US intelligence 'regularly' access smartphone and laptop cameras
US law-enforcement officials are “routinely” tapping into the microphones of smartphone users, according to revelations in court documents that have come to light in criminal cases, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The source said intelligence can turn on microphones and cameras
The Wall Street Journal said that: “Federal agencies have largely kept quiet about these capabilities, but court documents and interviews with people involved in the programs provide new details about the hacking tools, including spyware delivered to computers and phones through email or Web links—techniques more commonly associated with attacks by criminals.”
“In some case the software can conduct on-going monitoring, recording emails and other communications the suspect sends, or turning on the device’s microphone or camera,” it said.
A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment to the WSJ.
It reported that the FBI “can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google’s Android software to record conversations.”
A “former U.S. official” told the paper: “It can do the same to microphones in laptops without the user knowing.”
It added that the FBI "hires people who have hacking skill, and they purchase tools that are capable of doing these things."
“Officers often install surveillance tools on computers remotely, using a document or link that loads software when the person clicks or views it. In some cases, the government has secretly gained physical access to suspects' machines and installed malicious software using a thumb drive, a former U.S. official said,” the paper reported.
Commenting on the report, the New American website warned: “Readers should understand that it is not only possible for the federal government to listen to your conversations using the microphone in your Android smartphone and watch you while you sit in your own home on your own computer, but they do so regularly and can do so very easily.”
It added: “A person’s expectation of privacy when sitting at home talking to a friend is ridiculous in the face of the judicially upheld fact that government snoops may now use powerful surveillance technology to use your idle mobile phone as a very active mobile microphone or to use a laptop’s built-in camera to take pictures of any American at any time for any reason.”