"Not only can a phone be taken over remotely, the phones can be reprogrammed, remotely, to look like they are still off."
I can tell you that it is extremely unlikely (somewhere between pigs flying and hell freezing over) that Terri was in communication with someone who has the technical knowledge to do this. There are probably fewer than 100 people in the world that can accomplish this task, and that is a very generous guess.
A news station shows how cell phone spyware DOES work. While it says here that they downloaded to her phone, it obviously doesn't take mad skillz to do so. The above link also shows that it can be done remotely (as another poster verified by her son using an app to do so to her phone --- guess he's one of those hundred? ).
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?s=9346833&clienttype=printable
Security experts say it's no internet hoax.
"It's real, and it is pretty creepy," said Rick Mislan, a former military intelligence officer who now teaches cyber forensics at Purdue University's Department of Computer and Information Technology.
Mislan has examined thousands of cell phones inside Purdue's Cyber Forensics Lab, and he says spy software can now make even the most high-tech cell phone vulnerable.
--
While Hebert was at home making phone calls to her family, investigative reporter Bob Segall was outside her house, listening to the conversations on his cell phone.
And there's more - much more.
Every time Hebert made or received a phone call, Segall received an instant text message, telling him that Hebert was talking on her cell phone so that Segall could call in and listen.
On his computer, Segall also got a copy of Hebert's text messages and a list of phone numbers detailing each incoming and outgoing call to Hebert's cell phone.
And no matter where Hebert went with her phone, Segall received constant satellite updates on her location. He could literally track Hebert anywhere she went.
"It's hard to believe you can do all that," Hebert said when she saw the spy software in action. "I think that's really scary."
It gets even scarier.
When spy software was installed onto Hebert's phone, that phone became an instant spy device - even when the phone was not being used.
As Hebert's cell phone was simply sitting on a table or attached to her purse, Segall could activate the speaker on the phone and secretly listen in to the phone's surroundings. While Hebert was in a meeting on the 36th floor of a downtown Indianapolis building, Segall heard her conversations, even though he was four miles away.
---
The United States government is familiar with spy software for cell phones.
In 2003 and 2004, the FBI used cell phone spy software to eavesdrop on the conversations of organized crime families in New York, and it used those conversations in its federal prosecutions.
Private investigator Tim Wilcox says several federal agencies rely on cell phone spying technology to monitor suspected criminals, and he says private citizens are now using the technology, too.
"The technology is there. It's been there a long time. It's accessible, and it's done all the time," Wilcox said.
--------
Kaine wouldn't have to do anything at all --- except give his permission for LE to use the spyware.
