whiz software). After gleening the number, your software can call the number (without ringing the cell phone) and bingo, the microphone is in place. The only way an unsuspecting holder would know his phone was being hijacked was IF HE WERE TO BE LOOKING AT HIS CELL PHONE SCREEN WHILE TO BASE CELLPHONE AND SOFTWARE WERE ACTUALLY CONNECING TO HIS CELL PHONE…. BUT THAT HAPPENS IN A MATTER OF 3 SECONDS…. Wow… If you happen to be incognito and want super privacy, I suggest you find a geek that can tweak your phone to add a switch YOU control to activate the battery’s ON/OFF… God bless ALL your americans… and SCREW BIG BROTHER!

Let us think about this for a minute. Your family immigrated to America from a Middle Eastern counrty dreaming of free rights in this glorious land. They raise 3 daughters and 3 sons. All have at least a masters degree and several are small business owners that stimulate the economy with employing personnel and paying taxes, and maybe corny, but love this country because of the people and freedom. They get overseas calls from Germany, Greece, England, Jordan, and Bethlemen, where they originated. Now, since they are Palestinians, they have relatives who live everywhere in the world rather than be stressed out living in the West Bank. So all their family spread out in the world are rarely called by them, too embarased to tell them, I don’t want trouble in America because every race and religion has deranged people who use religion to justify terror-type actions and blame America for everything.
Then, comes September 11th. You cry as you watch on TV the buildings burn. But, something also happens, Three men beside you start talking about crazy Arabs who have an evil religion. You feel deeply hurt by the country you love but are angrier at the terrorists who are deranged cowards who mistakenly think God or Allah, will reward them for this unjustified brutality. You call in to a radio talk show because what you love about Americans is that they are willing to listen.
The family knew very few Arabs growing up. Also, the father sant them to Church because he grew up with Christian and Muslims but mainly Christian (remember Bethelem).
Know, the 2 sides of the family, mother and father’s side, are very fair-skinned with green, blue, and green eyes. No one can tell their nationality.

I’m somewhat intrigued by this. I wonder if this is the kind of thing that Bob Woodward has been talking about in recent interviews as being our most recent top secret big advantage in pinpointing the bad guys in Iraq…

good theory accept for the fact that those same exact words were in the movie eagel eye.

the FBI still shoudnt be able to listen to what your saying it doesnt matter and i also heatd that they can do this with tvs i heard they can see you instead of just hear you thats messed up you know

The government is not using this sophisticated technology to listen in on your everyday, boring life (unless you are a terrorist or member of the mafia or likewise, then your everyday life is exactly what the are listening to). They don’t care about what you as a law abiding citizen are doing that might not be so moral. They are using this is protect you from the big bad boogie men that could pose a serious threat to society. And they are doing this all with PERMISSION in the form of a warrant. They get warrants for traditional “bugging devices” this is just a safer, more reliable method. These mobsters just weren’t as smart as the Jihadists, they know to take the battery out or have stopped using them all together.

Good news! Thank you!

They’re more than welcome to listen to mine any time. Though, it would be a lot like watching fishing…
*snore*

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