h a l f b a k e r y"Not baked goods, Professor; baked bads!" -- The Tick
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Most people don't realize it, but even when cell phone are turned off- they're often not fully off. If some hacker (or 3-letter agency) decides to listen to you, they can remotely program your cell to transmit the sound to some designated number without you being aware, even when it seems to be turned
off [see links]. For this reason, in high-security locations it's standard policy to require removing your cell-phone battery before you enter.
This always struck me as a rather crude solution. I'd like to see some brave cell manufacturer (or self-assembly kit) that installs a simple on/off switch to the battery of your cell phone (or to the mike if you still want to text). This secure switch will physically disconnect the wires when it's switched off, just like normal switches used to do. This seems like a trivial solution to get privacy, and have a longer lasting battery to boot.
Notes:
* Even an amateur can verify that such a switch is really hooked up to the battery pack..
* Oh ya. And all this is equally applicable for your cell phone camera and laptop/PDA too.
Wikipedia: Covert listening device
http://en.wikipedia...rt_listening_device
[imho, Jun 16 2009]
Schneier on Security
http://www.schneier...otely_eavesd_1.html
[imho, Jun 16 2009]
[link]
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If you're that paranoid, just take the battery out. [-] |
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BTW, the cell-phone I'm looking at right now is switched off, and drawing around 200uA. If anyone knows how to power a GSM RF section off 200uA ('cos that's what you'd need to remotely switch this sucker on), I'd be happy to discuss an employment contract. |
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... if the switch was just at the microphone you'd even be able to still get messages (apart from the ones beamed directly into your head...) |
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//('cos that's what you'd need to remotely switch this sucker on)// |
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Unless a resident malicious piece of software woke the device up at specific, scheduled times, and then put it back to sleep (all the while without starting the display and keyboard locked?). |
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//Unless a resident malicious piece of software //
Well, I could explain why that wouldn't work, but then I'd have to be jolly beastly to you. |
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Firmware update then? Or at least, not so malicious software. |
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Dammit, shove a cron job on a Nokia N810... despite it having neither a cellular interface, nor analagous 'off' state (?). |
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(Any closer to that contract yet?) |
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I just wrap the whole phone in tinfoil. I always keep a large supply around, just in case. |
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//I just wrap the whole phone in tinfoil// |
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A tinfoil lined box would be reusable and the cat could provide an answerphone service. |
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If you regulary wrap youself in tinfoil, and keep the phone inside, then this is simply not a problem. [marked-for-irony] Solved with Tinfoil. |
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The whole point of this idea is that you can still use your phone when you need it. But conveniently disable it when you're at some critical strategy meeting, or making HR decisions, etc. To paraphrase the famous quote: "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're no listening in". And listening in to cell phones is incredibly easy for professionals. |
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Um, a custom-sized sound-insulated plastic box to put the cellphone in, with a little white-noise speaker inside would keep any useful sound from being picked up. The phone could still get RF signals, and could activate an LED as a "ringer". |
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Cool, the Samsung 900 series of phones are most vulnerable. Mine is retired to playing audiobook MP3s under my pillow at night. Somebody is getting an earful of Jeeves and Wooster, slobbering snores and the occasional obscene grunting. |
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Which gets back to the anti-eavesdropping. Switch a music-player phone over to playing Bon Jovi's _It's_My_Life or just random noise--and damn anyone trying to listen in. |
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I thought top-secret types were required to pool all their
cellphones in a shielded box at the start of such meetings. And
that's not because the rest of the folks at the meeting are
worried about somebody hacking your phone. It's because they
don't trust individual members (ie, you) to ensure their phones
aren't transmitting or recording. Besides, it would be very
inconvenient to accidentally hit that button while in the middle
of a conversation and have to reboot the phone. Mine takes a
full 2 minutes 20 seconds to reboot. |
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I also would like an appallingly stone-aged "Off" setting. |
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For a DIY solution a foil-insulator-foil sandwich could be placed between one battery terminal and its corresponding terminal in the handset, and the outer foil layers connected by a switch. |
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On a stupid Sony-Ericson 'phone I keep as a backup I take out the battery, place a small piece of plastic film over its terminals, and replace it, so that it doesn't drain the battery or activate the alarm (which cannot be deactivated without a SIM card. Aaagh!). <rant> It is useless without a SIM card anyway, so there's no reason not to be able to turn it off. I hate phones that lock you out entirely when you don't have a SIM. I never consider buying handset+plan packages because they encourage such artificial stupidity </rant>. |
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Spidermother, I have an old Sony Ericsson z500a and a z525, and
neither have an *active* SIM inserted. I left the original SIMs in
and they're deactivated, but I can access all the non-call and
non-internet functions, including the organizer, alarm, calendar,
games, phonebook, camera, and Bluetooth. Same with a couple
of cheap Nokia bar phones and a Samsung flip phone. I use
them sometimes for backup alarms and to play the games I
downloaded to them. Why did you remove the SIM from your
phone in the first place? Regardless, you can pick up a new SIM
for about 25 bucks. So my advice to you is to buy a new SIM
from whatever service provider that the phone came from, put it
in, and enjoy. |
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I knew a guy who was sure the CIA collected every photograph ever taken from a cell phone. |
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After a few days, I managed to convince him that they were actually recording video, and that new phones had the cameras because older phones had them hidden in the speaker or earpiece, and somebody found one. |
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Paranoids are fun to screw with. I'll have to tell him about the tinfoil trick if I see him again. |
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Just because the battery is disconnected, doesn't mean it can't eavesdrop. There may be a capacitor or spare battery on the circuit board somewhere, with enough capacity to keep the phone going for a few hours after someone switches it off. |
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Therefore, I think the best solution is indeed to wrap it in your spare tin foil hat. Yet another way this brilliant garment protects us from evil shadowy government surveillance types. |
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[21 Quest] The Sony Ericsson is a free hand-me-down and came without a SIM. I use it as a backup when a charger for my main handset is not available. It's not really worth spending even 25 bucks on. |
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I stand by my dislike of the bundling of innately separate products such as phone handsets with plans, and computers with proprietory operating systems. I think such things disempower consumers. |
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That's why I use an open-source phone ;D |
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"I just wrap the whole phone in tinfoil. I always keep a large supply around, just in case"
I just use emergency blanket material (plastic stuff, we call it space blanket in the UK), it's less crinkly. |
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Also you could print adverts on the emergency blanket for anti-tracking device companies, or therapists. |
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One thing that really drains the battery when it's on on a lot of smartphones is the internet function, especially those with 3G or WiFi, or in my case both. I downloaded a neat battery-saving app for my phone, which keeps the battery from draining while it's turned on. It's called APN Droid (which is actually a misnomer, since it has nothing to do with my phone's Access Point Name/number provisioning with my carrier), and disables the internet capabilities while leaving the call functions intact. If I need to go online, I tap the app's icon, it re-enables the internet (only takes about 4 seconds), do what I need to do online, then tap the icon again and disable the internet. It makes a *huge* difference in battery life. Of course, it also renders some of my favorite widgets useless, such as the streaming news headlines, so I rarely use it... |
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