Mobiles used as bugging devices

THEY ARE the perfect solution for jealous lovers or paranoid employees - a legal bugging device available for a modest sum on every British high street.

Eavesdroppers can simply hide a digital mobile phone in a bedroom or office, then call it to listen to conversations.

The mobile phone takes care of the hardest part of bugging, which is setting up a reliable communications link. Most covert systems, other than those which rely on phone lines, are restricted by the use of short- range transmitters, which means remaining close to the target.

For the amateur mobile spy, the industry's multibillion-pound worldwide infrastructure takes care of the problem by providing the latest technology for the cost of a phone call.

Civil liberties campaigners have long demanded that the Government brings all forms of intrusive surveillance under regulation, but most remain legal. Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: "This is an outright violation of privacy. There can be absolutely no justification for bugging except in criminal cases.

"Now this technology has been put in the hands of everybody it is open to a great deal of abuse. The Government must signal to the public that this is not acceptable behaviour before it becomes widespread practice, and introduce a criminal penalty."

The development of two seemingly innocuous functions has turned the mobile from a handy communications tool into a potential bugging device. Most modern phones allow users to silence the ringer, so that they can quietly pick up calls in public places.

Newer models can be set to automatically answer incoming calls, allowing people driving cars or wearing headsets to respond without having to fumble for their phones. Each feature was developed for practical everyday reasons but a hidden mobile with both capabilities can silently and automatically answer calls to establish a radio link for bugging a room.

Espionage expert Tim Rifat, author of Remote Viewing, said: "The potential of the mobile as a surveillance tool has long been recognised by security services. The downside of this technique is that the battery will run down."

Michael Marx, director of the London store Spycatcher, which sells surveillance equipment, said: "Mobiles are very effective as there is no limit to their range you can listen to someone in Britain from Australia."

In the US, such bugging is against federal law, which prohibits the listening to or recording of any conservation you are not involved in. The use of mobiles for surveillance by law enforcement agencies and investigators is, if not commonplace, a known technique.

In Britain, there is no law against it, although if you placed the phone where you had no right to be, you could be sued for trespass through the civil courts. Article 8 of The European Convention on Human Rights, which covers the right to privacy, applies only to breaches by public authorities, not private individuals.

A Home Office spokesman said: "There is no legislation to outlaw it and it is a difficult area to legislate on. For example you would probably have to prove intent. Then, should you have the right to listen in to a conversation in your own property, do you have a right to privacy in a public place?"

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