As cell phone technology continues to mature, the new generation Android phones are being used by police agencies to combat crime on many fronts. Applications that provide internet access do not always require a user’s permission to share that information and law enforcement has their own applications that can take advantage of what many see as an Android security hole.
Applications are being used to access a phone’s SMS data as well as its GPS logs to help police track and locate the phone, as well as gather phone numbers and email addresses of the phone owner’s contacts. This can provide valuable information during the course of an investigation and other applications that have internet permissions can provide information contained in the phone’s memory as well as data from the Wi-Fi network in use.
Additional applications can be used to harvest the information and send it to a server for storage for use later in investigations. There are only certain Android phones that are susceptible to this type of information sharing, and since it can be done without the permission of the owner, has raised concerns about the individual’s privacy. Android police studies have developed applications that can do just this and without deleting specific applications from the phone’s root system, have little recourse.
Essentially, law enforcement with the right application can access the affected cell phones to retrieve information about where the user has been, where they currently are and who they have contacted, either by calling them or texting. Additionally, they can take that information and send it to a remote server for safe keeping and use it in police investigations.
As many proponents of this type of technology use have stated in the past that if someone isn’t involved in illegal activity they have nothing to worry about, while others fear that the availability of the information could be used to drum up charges against them without the appropriate safeguards in place to protect their privacy.
However, police can use the applications to help fight crime by being able to keep track of suspects by using their virtual eyes available by accessing the GPS tracking systems. They can also determine if they are in contact with other known criminals and their whereabouts to help them stop crime before it happens.
The Android Police unit uncovered an application on some of the phones sold by HTC that contain an application that allows outside users to access the phone’s server and all of the information it contains. It is this application that law enforcement can use as a weapon against crime and it could reduce the number of wanted suspects left roaming the streets since the application can access their GPS location.
The manufacturer points out that the application can be removed from the phone’s root system and is working on a patch to render it inoperable. However, the manufacturer while questioning the security issue is continuing to work on a permanent solution to the phone’s alleged security flaw without the need to root the phone. Owners who do choose that route could end up voiding the phone’s warranty, giving police more time to take advantage of the information they can access before the flaw is fixed.
Article written by a TechPatio reader.
Gees, I hope my iphone does not have a loophole like that.
Impressive. Our technology is really advancing nowadays, isn’t it? I like this innovation and hopefully this would help reduce the number of crimes. Two thumbs up for the developer!
That’s pretty cool. That’s one step forward and many miles to go.
Now for an app to stop someone from committing a crime..lol!
This is pretty scary. I don’t see how this would even be legal for anyone to install apps on others phones to steal their data.
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Incredible as the technology is more advanced. The good thing is that not only brings benefits to us that we use celurares time for recreation, brings benefits now to combat crime, and this is perfect. Android will now become a hero. (it’s hilarious)
Apparently there are no limits for Android, android 2.1 up which is the simplest of all, it’s incredibly functional. There’s no doubt that Android is better than the Iphone.
One step further would be using the GPS tracker to detect highway speed. They could email you a fine for speeding!
Hi there,
the fact that mobile handsets nowaday can help not only organizing social revolutions but also helping the cops combating crimes clearly indicates that it is just the time to go mobile.
Regards. Tanya
I think that this is the best technology that has been created to minimize crime in our state. I hope that car company soon will endorse GPS tracker and add it to the cars they will built.
Interesting technology.
On my own I’ve installed the free antivirus AVG for my HTC with android 2.3 and I can locate where is my phone, with my pc for free throught GPS
That is great use of the technology but it fringes on rights, there should be warrants issued to retract info from peoples phone without their knowledge. It goes along the same lines of phone tapping i would think.
Well I’ve always believed that cops should always be using new technology to find criminals. As criminals get smarter and use more technology cops need too to. The android is perfect for them.
That’s pretty cool, even the cops are becoming techies. Wonder what would be next may be GPS trackers on highway.
The way the Android Market welcomes developers really help in this regard. The OS as an open system makes it possible for anyone to create apps like the one presented in the article. I hope this continues so that more “useful” Android apps are developed with a price tag that is cheaper than those found on the Apple App Store.
I see this as being good and bad news. IT depends on how far the go and shouldn’t they need warrants?
That is great use of Android Technology. I think Android is better than the Iphone.