Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no way to send a remote message to enable it?
Unknown. However, the FBI can send a remote message to ANY phone to turn on its microphone and essentially use it as a wiretap. That's been built into every phone in the USA for something like 10 years now. It's why you have to surrender a cell phone in secure locations and military bases. That's old news. Said wiretaps have actually been used against organized crime in America in the past and is likely used with mor…
I've got some questions on that first claim. Where's this done? I was under the opinion that you'd need system support for that to work --- the GSM radio's not directly plugged into the mic. I'd expect an android hacker to have found it there, if it's being injected in from the carriers.
For secure locations, you have to surrender just about every electronic device you have, because they could be used to transport data outside the secure location. The same rule applies to USB sticks, hard drives, PDAs, ipods, etc.