[ed. Competing with the NSA to shred your privacy protection every day, so, you know, we can all be safer.]
Federal agencies have largely kept quiet about these capabilities, but court documents and interviews with people involved in the programs provide new details about the hacking tools, including spyware delivered to computers and phones through email or Web links—techniques more commonly associated with attacks by criminals.
People familiar with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's programs say that the use of hacking tools under court orders has grown as agents seek to keep up with suspects who use new communications technology, including some types of online chat and encryption tools. The use of such communications, which can't be wiretapped like a phone, is called "going dark" among law enforcement.
A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment.
The FBI develops some hacking tools internally and purchases others from the private sector. With such technology, the bureau can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google Inc.'s Android software to record conversations, one former U.S. official said. It can do the same to microphones in laptops without the user knowing, the person said. Google declined to comment.
by Jennifer Valentino-Devries and Danny Yadron, WSJ | Read more:
Image: Agence France-Presse/Getty[ed. See also: Apple Patent Could Remotely Disable Protestors' Phone Cameras; The Reycling Bin is Stalking You; and Are Universities Collecting Too Much Information on Staff and Students.]
