This can't be true...

I saw this first on techeblog and then, again on Gizmodo. Here's the entry from Gizmodo's site:

Here's a strange story from those paragons of sensible journalism over at Fox News. They claim that the FBI can now use the microphone on your cell phone to listen in on your conversations, even when the phone is turned off. Now, I've heard of special phones that are outfitted to work this way, but all phones? How is that possible? How can the FBI tap into every make of phone on every carrier when the thing is shut completely off and then have it send a signal out to their location without you ever knowing this? Not that I don't have loads of faith in our government, but they don't seem like they have their shit together enough to pull this one off.

I'm guessing that the fact checkers at Fox we're too busy changing "holiday" to "Christmas" on all their scripts to figure out that the FBI replaces the phones of people they are tracking with specially outfitted models. And I'm hoping I'm right, as otherwise that's some seriously creepy and privacy-invading business right there. Just to be safe I'm wrapping my phone in foam when I'm not using it, as there is no way I want the government knowing what I order at Subway.

Check the video report after the jump.

Talk about a creepy story...