FBI Seeks Spy-App Developer
August 17, 2016 8:08 AM Subscribe
Are you an app developer? Are you covert as hell? Do you think we should all throw our privacy cautions to the wind? Boy, does the FBI have the job for you: design an app to help the government spy.
The Department of Justice posted a job opportunity last month to create something called a Smartphone-Based Audio Recorder. The technical requirements draft describes an app that would allow an FBI agent to "surreptitiously capture audio and video" on their smartphone. It describes two scenarios this piece of spy tech would be needed in: one is to collect live audio covertly (read: spy), and the other is to use the app as a recorder alternative to overtly record audio and video during an interview (read: not spy).
The Department of Justice posted a job opportunity last month to create something called a Smartphone-Based Audio Recorder. The technical requirements draft describes an app that would allow an FBI agent to "surreptitiously capture audio and video" on their smartphone. It describes two scenarios this piece of spy tech would be needed in: one is to collect live audio covertly (read: spy), and the other is to use the app as a recorder alternative to overtly record audio and video during an interview (read: not spy).
It is quaint. Nice to know the FBI has heard of smartphones. Also, the developer will be required to train users as well so developers, make sure your training chops are in order.
posted by Bella Donna at 8:23 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bella Donna at 8:23 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
This reads like a smart phone based version of wearing a wire.
.... Undercover cop movies are going to be a lot less dramatic when biker leader screams "DO YOU HAVE THE RECORDING APP" and directs his thugs to do a thorough search of the cop's iPhone 10.
posted by Karaage at 8:25 AM on August 17, 2016 [13 favorites]
.... Undercover cop movies are going to be a lot less dramatic when biker leader screams "DO YOU HAVE THE RECORDING APP" and directs his thugs to do a thorough search of the cop's iPhone 10.
posted by Karaage at 8:25 AM on August 17, 2016 [13 favorites]
Siri, launch Voice Memo.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:27 AM on August 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:27 AM on August 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropvox-record-voice-memos/id416288287?mt=8
Pay me.
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:30 AM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
Pay me.
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:30 AM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
The summary makes it sound pretty trivial, but you should take a look at the tech spec before you snark. There's a lot of small but important features--cryptographic hashing, tamper resistance, reliability, timecoding, remote control-- that don't exist in off the shelf software.
posted by phooky at 8:33 AM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by phooky at 8:33 AM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
Basically, they need the ability to protect the chain of custody (since the recordings are potentially evidence in a court.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:37 AM on August 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:37 AM on August 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
Basically, they need the ability to protect the chain of custody (since the recordings are potentially evidence in a court.)
Bingo. Ironically, this is basically calling for an upgraded, even stealthier version of CopBlock / CopRecorder.
posted by fifthrider at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2016
Bingo. Ironically, this is basically calling for an upgraded, even stealthier version of CopBlock / CopRecorder.
posted by fifthrider at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2016
lol at the idea that the FBI doesn't already have systems in place with these capabilities. We should be asking ourselves what motives the FBI might have beyond publicly recruiting app developers...
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
I picture Hoover before a microphone looking stupefied.
posted by clavdivs at 8:47 AM on August 17, 2016
posted by clavdivs at 8:47 AM on August 17, 2016
take a look at the tech spec before you snark
Not so fast, phooky! If you've been reading the election-related threads, you know we need any excuse for humour we can find. Still, I prefer that our law enforcement officials be as up to date as the bad guys/gals, so good on them for trying to get their needs met. I have this idea, which I hope is wrong, that the federal branch is burdened with outdated PCs running the second version of Windows or something worse. Bring on the modern crime-fighting tools, say I!
posted by Bella Donna at 8:58 AM on August 17, 2016
Not so fast, phooky! If you've been reading the election-related threads, you know we need any excuse for humour we can find. Still, I prefer that our law enforcement officials be as up to date as the bad guys/gals, so good on them for trying to get their needs met. I have this idea, which I hope is wrong, that the federal branch is burdened with outdated PCs running the second version of Windows or something worse. Bring on the modern crime-fighting tools, say I!
posted by Bella Donna at 8:58 AM on August 17, 2016
I already snarked, but to follow on phooky's comment, I hope they make some of this technology open source. It would be just as useful for the ACLU's Mobile Justice app as it would for the FBI if it makes the evidence more trustworthy.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:59 AM on August 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:59 AM on August 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
If we're talking about the agent's own phone, then a version of this already exists:
CopRecorder.
[edit]
The summary makes it sound pretty trivial, but you should take a look at the tech spec before you snark. There's a lot of small but important features--cryptographic hashing, tamper resistance, reliability, timecoding, remote control-- that don't exist in off the shelf software.
Open Source Community: you've been challenged.
posted by ocschwar at 9:10 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
CopRecorder.
[edit]
The summary makes it sound pretty trivial, but you should take a look at the tech spec before you snark. There's a lot of small but important features--cryptographic hashing, tamper resistance, reliability, timecoding, remote control-- that don't exist in off the shelf software.
Open Source Community: you've been challenged.
posted by ocschwar at 9:10 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also, the developer will be required to train users as well so developers, make sure your training chops are in order.
Also, can you see what's wrong with the projector in the conference room?
posted by thelonius at 9:14 AM on August 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
Also, can you see what's wrong with the projector in the conference room?
posted by thelonius at 9:14 AM on August 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
I was hoping it would be more like Terrorist Go! And there would be men in navy suits with sunglasses clogging up all the public spaces while frantically swiping at their phones. Then in a few weeks they would all bitch about API changes.
posted by srboisvert at 9:14 AM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 9:14 AM on August 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
I hope they make some of this technology open source.
Open Source Community: you've been challenged.
Yes, for serious! The FBI should completely be collaborating with the OSS community on this. The most recent attempt I've found to implement something like this is OpenWatch's projects, but that's just a quick google. Anything more recent?
posted by phooky at 9:36 AM on August 17, 2016
Open Source Community: you've been challenged.
Yes, for serious! The FBI should completely be collaborating with the OSS community on this. The most recent attempt I've found to implement something like this is OpenWatch's projects, but that's just a quick google. Anything more recent?
posted by phooky at 9:36 AM on August 17, 2016
Bah, the government should just buy Pokémon GO! People are willing to sign their life away, provide their geoloactional position and walk down the middle of the street to catch a pokemon.
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:37 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:37 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bah, the government should just buy Pokémon GO!
The new comic-book supervillian: Grandpa Moonshine. His superpower: He effortlessly slices through the most powerful walls of the Surveillance State, by not knowing what a pokemejjig is.
posted by -harlequin- at 9:57 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
The new comic-book supervillian: Grandpa Moonshine. His superpower: He effortlessly slices through the most powerful walls of the Surveillance State, by not knowing what a pokemejjig is.
posted by -harlequin- at 9:57 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
Took a quick look a the non-rfp, easy bid estimate: $5000 repackaging some open source code 2 weeks, $1 million to process all the silly governmental requirements, 6 months later than the deadline due to bureaucratic frooffraff.
posted by sammyo at 10:11 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by sammyo at 10:11 AM on August 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by fifthrider at 8:12 AM on August 17, 2016 [2 favorites]