Tell your average hipster that they can use VZ Navigator on their phone to get directions to the coolest new club through a GPS chip in their phone, and they'll probably think its pretty neat. Tell the same thing to your average healthily paranoid geek, and they'll hopefully question how else it might be used. Sure its cool, but if Verizon can do it, so can the government. On top of that, they may also turn on on your mic even when you're not on a call. In a follow up to my article on FBI cell phone tapping, we'll be discussing how you can be tracked on your cellphone, and under what circumstances.
Flip a switch and your cell is a bug
There is at least one documented instance where a case against the Genovese crime family relied on evidence collected by activating one of the defendants' cell phone microphones (not during a call, but while it was not in use!) to use it as a "roving bug", recording all conversations in its vicinity. This was done through the cell provider, and could be used against any civilian if a court order is given. The ability to do this is latent in most any modern cellular phone, and requires no physical contact with the device. Some sources say all GSM phones are vulnerable, while others say it depends on the manufacturer:
Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones, said James Atkinson, a counter-surveillance consultant who has worked closely with government agencies. "They can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time," he said. "You can do that without having physical access to the phone."
If the civilians can find you...
Arguably worse than turning your phone into a bug, it seems any civilian could potentially track you with the help of paid services like Accutracking, uLocate, World Tracker, and Flexispy (just to name a few).
To use these services, the spying person often needs to install the software on the victim’s phone, however the spying person need only have the phone in their hands long enough to navigate to a web page with the phone, and enter their user code. This causes the spying software to be downloaded to the phone and enabled. In some instances, the user will be sent a seemingly innocent text message that requests they download some software.
Once installed, the offender has a web page where they can view all manner of information. If the phone has GPS, you will get their exact latitude and longitude. If not, you get the CELL ID of the tower they are closest to, or their general location through triangulation. Most of these programs also give you the phone's in/outbound calls and text messages, all without giving any indication to the victim that this information is being transmitted.
...So can the Feds
It almost goes without saying that government agencies have a much finer grain of control over tracking your location. Due to September 11th and e911 compliance, by 2006 all cell phone carriers were required to provide the ability to trace cell phone calls to a location within 100 meters or less. Since many rural areas lack the necessary density of towers to triangulate to that accuracy, cell phone carriers instead integrated GPS technology into cell phones. Often times this chip isn't accessible to the user, so don't think that just because you can't see it, it isn't there. Some networks do have that density, however, and your cell carrier may be able to triangulate your position based on your signal strength to each tower your phone connects to. In these cases, then the more populated the area you're in (and hence the more cell towers around you), the greater the accuracy you can be tracked down to. And for any of you would-be 911 pranksters:
when the person who has the phone has made an emergency call, this GPS transmission will always be sent. This is designed to ensure that the police can always track a cell phone location, in order to get help to people who need it.
Another way the government can pinpoint your location is through the use of a technology called a Triggerfish. Triggerfish are pieces of hardware that emulate a cell tower. Once your rough location is determined based on your connection to a cell cite, a triggerfish can be deployed (perhaps in an unmarked black van?) to home in on your signal. Triggerfish can also get your phone's unique IMEI and serial numbers, phone numbers, and other data.
Update 2-11-2010: Apparently it's completely legal for the feds to track you without a warrant.
What you can do about it
In the case of the Genovese family case, the court denied motions by 10 defendants to suppress the conversations obtained by "roving bugs". That being the case, I would personally not count on arguing the legality of being bugged or tracked after the fact.
The first precaution I would suggest is to never let your phone out of your site, and not download files from untrusted sources. Beyond that, the only sure-fire way to make sure you aren't bugged or tracked through your cellphone is to take the battery out when you don't wan't to be... not very practical for the average joe.
If you watch or read a lot of techno-thrillers you probably know the trick of buying a disposable pay-as-you-go phone (with cash). This is possibly the only way to make sure you aren't tracked, and even then you'll need to change phones quite often to avoid patterns. All that, however, is beyond the scope of this article.
In reality, while using a celular phone you are at the mercy of the government, the FCC, and the phone company. The best defense is to stay off everyone's radar by not doing anything that arouses suspicion. For as they say, being a "law abiding" citizen isn't the issue, whom defines "law abiding" is the real issue.
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