The public remained in shock today when the government admitted that MI5, the police, tax inspectors and social services have been covertly listening to people via their mobile phones.
New technology, given the green light by the last Labour government, allowed the authorities to switch on the microphones of people's mobile phones so they could secretly listen to what they were doing and saying. Where phones have an inbuilt camera they are also able to capture images if the phone is not in a pocket.
The Home Office said that the measures were needed to protect the public against paedophiles and terrorists and if they had nothing to hide they they should not complain.
In a bid to reassure the public they said that the phones of MPs, celebrities (above f list status), judges and Catholic priests were not, and would not, have their phones bugged.
So far 7,381,204 people have been listened to. The recordings will be held for 50 years and cross-linked to DNA profiles, Council Tax records and speeding fines.
How do you know if you have been bugged? The bugging causes the phone's battery to run down quicker than normal as it transmits. A normal phone battery should last a week or more; if yours is running down in just a few days then it is likely you have been bugged. ANother way to check is if your phone has a 'Packet-Data' Log; if these shows more than 2.7Kb then, again, it is likely you have been recorded.
