Do NOT bring cell phones into the confessional!

[Marysann]

This rule is for priests too. I don’t know whether cell phones are actually listening devices, but it is very disconcerting to be confessing your sins and have the priest answer his cell phone. Priests need to leave there cell phones some where else during confession time. Maybe the priest can give his cell phone to someone else to answer, who can alert him of an emergency between confessions.

 

[AnneElliot]

news.cnet.com/2100-1029-6140191.html

The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone’s microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.
The technique is called a “roving bug,” and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.
…
The U.S. Commerce Department’s security office warns that “a cellular telephone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone.” An article in the Financial Times last year said mobile providers can “remotely install a piece of software on to any handset, without the owner’s knowledge, which will activate the microphone even when its owner is not making a call.”

Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones, said James Atkinson, a counter-surveillance consultant who has worked closely with government agencies. “They can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time,” he said. “You can do that without having physical access to the phone.”

Because modern handsets are miniature computers, downloaded software could modify the usual interface that always displays when a call is in progress. The spyware could then place a call to the FBI and activate the microphone–all without the owner knowing it happened.
…
Surreptitious activation of built-in microphones by the FBI has been done before. A 2003 lawsuit revealed that the FBI was able to surreptitiously turn on the built-in microphones in automotive systems like General Motors’ OnStar to snoop on passengers’ conversations.
When FBI agents remotely activated the system and were listening in, passengers in the vehicle could not tell that their conversations were being monitored.

Malicious hackers have followed suit. A report last year said Spanish authorities had detained a man who write a Trojan horse that secretly activated a computer’s video camera and forwarded him the recordings.

And that’s from 4 years ago… so I’d imagine the technology has improved since then.

 

[aspawloski4th]

I’ll better the whole thread. Howabout just no cell phones in church period!

 

[kingal86]

I’ll better the whole thread. Howabout just no cell phones in church period!

What if someone is attending Daily Mass before or after work, and has no where to leave their phone (no car etc.) whilst visiting church? Or feels suddenly moved to visit a cathedral service on a day trip to a city (as I did on Easter Monday).

Surely turning it off, and–certainly–not being disrespectful enough to answer a mobile phone in church would solve most of the problems (except potential espionage) associated with them. (In the above cathedral I was so paranoid about my phone going off, I checked it was set to silent and switched off far too many times),

 

[kingal86]

This rule is for priests too. I don’t know whether cell phones are actually listening devices, but it is very disconcerting to be confessing your sins and have the priest answer his cell phone. Priests need to leave there cell phones some where else during confession time. Maybe the priest can give his cell phone to someone else to answer, who can alert him of an emergency between confessions.

A priest really answered their phone whilst taking confession? I can’t believe that! Was it at least an urgent call about, e.g. a parishoner’s health?

 

[Shin]

Yes, I make it a point to leave the cell phone in the car.

It shouldn’t be in the church generally period – since they tend to make noise even at times when one thinks the ringer is silenced. The battery could get low and it could beep about that, etc.

I suppose for some awaiting a truly emergency call, there can be an exception to this general rule for bringing it simply into the church itself, but otherwise as always and normaly with general rules – they are the way to go.

Eventually of course, in the times of the Anti-Christ the mass will be utterly suppressed – all the sacraments to the fullest extent possible, through government intervention Catholics everywhere will be condemned if they hold to the faith in any way. You will be asked if you are Catholic, and made to choose to worship Anti-Christ instead, or be put under torture.

The steps necessary of governmental surveillance and power to do this are things we should always oppose, since what will happen then, will also happen before then in foreshadowings of those future times – if in fact those times are not already imminent.

North Korea is a good example of a society where Catholicism is forbidden and deviation results in torture, oppression and death. It’s not hard to see this occurring in other first world societies should atheist Communism, and Socialism come to fullest power.

And in the meantime, those of that party who wish to shut down any Catholic opposition only need to know a person’s sins and they have material they can use.

We shouldn’t go overboard, but we should take reasonable steps such as leaving the electronic devices out.

 

[pnewton]

I am trying to find out if this is true or not, the part about phones being used when turned off. I have read enough to know that they have been used as bugs when not in use, but not where they have been turned off. Anyone have any tech info?

 

[kingal86]

Yes, I make it a point to leave the cell phone in the car.

Not everyone has a car to leaves phones in (esp. in cities, or young people in Europe). And if I did I’d be nervous of theft. My stepmum got a handbag stolen from a car before.

If the rest of the stuff in that post is true, then the church would be bugged already anyway.

 

[Cristiano]

I am trying to find out if this is true or not, the part about phones being used when turned off. I have read enough to know that they have been used as bugs when not in use, but not where they have been turned off. Anyone have any tech info?

The question that you should ask yourself is: “How do I know when my phone is really turned off?”

If you have a phone with an alarm clock, does the phone turn itself on and rings when the alarm goes off? My phone does that even if it looks like it is off (no lights and no response to the keys) and I cannot make phone calls. That implies that the phone is still active and that only some circuitry is in the sleep mode. Most of today’s mobile electronics is designed to go into a sleep mode when not used, and a lot of it is designed to never go completely off.

 

[Shin]

Not everyone has a car to leaves phones in (esp. in cities, or young people in Europe). And if I did I’d be nervous of theft. My stepmum got a handbag stolen from a car before.

If the rest of the stuff in that post is true, then the church would be bugged already anyway.

Theft? Put it under the seat.

Putting in a permanent bug is more risky than simply going to the phones, so I don’t see it as the same likelihood.

That said, I pray that today’s Catholic priests become or are more security conscious, and don’t have to be burnt like Bl. Pope Pius IX before they wake up to the fire.

The ‘do you know if it’s turned off’ point is a good one too. A good number of devices today never do, as long as they have any power going to them, and have reserve batteries.

 

[Josh128]

news.cnet.com/2100-1029-6140191.html

And that’s from 4 years ago… so I’d imagine the technology has improved since then.

Yet this is done while the phone is ON, not OFF. When the phone is off, its radio is off and it cannot receive or respond to remote commands, unless like I said earlier it is hacked or modified, which cannot be done remotely. I work for a cellular company that provides service to seafaring vessels, and from time to time the Coast Guard will call us to track down / triangulate the position of a vessel with a certain phone # or IMSI. If the phone is off, the best we can do is tell them their approximate location based on the serving tower on which the last call, registration, or data transmission took place.

Unless someone like Chloe O’Brien from 24 has been tinkering with your phone, once you turn it off, you have nothing to worry about.

 

[chypmonk]

Yet this is done while the phone is ON, not OFF. When the phone is off, its radio is off and it cannot receive or respond to remote commands, unless like I said earlier it is hacked or modified, which cannot be done remotely. I work for a cellular company that provides service to seafaring vessels, and from time to time the Coast Guard will call us to track down / triangulate the position of a vessel with a certain phone # or IMSI. If the phone is off, the best we can do is tell them their approximate location based on the serving tower on which the last call, registration, or data transmission took place.

Unless someone like Chloe O’Brien from 24 has been tinkering with your phone, once you turn it off, you have nothing to worry about.

A good point is what about the priest’s cell phone? If he leaves his cell phone on is he breaking the seal?

 

[Cristiano]

Yet this is done while the phone is ON, not OFF. When the phone is off, its radio is off and it cannot receive or respond to remote commands, unless like I said earlier it is hacked or modified, which cannot be done remotely. I work for a cellular company that provides service to seafaring vessels, and from time to time the Coast Guard will call us to track down / triangulate the position of a vessel with a certain phone # or IMSI. If the phone is off, the best we can do is tell them their approximate location based on the serving tower on which the last call, registration, or data transmission took place.

Unless someone like Chloe O’Brien from 24 has been tinkering with your phone, once you turn it off, you have nothing to worry about.

Then please explain to me why we could hear you sipping your soda while you were typing this post?

 

[aspawloski4th]

What if someone is attending Daily Mass before or after work, and has no where to leave their phone (no car etc.) whilst visiting church? Or feels suddenly moved to visit a cathedral service on a day trip to a city (as I did on Easter Monday).

Surely turning it off, and–certainly–not being disrespectful enough to answer a mobile phone in church would solve most of the problems (except potential espionage) associated with them. (In the above cathedral I was so paranoid about my phone going off, I checked it was set to silent and switched off far too many times),

A cell phone is not a need of the common person. I have lived without one my 42 years on Earth will continue to live without one for the rest of my time on Earth. The vast majority of those who have a cell phone at church could of easily not brought it in to church. What did you do before you had a cell phone?!

 

[mini_me640]

A cell phone is not a need of the common person. I have lived without one my 42 years on Earth will continue to live without one for the rest of my time on Earth. The vast majority of those who have a cell phone at church could of easily not brought it in to church. What did you do before you had a cell phone?!

Before I had a cell phone I had to walk two miles in the middle of the night to a gas station when my car broke down (BTW I was an 18 year old girl at the time)… No I won’t be getting rid of my cell phone anytime soon. I do turn it off in church though so as not to disturb anyone of course!

 

[aspawloski4th]

Before I had a cell phone I had to walk two miles in the middle of the night to a gas station when my car broke down (BTW I was an 18 year old girl at the time)… No I won’t be getting rid of my cell phone anytime soon. I do turn it off in church though so as not to disturb anyone of course!

You are a rarity. I see people in their cars or in the store yaking on their cellphone on and on. 99% of cellphone use is unneccesary. Many car crashes now are caused by yaking on the cellphone, Iv’e had near misses myself because the cell phone was causing the other driver to not payattention. Most people don’t have emergency situations in mind when the buy a cellphone.

 

[Timothysis]

A cell phone is not a need of the common person. I have lived without one my 42 years on Earth will continue to live without one for the rest of my time on Earth. The vast majority of those who have a cell phone at church could of easily not brought it in to church. What did you do before you had a cell phone?!

Why do you need a computer???

 

[VetA]

Then please explain to me why we could hear you sipping your soda while you were typing this post?

 

[aspawloski4th]

Why do you need a computer???

I dont use my computer in a car or have it in church. It’s at home where my landline phone is! I use my commputer for looking for a job, because many employers can onl be spplied at online and will not accept traditional methods. I network with others who have the same psychological condition/s as I do. But it stays at home. Doesn’t go in the car, on vacation, to church, home and thats it.

 

[Zatzat]

It’s all about the government trying to controll us. They can listen through someone’s cell phone even when it is turned off. Why else do you think the FSSP says not to bring them into the confessional?

Uhmmm…how does the ’ government’ use cell phones as listening devices when the power is turned off of the phones?

Secondly, why is the government using powered off cell phones as listening devices inside of Catholic confessionals?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that there is no means at all for the government to use powered off cell phones as listening devices.