Surveillance system to monitor mobile phones

Met police using surveillance system to monitor mobile phones article from theguardian magazine article tells that civil liberties group raises concerns over The Metropolitan police purchase of technology to track public handsets over a targeted area.

Britain’s largest police force is operating covert surveillance technology that can masquerade as a mobile phone network. This allow authorities to intercept SMS messages and phone calls by secretly duping mobile phones within range into operating on a false network, where they can be subjected to “intelligent denial of service”. The surveillance system has been procured by the Metropolitan police from Leeds-based company Datong plc. The disclosure has caused concern among lawyers and privacy groups.

This is just one new way to do mobile phone surveillance. Mobile phone surveillance has been possible in many ways earlier. Mobile Surveillance – A Primer highlights some of the potential surveillance risks posed by the use of mobiles. It is the nature of mobile cellular systems that the network operator knows the approximate location of all phones currently on the network, as well as maintaining extensive call and messaging records. And all data and voice you send and receive goes through the operator systems.