Can A Cell Phone Be Tapped?

Your phone can be turned on from satalite.
Your phone can run on no battery (not function, but record)

I have a bit of a problem with this, nothing can run on no power. What exactly is it recording?
If you mean it is recording things in the room, then I again disagree. There is a definite difference in the battery life on most cell phones when they transmit, because it takes way more power, especially if it has trouble finding the tower.

The second thing is that while the digital network may transmit through satellites, that does not mean every cell phone has the ability to send or receive to one, if it did why would we even need cell towers?

Originally posted by dnero6911
Cell phones nowadays (correct me if I'm wrong) switch service towers depending on how close you are to the tower...
What I'm getting at is, could they not first use the GPS to locate which tower your nearest, after that, pinpoint your location by checking the serial number (the phones identity) (which is associated with your name at purchase) then from there, any encryption can be decrypted with the right equipment, which exists and is used when it serves their benefit.
Just because some little girl called the authorities for help because her mommy was hurt and they couldn't locate her doesn't mean the technologies aren't there, it just means its used for alternate purposes.

[edit on 3/11/04 by dnero6911]

Yea, this is basically right. But, the towers work like a (hmm how do i describe this) they work simultaneously to pin point your location say you have a tower 1 seeing some type of broadcast coming from somewhere, tower 2 sees it also but at a difference percentage of error, tower 3 also sees this but with even more error, they all speak to eachother and you are pin pointed to the best possible area (this is why they call them cellular phones, because the towers work in "cell" like areas). They send you a frequency and the electronics inside your phone vibrate or oscillate at this frequency, this is how your typical radio works, cellular phones are the same. So in essence if you have a decoder as you have explained in your previous post that could also vibrate at the same frequency you could hear what was going on, this would also lower the strenght of the signal thus on the comment someone stated before with the "fuzzy' noise. It's very easy to intercept any type of electromagnetic signal, you can get free satellite T.V. if you know what your doing, but thats nether here nor there.

[edit on 3-11-2004 by Aether]

scanners.........sheeeeeesh! of course they can! It's nothing more than a radio wave right? I've heard neighbors cordless phone conversations thru my sterio in the past! Kinda like the old cb radio thing when powered up or directional they would bleed over on the neighborhood tv's.

Everything you say on 90o/o of the communications equipment today can be sourced and listened to.

Ok, here are some mobile phone basics...
Analog network: easy to intercept. Essentially just high frequency radio waves. You can use an old phone, such as an Oki, to scan and eavesdrop on conversations. Fortunately, almost nobody uses analog networks anymore.
Digital networks(GSM,TDMA,CDMA,etc): because they are encrypted, these are far more difficult to compromise. TDMA is the easiest and GSM is the most difficult to eavesdrop on. The equipment to do this is expensive however, costing at least $12,000US. It is also highly illegal.

Also, it is relatively easy to track a mobile phone when it is on. Every few minutes you phone sends out a signal to register with the nearest tower. You can locate the general area that the phone is in by a method called triangulation. Very easy for your phone provider to do.

MYTH: your phone cannot be turned on via satellite or remote signal, and it cannot transmit without a battery. During the analog days, it was possible to turn on a phone remotely, but those days are long gone. The only way you could do something like with a digital phone is if you had previously flashed it with special software.

[edit on 3-11-2004 by apw100]

reply to post by dnero6911



Ok, the first thing you say is that this is fact- can you cite this? Anyway, I don't know HOW it's done, but I'm sure that the government has NO problem tapping anyone's phones at any time. The only problem there will be is that too many people talk too much bs. My point is that (I think) they search for keywords, and if they get a message that could potentially seem "dangerous," then they might tap your phone until they deem you not a threat.

Another part of this that you all are leaving out is sms (text messaging). I don't know how these send, but I'm sure it's the same, just like email they look for keywords, there aren't real people sitting there listening to you talk, machines pick up your call/text if there is a key word, THEN people sort through it. I'm sure it's tough, too, especially with slang like "da bomb," you have to be careful saying this on a plane, maybe this phrase would black-list your phone for a day or two.

Another point I would like to address is the idea of black-listing. In response to Tiffer168, anyone who is a "political threat," whether you declare yourself a socialist or communist or a pagan or wiccan (yes, I believe that religion plays a part here too), if you are a civil-disobedient, you are supposedly put on a "black-list," which means that potentially your phone and internet activity are monitored by authorities. I don't know if this is true, but I believe it, and I believe I am on this "list" (for personal reasons although I have been lucky to never be arrested).

I have many friends with varying levels of paranoia about our government, and I hear many theories, some with which I agree and some I think are just a little too paranoid, but isn't it logical to think that there is a good reason for some of these ideas? Just something to think about I guess...

Please please please help me... I have an old cellularone cell phone. It was made before 1995. I can type in the ESN if I want to. Can this phone still be used to monitor people's cell phones?

Originally posted by defcon5

Your phone can be turned on from satalite.
Your phone can run on no battery (not function, but record)

I have a bit of a problem with this, nothing can run on no power. What exactly is it recording?
If you mean it is recording things in the room, then I again disagree. There is a definite difference in the battery life on most cell phones when they transmit, because it takes way more power, especially if it has trouble finding the tower.

The second thing is that while the digital network may transmit through satellites, that does not mean every cell phone has the ability to send or receive to one, if it did why would we even need cell towers?

Microphones work via a metal membrane vibrating in a magnetic field, (A generator) it generates an electrical pulse, split the pulse and you can power the circuit and record the signal.

Every speaker is also a microphone. These are also generators.

Electronic circuits can be designed to work sub-threshold. What that means is that a circuit which operates at 4 volts, under power can serve a different function at 4 milivolts, which is near unpowered. They will behave differently but predictably. In fact there are benefits to running sub-threshold. Signals become linear rather than curved over a range of operation.

[edit on 29-8-2008 by Cyberbian]

reply to post by Justmytype


My cell phone conversations as well as my significant other's cell phone conversations were illegally recorded by using softwared such as CellSpyPro.com, or other softwared such as this. The perp was also able to receive a "ping" type of tone on their phone when ever I or my significant other made/received calls and we ansered. The perp was also able to, from a home PC, view all my contacts/directory, read all my SMS text messages, and see all pictures and videos that I sent and recieved. This person has been reported to the the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theaft, and a Criminal Attorney is working on encarcarate the perp. ANYONE CAN LISTEN TO YOUR CELL CONVOS, SEE YOUR TXT MSGS, SEE ALL YOUR DIRECTORY ENTRIES, AND SEE ALL PICS/VIDEOS YOU SEND AND RECEIVE ALL THROUGH THEIR PC. IF YOU HAVE BEEN A VICTIM, YOU SHOULD SUBMIT AN IDENTITY THEAFT COMPLAINT TO THE FEDREAL TRADE COMISSION AT www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov...

jesus christ.listen i dont know who comes up with the majority of the crap that has been posted. ok coming from a guy who has been a tower climber and a RF "radio frequencies" cell site forman i can tell every body whats up.first off to the guy whos friends dad had the scanner on his dash that could pick up phone calls,bull #. every thing sent from an antenna is a raw transmission and you could never get a single call to come in clear. on avg there are 60 thousand calls per antenna,there are usualy 3 antennas per site. "the idea is to blanket an area" second a GPS SYSTEM is not linked to any sort of your phone other than just that a gps system,it only transmits a 2 way signal ping from you to the currier and back to the holder of the account and thats it.....cell phones can be tapped,with out question. every call you make goeas through a cab it is esentially a giant computer the size of a refrigerator. all it is is a computer run by people. people call the currier tell them there identification num"as a police officer,agent,whatever" and thats it.its just like 3 way calling,nothing more and nothing less.

Do a search, yes they can.

cell phone transmissions from and to the towers are unencrypted and anyone with a receiver tuned to the right frequency can pick them up.

reply to post by Tiffer168


If you really need that level of security you can always buy one of these:

Sigillu Encrypted Phones

They claim they are impossible to crack.

Of course just one of these babies will set you back $1500 bucks and to be secure the other person needs to be using one as well.

The last time I saw the device for listening in on cell phone conversations, it was around $25,000.

This one worked similar to a scanner, which once you had the freq of the target phone, you could hear everything that came into and left that phone.

Right now, the FBI can listen into anything your phone can hear, as they have the technology to make your phone an active microphone.

You can have it turned off, and it still works as a microphone.

The only way to shut it down is to pull the battery.

Not only that, but viewing through block walls and listening through block walls is also very doable.

reply to post by dooper


Correct. Government agencies such as FBI, CIA, NSA, FCC have all the necessary equipment to scan for your cell's frquencies in use, decrypt any scrambled signal, listen in, all without relying on any telcom center or hanging out at the cell tower site. THey can also do a fix on your location, stationary or in motion.

The thing with these scrambler systems that are claimed to be unbreakable. They may be in the general public unless you got the decryption codes, however, as far as government is concerned, all devices go through the Underwritters Laboratory tests, plus such encryption is obviously patented, thus registered at the US patent office for US based code. Rest assured, the government can and does crack these "uncrackable" encryption codes, and can do it instantly.

I wouldnt worry tho. Government doesnt listen in just for the heck of it or listen to find out your latest gossip. If there is reason to be tapping your chitter chatter, then your doing something illegal and shouldnt be. They spend their time tracking down criminals and illegal activity, not waste time listening to blah blah jibber jabber.





Cheers!!!!

Ok, Wasn't there a case not too far back where the government busted some people by listening in on their cell phones that were not even turned on. And as a result, people started removing their cell phone batteries before important meetings.

reply to post by TamtammyMacx


Cell phones have miniature capacitors within the VLSI chips. These mini-caps do retain enough charge to keep certian circuits within the VLSI chips running, battery or no battery. However this charge cannot run the RF transmitter section of the cell phone, but can store information, such as audio in compressed form, into memory and then transmitted once the cell phone's battery is re-inserted and the cell phone turned on when it does its "handshake" with the closest tower. This is when that stored data is intercepted and BAM, Busted.

If a government agency wanted to do this function on a cell phone, they can flash it at any time when the phone is on..say just after the person makes a call. In less than a second they can send data to the phone that activates a special mode that every single cell phone has...commonly known as a diagnostic mode, which makes the phone become programable in real time..kind of like a debug mode when running software.

Again the government doesnt just go around debugging everyone's cell phone because they can. They only do that when they want to track and grab a criminal or crime in progress or want to gather information as evidence for a court case.

No worries, they dont just randomly access cell calls. It is a time consuming effort and thus is only done on phones they have reason to tap and debug.





Cheers!!!!

Originally posted by valkeryie
If you get a older scanner like a Bearcat, you would be surprised at what people say on their cell phones. My God like a soap opera. Anything you transmit can be intercepted.

What model of bearcat would you recommend?

I know this is an old thread, and the clip I'm about to link has probably been linked to before.
My incentive is that us Europeans who don't have american tv channels by default, may not know this or have seen it before.

I was quite alarmed. I thought the whole thing about being able to listen to people even though they are not using the phone was a huge joke... I guess I learned something.

phonetapping

In short... maybe you shouldn't worry too much about the government. Ofcourse they could utilize the same tech and even better probably.

But what we're dealing with here is simple software that in the wrong hands and carelessness from the cell phone user can enable the hacker to listen into and read every little piece of communication you make...
AND yes, they can use your phone as a one way walkie talkie if fx. it's lying on the table, hearing you conversation.

[edit on 7/4/09 by flice]

Don't forget Onstar is on all the time wether you subscribe or not. The trial of Scott Peterson in Cali a few years back they had recordings of his calls months after he made them and before his wife was killed. They record everything

reply to post by Tiffer168


okay so i have a reasons to be paranoid of my phone being tapped. im just a kid who gets his hustle on. nothing wrong with that.. but ihave been hearing about two months the feds are in town and no joke they have been.. but anyways it only happends when i am walking or im not moving at all in areas that i am frequently at. my home, every day routes and partticularly around the north east ends of my block that i live one...( police station is facing perfectly that direction. Everytime i reciev a text a calll or send one my phone makes a frequency noise and it sounds like a microphone picking up a signal and just the order it goes in, my phone moves slow and has been doing one more step when i turn it on.. this is very odd to me or perhaps we are just crazy and their plan is working..lol=0