FBI taps cell phone microphone as eavesdropping tool
By Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache
Staff Writers, CNET News
The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely
activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.
The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use
against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques
such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.
Nextel cell phones owned by two alleged mobsters, John Ardito and his attorney Peter Peluso, were used by the
FBI to listen in on nearby conversations. The FBI views Ardito as one of the most powerful men in the Genovese
family, a major part of the national Mafia.
The surveillance technique came to light in an opinion published this week by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan.
He ruled that the "roving bug" was legal because federal wiretapping law is broad enough to permit
eavesdropping even of conversations that take place near a suspect's cell phone.
Kaplan's opinion said that the eavesdropping technique "functioned whether the phone was powered on
or off." Some handsets can't be fully powered down without removing the battery; for instance, some
Nokia models will wake up when turned off if an alarm is set.
While the Genovese crime family prosecution appears to be the first time a remote-eavesdropping mechanism
has been used in a criminal case, the technique has been discussed in security circles for years.
The U.S. Commerce Department's security office warns that "a cellular telephone can be turned into a
microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone." An article in
the Financial Times last year said mobile providers can "remotely install a piece of software on to any handset,
without the owner's knowledge, which will activate the microphone even when its ow