PC Pro article:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/368674/csi-smartphone

Fascinating. Not entirely unexpected, but fascinating nonetheless. What are people's thoughts?

For Bobbdobbs.

Given they need to actually take possession of the phone to dig around in the file system this way, IMO it's nowhere near as bad as the NotW stuff which was entirely remote. This way, you know they've had it and you can kind of assume they've grabbed an image copy at least so everything on it is therefore open to their examination.

Some of the claims are more open to question though. The location tracking data may be able to place you at a particular address, but what room in the house you were in? Highly unlikely. Even if the GPS locator was that accurate (which it isn't) it shows where the phone is not the person's physical presence - if you left the phone in one room and then moved to another, that's not going to be shown.

Jon

Being that my phone is not that smart its not something I worry about

Even non-smart phones still leave a trail of where you've been by tower triangulation, plus any texts, photos, call records etc. It's all valuable stuff.

This is why "proper" crims use PAYG phones and destroy them after each job.

Yes but they can still access your call history and messages. Though for the vast majority it will simply be a breach of privacy. They still need a reasonable excuse to arrest you and take your phone off you. A lot of the time when I go out I do not even take my phone.

Do serious criminals use anything other than cheap, disposable PAYG phones anyway?

How stupid do you have to be to plan your crime / carry out the crime using/carrying your actual mobile?

You have to remember, 50% of criminals are stupider than average.

Same applies to non criminally minded people.

I don't agree with this: "Turn your phone off and you are safe"

Paranoid people have been taking batteries out for years when they want to be 100% sure that nobody eavesdrops on them. It must be pretty easy for your phone to pretend that it is off while secretly transmitting everything that microphone picks up, or your gps to be turned on silently without any apparent signs.

And I don't think you need to p*iss off CIA or Mossad to be on receiving end. That bloke in the article says they won't do it if it's illegal but to me that sounds like an advert saying "we are very good at this smartphone business and if you have the money we can work something out". I am sure they have an "app for that" too so cheating husbands and wifes beware...

If the phone is doing that whilst supposedly off, you're still going to see battery life drop whilst it's turned off.

Problem is most rechargeable batteries do decay over time anyway. Very hard to tell what is 'lost charge' and what is 'used charge'.

Jon

Oh good, I'm not the only one who's a little concerned then.

At present, not an issue. But couple this with the incoming NFC tech and surely the "crims" could easily be the phone company/police/govt/girlfriend invading our privacy for whatever reason they want.

Do we just accept that electronic communication automatically has virtually zero privacy and do an Al Queda and only talk in person in crowded cities whilst lost amongst the crowds? Or is this an alternative?

Corrected.

I am slightly concerned but then I am not really doing anything that will justify such a search. I do worry that the police will go on a fishing expedition on innocent people.