After a phone tapping scandal took centre stage in Indian parliament, the Indian Govt. has again come under scanner, following the reports of Indian Finance Minister's room allegedly being "bugged". It's not surprising then, if the thought, 'Is my phone being tapped?' crosses one's mind.
While it is typically illegal to bug (listen to the conversations remotely) anyone's phone in India, it's very easy to tap a landline connection. If you ever hooked up another phone in your house, technically you have tapped your phone line. A phone line has a green and red copper wire, which form a circuit. The wire transmit sound waves as an electric current, which a telephone company sends through wires connected to the phone. It's easy to add a new load to the circuit board along this path.
This method, however, is too primitive in today's tech-savvy world. Eavesdroppers now use bugs within microphones that pick up sound waves directly. The sound runs to a radio transmitter, which transmits a signal varying with the current. Those spying on you could set up a nearby radio receiver that picks up this signal and sends it to a speaker or encodes it on a tape.
An ultrasonic or VLF bug is a technique used to convert the sound into an audio signal above range of human hearing. An RF (radio frequency) bug is the most well-known bugging device, through which a radio transmitter is placed in an area or device. An optical bug converts sound into an optical pulse or a beam of light. It is rarely used, expensive, and easy to detect.
Bugs would need a sweep to be detected, since all complicated equipment can be concealed from telephone lines. However, the radio receiver has to be within range of the transmitter - for instance, in a van parked outside a house.
It is common knowledge that every mobile subscriber's phone conversations are recorded and retained for seven days, primarily to monitor various communications channels used by terrorists. Tracking would be easier with 3G phones, since the base stations would be located close to each other.
However, there are ways to counter phone-tapping threats. A high-tech 'frequency finder bug detector', for instance, can detect phones, hidden cameras, eavesdropping devices or bugs. An RF 'telephone analyzer' can alert about a wiretrap on a telephone line. A computer controlled unit from Brickhouse Security continuously sweeps a telephone and phone line for any eavesdropping. It also sweeps a room for RF bugs (the detection frequency ranges from 70Mhz to 2Ghz).
Data encryption technology too, helps to curtail unauthorised phone-tapping to an extent. However, as encryption capabilities improve, so do wiretapping techniques. Being aware, however, can be of immense help.
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