Covert listening device

Listening devices used in the German Democratic Republic

A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and in police investigations.

A bug does not have to be a device specifically designed for the purpose of eavesdropping. For instance, with the right equipment, it is possible to remotely activate the microphone of cellular phones, even when a call is not being made, to listen to conversations in the vicinity of the phone.

A wire

A "wire" is a device that is hidden or concealed under a person's clothes for the purpose of covertly listening to conversations in close proximity to the person wearing the "wire". Wires are typically used in police sting operations in order to gather information about suspects.

The act of "wearing a wire" refers to a person knowingly recording the conversation or transmitting the contents of a conversation to a police listening post. Usually it's accomplished by some sort of device that is attached to the body in an inconspicuous way, such as taping a microphone wire to their chest. "Wearing a wire" by undercover agents is typical plot element in gangster and police related movies and television shows. A stereotypical move scene is when someone is suspected of "wearing a wire", the criminals will tear the suspect's shirt open hoping to reveal the deception.

When infiltrating a criminal organization a mole may be given a "wire" to wear under his or her clothes. This wire device transmits to a remote location where law enforcement agents monitor what is being said. Wearing a wire is viewed as being risky since discovery of a hidden wire by a criminal could lead to violence against the mole or other retaliatory responses.

Remotely activated mobile phone microphones

Mobile phone (cell phone) microphones can be activated remotely, without any need for physical access. This "roving bug" feature has been used by law enforcement agencies and intelligence services to listen in on nearby conversations. A United States court ruled in 1988 that a similar technique used by the FBI against reputed former Gulfport, Mississippi cocaine dealers after having obtained a court order was permissible.

Automobile computer systems

In 2003 the FBI obtained a court order to surreptitiously listen in on conversations in a car, through the car's built-in emergency and tracking security system. A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals prohibited the use of this technique because it involved deactivating the device's security features.

Audio from optical sources

A laser microphone can be used to reconstruct audio from a laser beam shot onto an object in a room, or a window.

Researchers have also prototyped a method for reconstructing audio from video of thin objects that can pick up sound vibrations, such as a houseplant or bag of potato chips.

Examples of use

• Embassies and other diplomatic posts are often the targets of bugging operations.
  • The Soviet embassy in Ottawa was bugged by the Canadian government and MI5 during its construction in 1956.
  • Extensive bugging of the West German embassy in Moscow by the KGB was discovered by German engineer Horst Schwirkmann, leading to an attack on Schwirkmann in 1964.
  • The Great Seal bug was hidden in a copy of the Great Seal of the United States, presented by the Soviet Union to the United States ambassador in Moscow in 1946 and only discovered in 1952. The bug was unusual in that it had no power source or transmitter, making it much harder to detect – it was a new type of device, called a passive resonant cavity bug. The cavity had a metallic diaphragm that moved in unison with sound waves from a conversation in the room. When illuminated by a radio beam from a remote location, the cavity would return a frequency modulated signal.
  • The United States Embassy in Moscow was bugged during its construction in the 1970s by Soviet agents posing as laborers. When discovered in the early 1980s, it was found that even the concrete columns were so riddled with bugs that the building eventually had to be torn down and replaced with a new one, built with U.S. materials and labor. For a time, until the new building was completed, embassy workers had to communicate in conference rooms in writing, using children's "Mystic Writing Tablets".
  • In 1990, it was reported that the embassy of the People's Republic of China in Canberra, Australia, had been bugged by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service as part of the UKUSA Project Echelon.
• During World War II, the Nazis took over a Berlin brothel, Salon Kitty, and used concealed microphones to spy on patrons.
• Also during the war, the British used covert listening devices to monitor captured German fighter pilots being held at Trent Park.
• Colin Thatcher, a Canadian politician, was secretly recorded making statements which would later be used to convict him of his wife's murder. The recording device was concealed on a person who Thatcher had previously approached for help in the crime.
• Electronic bugging devices were found in March 2003 at offices used by French and German delegations at the European Union headquarters in Brussels. Devices were also discovered at offices used by other delegations. The discovery of the telephone tapping systems was first reported by Le Figaro newspaper, which blamed the US.
• The car of Thomas Hentschell, who was involved in the Melbourne gangland killings, was bugged by police.
• In 1999, the US expelled a Russian diplomat, accusing him of using a listening device in a top floor conference room used by diplomats in the United States Department of State headquarters.
• In 2001, the government of the People's Republic of China announced that it had discovered twenty-seven bugs in a Boeing 767 purchased as an official aircraft for President Jiang Zemin.
• In 2003, the Pakistani embassy building in London was found bugged; contractors hired by MI5 had planted bugs in the building in 2001.
• In 2003, Alastair Campbell (who was Director of Communications and Strategy from 1997-2003 for the UK PM) in his memoirs The Blair Years: The Alastair Campbell Diaries alleged that two bugs were discovered in the hotel room meant for visiting British PM Tony Blair planted by Indian intelligence agencies. The alleged bug discovery was at a hotel during PM Tony Blair's official visit to New Delhi in 2001. Security services supposedly informed him that the bugs could not be removed without drilling the wall and therefore he changed to another room.
• In 2004, a bug was found in a meeting room at the United Nations offices in Geneva.
• In 2008 it was reported that an electric samovar presented to Elizabeth II in about 1968 by a Soviet aerobatic team was removed from Balmoral Castle as a security precaution amid fears that its wiring could contain a listening device.

Listening devices and the UK law

The use of listening devices is permitted under UK law providing that they are used in compliance with Data Protection and Human Rights laws. If a government body or organisation intends to use listening or recording devices they must follow the laws put in place by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). It is usually permitted to record audio covertly in a public setting or one's own home, providing one is not doing so to collect confidential information, and of course it is illegal to do so for unlawful purposes. Members of the public using listening devices should check with a legal expert before doing so.

Legal requirements of listening and recording device use

It is illegal to use listening or recording devices that are not permitted for public use. Individuals may only use listening or recording devices within reasonable privacy laws for legitimate security and safety reasons. Many people use listening devices in their own property to capture evidence of excessive noise in a neighbour complaint, which is legal in normal circumstances.

Legal use of listening and recording devices

It is legal to use listening or recording devices in public areas, in an office or business area, or in one's own home. Many people use listening devices to record evidence or even just to take notes for their own reference.

Illegal use of listening and recording devices

It is illegal to use listening devices on certain Military band and Air Band UHF and FM frequencies - people in the past who have not followed this law have been fined over £10,000. The is because the use of a radio transmission bug that transmits on restricted frequencies contravenes the Telecommunications Act and is illegal. It is also against the law to place a listening or recording device in someone else’s home. Due to privacy and human rights laws, using a listening or recording device to intrude on the reasonable expectation of privacy of an individual is highly illegal, i.e. placing gadgets in someone’s home or car to which one does not have permitted access, or in a private area such as a bathroom.

See also

• Acoustic cryptanalysis
• Cellphone surveillance
• Communications interception
• Eavesdropping
• Electronic Privacy Information Center
• Espionage
• Greek telephone tapping case 2004-2005
• Mobile phone tracking
• National Cryptologic Museum
• Nonlinear junction detector
• Peter Wright
• Privacy
• Privacy International
• Surveillance
• Technical surveillance counter-measures
• Telephone tapping
• TEMPEST
• The Thing (listening device) - also known as the "Great Seal bug"
• Watergate scandal

External links

• French, German EU Offices Bugged - CBS news story
• EU investigates mystery buggings - BBC News story
• A simple guide to TSCM, How to protect privacy
• "Listening In: Electronic Eavesdropping in the Cold War Era." (Archive) US Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, 2008
• "Bugging Hotel Rooms." U.S. Department of Agriculture.