I commend and applaud the FBI for following the laws of the United States of America by obtaining court orders and submitting to ongoing judicial scrutiny for all electronic surveillance it conducts. Maybee the White House, the NSA, and CIA will also start following the laws of the United States of America. Maybee not. The difference between the (White House, NSA, CIA)and the FBI is "THE LAW". The FBI follows it but the others arrogantly & flagrantly desecrate & destroy it.

wow....very scary...someone needs to do something about this!

I approve of cell phone eavesdropping on the Genovese crime family. There has to be some balance or recourse for the abuse that will happen, though. Perhaps a fine for illegal use, or the ability to civilly sue the agents who deploy it, their supervisor, department, and judge who approves it. Nothing restrains a person's behavior like having money removed from their wallet.
Ed

this sounds like a lot of crap to me

This is way tooooo much. Enough spying on us...you can't have privacey in your own bedroom. The government needs to stop it.

Mr. Ross: The ability to use televisions has been extant for more than ten years here in Texas, and it is used indiscriminately, notwithstanding the protests of the FBI. In addition, these surveillance devices continue to be combined and used as weapons like in the movie Minority Report. Please help investigate and reveal. Be advised, you will become a target of these pain giving body interfering RF waves that are used as an RDIF system on our homes and our very living spaces even with protests to all in authority daily. Complaints do not work. The state/locals will not act against another unit of drug enforcement or other unit. The meters to prove this electronic assault are expensive, and the average person unaware of it anyway. Illness is being caused and disabled people are being harmed 100 percent of the time and the authority unable or unwilling to stop it. George Orwell didn't know the half of it.

"The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live - did live, from habit that became instinct - in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness, every movement scrutinised."
George Orwell, 1984

"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."
George Washington, Circular to the States, May 9, 1753

It's not "You have nothing to fear unless you're doing something wrong".
It's "You have nothing to fear unless the government is doing something wrong."
SearingTruth

Is this part of The Patriot Act Package?

WEll...it's not surprising that out government would take advantage of technology to spy on it's citizens; given the free reign that the judicial branch has given our "prezodent" to execute warrentless wiretapping on "people of interest".
It's just another tool to undermine the freedom they say they're trying to protect. It used to be freedom from oppression, to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; but now it seems more and more like it's the freedom to control the every movement of it's citizens. Are we free anymore?
With this new development, anyone with a cellphone has to wonder if the government is listening to them and judging the life they live.
I see us decending into a world where every word and thought is broadcast to those in power, robbing us of the freedoms that our constitution was supposed to guarantee. A sad day indeed.

I can't believe my eyes ..... there are people in this blog who APPROVE of these kinds of intrusions by the government !!!! Kudos to all who invent countermeasures to thwart the government !!!!

I feel this whole thing is wrong and should't be allowed to be done to anyone.It is an disshoner to be an American in this world today. Where will this world be in life in a few years. Nothing is yours, not even your own words and thoughts.

Would people stop blaming the judge? I have to think, if I were in his shoes, I'd do the same thing. It'd spare me the countless hours of hearing Bush stumble through speeches about "inherent powers" and so on. Besides, a decision like this always opens up the door to appeals.
On the other hand, if enough of us think this is a bad idea (I certainly do), let's write our Representatives and ask them to impeach this rogue. After all, judges are the officials most often and most successfully impeached by Congress.

What if... you can also be heard, or seen, through your TV or monitor via cable, internet or even AC power...?

Well... it's been posible for years!

Why be so paranoid? All you do is waste your life away in front of the TV anyway!

the problem i see are these phones are out in the public domain.to get a warrent to bug someone's office because you have evidence of criminal activity there ,is one thing.to have a bug that can be brought into unsuspecting third party homes is another

I don't agree with it unless it is used in the same way as wiretaps. As in, it requires a court order to allow this "celltap".

I wonder about the implications worldwide? Is it possible for the CIA to turn on the microphone of the Canadian Prime Minister's cell phone? I mean they all use the same satellites right? And are there any other countries that have this capability?

I would be more concerned with what the Angels hear you say than the FBI. The Government can kill your flesh but after that they can do nothing more. Oh, does your cell phone have a camera?

"Holy cow Batman, they know who you are"

I THINK THIS IS CRAZY WE HAVE NO PRIVACY I THINK THAT THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO INVADE ON ANYBODY PRIVACY LIKE THAT WHAT GOES ON IN PEOPLE HOMES IS NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS

Assuming that the article is correct about the FBI being able to listen in on _any_ recent cellphone, then I would say that the real story here is why manufacturers are complicit with this sort of spying.

Seriously - when the government is unable to pass laws directly enabling them to do something, they turn to big business and offer incentives (or extortion) in return for favors.

For example, look at PayPal. They have constantly lived under the fear of being regulated as a bank. So far, they haven't been. Notice that they also don't allow people to sell anything "morally objectionable" - even though the items in question may be perfectly legal. Why is that? Because the government essentially extorts companies like this - in PayPal's case, do things the government's way, or else get treated like a bank - and watch your business model dissolve.

This sort of thing happens all the time, and this is the real crime. Corporations should stand up for consumers and freedom. But they don't, and the government takes advantage of that.

Government manipulation of big corporations is a serious back-door to circumventing the constitution.