Cell Phones // Current

Presents Bankers Won't Be Giving for Christmas

With the economy in the toilet, bonuses eliminated, holiday parties canceled, it looks like the high end luxury market will see a... more

cringeNYC
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Revolutionary Nokia Phone

The new Nokia 888. Flexible, touch screen, lightweight, and liquid battery.

sydtaylor
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Shrinking the Bills

With the poor state of the economy, you might be thinking about ways to reduce your credit card and cell phone bills. Here's... more

Jael
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Sexting can lead to jail time

The days of passing notes in class are gone and students are turning to their cell phones and the Internet to communicate. The... more

cantucwearebrothers
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Zune Software coming to mobile phones...

The possibility of the Zune Software coming to smart phones is a good idea for the Zune product line, since there have been strong... more

FrankOmazing
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iPhone 3G now the #1 selling phone in the US!

Today NPD reports that the iPhone has surpassed the Motorola Razr, the previous #1 selling phone. This was based on Q3 sales. This... more

rob356
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TechnoRebel

Filmmaker Stuart Kershaw rebels against the notion of being contactable 24hrs a day by going cold turkey from his insidious... more

stuxwing
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Japanese Mobile Phone Publishing on ZDF

With publishing being forced to enter the digital world, the sudden boom of mobile phone novels in Japan has inspired many in the... more

tokomoe
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Do Cell Phones Kill 1,000 People a Year?

In June 2003, the Bush administration nixed a report on the dangers of gabbing while driving. Six months later, a Michigan... more

khaosworks
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Report Explores Terrorist Use of Web-to-Mobile Phone Technologies

U.S. Army intelligence fears terrorists will use emerging Web-to-mobile phone technologies and vice versa to help them plan and coordinate a terrorist strike, according to a draft paper circulating throughout the American spy community.

"Terrorists and persons sympathetic to terrorism recommend a variety of different mobile to web technologies software and Voice over Internet Protocol (VolP) for their mobile phone use," says the report. "Some of the tactics are old, some of the tactics are still emerging and some tactics may emerge from hacker, activist, and criminal non-terrorist use."

The paper, which appears on the Federation of American Scientists' Web site, explores five topics: the popularity of cell phone interfaces for disseminating propaganda, use of mobile global positioning systems for terrorist targeting, use of mobile phones as surveillance tools, the use of voice changers for terrorist phone calls, and the potential for terrorists to use Twitter—a popular social networking and microblogging service.

A host of propaganda in a wide variety of formats can be uploaded to mobile phones, while text messaging grows in popularity in jihadist circles, according to the paper.

The report states that GPS-enabled cellphones, specifically the Nokia 6210 Navigator, could be used by terrorists for travel plans, surveillance, and targeting. In May, a discussion thread on a pro-terrorist Web site, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of using Nokia GPS for terrorist purposes. One post noted that GPS could be used to find water as well as enemy locations.

Jihadist writing on the Web also discusses use of mobile phones' camera and video recording capabilities. One contributor to the online forum "Mujahedeen Army of Iraq Enabling Islamic Mobiles," writing under the screen name "Volcano," recommended using the camera/video options to surveil targets and document attacks. "Volcano" even suggested that a mobile phone camera could be integrated with missiles to film attacks, although the Army report says the idea is flawed.

Other terrorist discussion threads discovered by Army intelligence suggest that terrorists will use voice changing software to disguise their identities when making VoIP telephone calls. The report notes that this suggestion was made after media outlets reported the Taliban used the VoIP service Skype. According to the report:

The Taliban and other like groups suspecting their VoIP communications are being monitored could theoretically combine voice changing software with (or without) encryption and caller I.D. spoofing in order to make basic detection more difficult.

Finally, the report addresses potential terrorist use the social networking and microblogging service Twitter to communicate in near-real time using Web-enabled mobile phones. Twitter's so-called "mash-ups" allow users to integrate other tools, such as Google maps, into messages. The report notes protest groups during the Republican National Convention used Twitter to communicate the positions of law enforcement near instantaneously.

The report does come with caveats, however. None of the scenarios was tested for real-world feasibility and the entire report relied on open source data that was not cross-checked with classified information. Finally, the authors say each topic discussed is merely an introduction and each subject deserves papers, if not books, devoted to them.
U.S. Army intelligence fears terrorists will use emerging Web-to-mobile phone technologies and vice versa to help them plan and... more

TravG73
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20 days ago

Texas Prisons Fight Contraband Cell Phones

Texas prison officials are fighting an increase in contraband cell phones smuggled to prisoners, after a death row inmate called a... more

TravG73
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1 response

20 days ago

Cool Cell Phone [PIC]

It is called "ring-cellphone" and designed by Tao Ma...

stacy66b
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1 response

23 days ago

Mysterious Anti-Obama Text Spam Slams Cell Phones

Voters in Ohio have begun receiving mysterious Amber Alert-style text messages urging them to dial a recorded announcement about... more

goldenways
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11 responses

27 days ago

Rewriting LA History

For many Los Angelenos, even natives, a common effect of the urban sprawl is a feeling of disconnectedness to the city they call... more

rawbird
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8 responses

28 days ago

The Cell Out

WEDNESDAY October 22nd 2008 from 12 pm to 6 pm WORLDWIDE The Cell OUT is an organized cell phone usage boycott from 12pm - 6pm... more

goldenways
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3 responses

28 days ago

Google's mobile phone goes on sale today for $179

Google is jumping into the mobile phone

Jeffnfun631
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28 days ago

Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones

Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance.

Phone buyers would have to present a passport or other official form of identification at the point of purchase. Privacy campaigners fear it marks the latest government move to create a surveillance society.

A compulsory national register for the owners of all 72m mobile phones in Britain would be part of a much bigger database to combat terrorism and crime. Whitehall officials have raised the idea of a register containing the names and addresses of everyone who buys a phone in recent talks with Vodafone and other telephone companies, insiders say.

The move is targeted at monitoring the owners of Britain’s estimated 40m prepaid mobile phones. They can be purchased with cash by customers who do not wish to give their names, addresses or credit card details.

The pay-as-you-go phones are popular with criminals and terrorists because their anonymity shields their activities from the authorities. But they are also used by thousands of law-abiding citizens who wish to communicate in private.

The move aims to close a loophole in plans being drawn up by GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham, to create a huge database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain.

The “Big Brother” database would have limited value to police and MI5 if it did not store details of the ownership of more than half the mobile phones in the country.

Contingency planning for such a move is already thought to be under way at Vodafone, where 72% of its 18.5m UK customers use pay-as-you-go.

The office of Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, said it anticipated that a compulsory mobile phone register would be unveiled as part of a law which ministers would announce next year.

“With regards to the database that would contain details of all mobile users, including pay-as-you-go, we would expect that this information would be included in the database proposed in the draft Communications Data Bill,” a spokeswoman said.

Simon Davies, of Privacy International, said he understood that several mobile phone firms had discussed the proposed database in talks with government officials.

As The Sunday Times revealed earlier this month, GCHQ has already been provided with up to £1 billion to work on the pilot stage of the Big Brother database, which will see thousands of “black boxes” installed on communications lines provided by Vodafone and BT as part of a pilot interception programme.

The proposals have sparked a fierce backlash inside Whitehall. Senior officials in the Home Office have privately warned that the database scheme is impractical, disproportionate and potentially unlawful. The revolt last week forced Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, to delay announcing plans for the database until next year. Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to... more