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Most citizens carry said microphones complete with GPS and other tracking abilities... already

by geggam 10y ago

LinuxBender 10y ago
I agree with you. Every time I bring that up, I get down-voted due to the cognitive dissonance that folks have with their fondle-slabs. Now people are being conditioned to think it's normal for their microphone to always be on.
- shostack 10y ago
  Are there any good low-tech ways to disable them similar to tape over the camera? Not sure if tape alone would be sufficient to block audio.
  - hx87 10y ago
    A white noise generator placed over the microphone, perhaps?
    - nitrogen 10y ago
      White noise can be filtered out if it's not louder than the source sound within the frequency bands of interest over the time interval that matters for interpreting speech. So make sure it's loud, and maybe contour the noise to match the frequency distribution of speech, and maybe make it unpredictably variable over time.
      - DashRattlesnake 10y ago
        But wouldn't it only have to be loud at the microphone? So a quiet but very close white noise source (e.g. something taped directly over the microphone) could mask a louder but more distant source?
      - filoeleven 10y ago
        One neat idea from Neal Stephenson's Anathem (with likely analogues elsewhere) is essentially a chatterbox that records people speaking in a conversation, chops up the audio into syllables, and plays those back at random to foil eavesdroppers. This might work better than white noise, assuming you trust the computer that's doing the scrambling!
  - dyladan 10y ago
    Most cell phones have pretty low-quality microphones. My guess is that a basic white-noise generator in an inaudible frequency would render the microphone pretty much useless. That being said, there is the problem of then having to maintain the white noise generator.
  - loueed 10y ago
    Stick a neodymium magnet next to it, joking please don't do that
  - tombrossman 10y ago
    Depending on the handset model, you can open one up and physically remove (or disable) the mic, and use it with a wired headset that you plug in when you want to make or receive a call. Admittedly it is a bit drastic, but low-tech and very effective.
- pmarreck 10y ago
  > fondle-slabs you mean zombie phones? ;) Seriously, what you're talking about is one of the reasons I've wanted to get a Blackphone... but I think I saw a blip on my radar that it may be compromised
  - voltagex_ 10y ago
    Your choices now seem to be a pair-locked and hardened iOS device, or a recent Android running CopperheadOS. http://readwrite.com/2015/03/05/blackphone-2-privacy-mwc-spin-hacks/ http://readwrite.com/2015/03/05/blackphone-2-privacy-mwc-spi... has some more details on what happened to the Blackphone.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- StavrosK 10y ago
  To be fair, calling them "fondle-slabs" can't be helping your argument.
  - LinuxBender 10y ago
    I got that from The Register and I agree with their assessment. I can't walk 50 feet without seeing someone with their face buried in their phone, even while they are walking around town, oblivious to the world around them. It actually reminds of an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation where the ship was commandeered after the crew were "drugged" by a hypnotic game. I believe the episode was "The Game".
- blackrose 10y ago
  > fondle-slabs It's hilarious because it's true.

Most citizens carry said microphones complete with GPS and other tracking abilities... already

by geggam 10y ago

Most citizens carry said microphones complete with GPS and other tracking abilities... already

I agree with you. Every time I bring that up, I get down-voted due to the cognitive dissonance that folks have with their fondle-slabs. Now people are being conditioned to think it's normal for their microphone to always be on.

shostack 10y ago
Are there any good low-tech ways to disable them similar to tape over the camera? Not sure if tape alone would be sufficient to block audio.
- hx87 10y ago
  A white noise generator placed over the microphone, perhaps?
  - nitrogen 10y ago
    White noise can be filtered out if it's not louder than the source sound within the frequency bands of interest over the time interval that matters for interpreting speech. So make sure it's loud, and maybe contour the noise to match the frequency distribution of speech, and maybe make it unpredictably variable over time.
    - DashRattlesnake 10y ago
      But wouldn't it only have to be loud at the microphone? So a quiet but very close white noise source (e.g. something taped directly over the microphone) could mask a louder but more distant source?
    - filoeleven 10y ago
      One neat idea from Neal Stephenson's Anathem (with likely analogues elsewhere) is essentially a chatterbox that records people speaking in a conversation, chops up the audio into syllables, and plays those back at random to foil eavesdroppers. This might work better than white noise, assuming you trust the computer that's doing the scrambling!
- dyladan 10y ago
  Most cell phones have pretty low-quality microphones. My guess is that a basic white-noise generator in an inaudible frequency would render the microphone pretty much useless. That being said, there is the problem of then having to maintain the white noise generator.
- loueed 10y ago
  Stick a neodymium magnet next to it, joking please don't do that
- tombrossman 10y ago
  Depending on the handset model, you can open one up and physically remove (or disable) the mic, and use it with a wired headset that you plug in when you want to make or receive a call. Admittedly it is a bit drastic, but low-tech and very effective.
pmarreck 10y ago
> fondle-slabs you mean zombie phones? ;) Seriously, what you're talking about is one of the reasons I've wanted to get a Blackphone... but I think I saw a blip on my radar that it may be compromised
- voltagex_ 10y ago
  Your choices now seem to be a pair-locked and hardened iOS device, or a recent Android running CopperheadOS. http://readwrite.com/2015/03/05/blackphone-2-privacy-mwc-spin-hacks/ http://readwrite.com/2015/03/05/blackphone-2-privacy-mwc-spi... has some more details on what happened to the Blackphone.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
StavrosK 10y ago
To be fair, calling them "fondle-slabs" can't be helping your argument.
- LinuxBender 10y ago
  I got that from The Register and I agree with their assessment. I can't walk 50 feet without seeing someone with their face buried in their phone, even while they are walking around town, oblivious to the world around them. It actually reminds of an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation where the ship was commandeered after the crew were "drugged" by a hypnotic game. I believe the episode was "The Game".
blackrose 10y ago
> fondle-slabs It's hilarious because it's true.