[My niece sent me this piece. It originates from Radio 702, a notable radio station in Johannesburg. This story was also printed in THE STAR, Johannesburg, but unfortunately I can’t find an online copy. If someone can find it, then please drop a copy of it in the Contact Us page on my site. My comments follow below the article. Jan]

If you are a Vodacom subscriber, that is…

This story has been all over 702 this morning — also check out their website to verify.

Yesterday a listener called in to say that he was able to tap into cell phone conversations at random, and that it was apparently very easy (you just have to press a few buttons on the cell phone — 702 correctly did not reveal HOW to do it). The listener said that he got this from school kids, and that it is common practice for school kids to do this for fun during break times — they love the thrill of eavesdropping on lovers’ tiffs, etc.etc. Since then a number of people and school kids have called in to confirm that this is in fact possible!

702 spoke to a Vodacom spokesperson yesterday who refuted this and said he was 100% sure that it could not be done. He claimed that the listener must have been talking about their conference call facility, or their chat room facility. 702 put it to the test, and hey presto, they were able to tap into various calls (in some cases hearing only one side of the conversation, and in other cases both). 702 played some snippets of the tapped conversations this morning. One of them was a business deal being conducted!!

702 has revealed this to Vodacom, who are presently investigating. They are presently refusing to comment.

What is frightening about this is firstly the intrusion of privacy, and secondly, the security threat it poses. It will not take long before our ingenious criminals use this as a means of obtaining easy information about targets. And of course not to mention blackmail!

Both MTN and CellC have confirmed that it is “impossible” on their networks (famous last words…)

[Jan’s comments: I can easily believe this. I say that because Cell Phones are actually run by computers. In South Africa, all cell phones are digital.

I do not actually want to reveal everything I have learned about Cell phones. But I want to tell people, Cell phones are *NOT* as safe as people have been led to believe. Look, no electronic communications mechanism is “safe”. There’s no such thing. If its electronic it can be used to snoop on you.

The idea that you can punch in a “code” and listen in on calls is interesting. Technically, I am sure it is possible. Its like when you dial a certain code to get say, an international number. There’s nothing stopping the programmers from programming certain CODES into cell phones as “back doors” so that they can access special features. I can’t see it being difficult. There may be many such “back doors” in cell phones which only engineers and programmers even know exist.

I know some programmers who have worked for cell phone companies. And the stories they have told me are really interesting. Judging from the things I heard, I’d say there are all sorts of things that are possible on cell phones.

Some people say that a cell phone can be used to track you – according to which CELL you happen to be in? Well, I was told that the information available from the beacons is much more directional than that… So being “tracked” by cell phone with greater accuracy than just a “cell” may very well be possible.

It could be that backdoors have been created that would enable people to do certain things. This is a theoretical possibility. Such back doors may have started out as tools to be used by the engineers and programmers to trace faults, etc. But later… such features could have been made available to or been demanded by Government or Security/Intelligence Services… for their use.

I would be curious to know how the children got hold of these codes in the first place. Who first gave it away? I wonder if it was not an ADULT who was authorised to have this facility who gave it to his kid… and then the whole thing got out of hand??

Finally: To truly tap a cell phone effectively… the only people who can do that properly are the cell phone companies through whose computers the calls run. Rest assured if the Government wants recordings of your Cell Phone conversations, they will make appropriate SECRET arrangements with the Cell Phone company who will then hand over your calls to them.

Note: As a matter of policy, South African Cell Phone companies will not give you, nor your spouse, any copies of your calls. Apparently, spouses were doing this and it caused legal problems for the Cell Phone companies. So if you ever ask them for a recording – even of your own calls – you will be told it does not exist. *BUT*… it does exist… and if the Government feels you are a criminal, or a threat to national security… they will get the recordings.

So remember – a cell phone is NOT SAFE – no electronic means of communication is… AND TOP OF THE LIST OF UNSAFE COMMUNICATION METHODS IS: COMPUTERS!!!

FINALLY: I welcome info from all technical people regarding cell phones, telephones, computers, etc. It is always good to gather data on these technical toys which we use so much in life. Just drop a line on the Contact Us page of my website if you have useful info which you think others should know about. Jan]