The word surveillance comes from a French word that means watching over. Surveillance is keeping an eye on the behavior, activities and other information that may change, usually on people, in a clandestine way. This is more often than not done by government organizations to monitor people or groups that bring threat to a country. But there are other types of surveillance as well.
We will look at cell phone surveillance, with it’s benefits and disadvantages and other pertinent information.
Phone surveillance first started as telephone tapping, commonly called wire tapping. This is the monitoring of conversations through the phone by a third party. If you have watched TV shows where the FBI can check on a criminal’s whereabouts by listening to phone conversations, then you know what wire tapping is.
If this is done by a government agency with the permission of the court, then it’s legal and is called lawful interception. This is done when a person is suspected of criminal activities. However, there should be enough evidence or valid reason before the court will permit telephone tapping to be done.
Cell phone surveillance is now gaining popularity with people, since burglars and thieves are always lurking around the corner, waiting for the right moment before they break their way into homes. Incidents where nannies tend to hurt the children they are taking care of, seem to have increased. There are also times when children who are left at home have a tendency to resort to unlikely behavior. These problems, among many others, led to the idea of developing surveillance through a mobile phone.
What exactly is cell phone surveillance? It is installing a device into a mobile phone, that will let you monitor what is happening in your home, in your office, or anywhere else that you would like to be monitored. With the latest smartphones in the market today, all you’ll need to do is install software in your smartphone. With the click of a button, you can check on what is happening in the area you are monitoring.
With the advanced features of smartphones, you can easily check on several areas at the same time. It’s just the same with surveillance cameras, wherein cameras are installed in several rooms, and you can check on them on several screens. However, the difference is that you can check on these on the screen of your smartphone. Any suspicious movements can be easily detected.
There are several ways of installing cell phone surveillance devices and software. The way you will do it would of course first depend on your cell phone model, and the system that you are going to have. If the cell phone surveillance system is of the latest type, then this can send alarm notifications to any cell phones.
Once an alarm goes off at your house, you will receive a text message notifying you. There will be times when this will be an inconvenience for you because you don’t know what is going on. But the benefit is that at least, you were given notification. If somebody is at home, then you can just give him or her, a call.
If you have a smartphone, then monitoring what is happening in your house can be quite different. If this smartphone has a Windows Operating System with a Media Player and access to the internet, then you will be able to have a more advanced surveillance system. Here, you can have a camera or cameras, so you can view your house from several areas.
There are many uses for cell phone surveillance. The first one is for the safety of your home. With a smartphone, you can check your house anytime of the day, anywhere you are. You can have a home alarm security set up at your home, with an application installed on your phone. What happens is this: Once somebody breaks into your house, an alarm will set off, sending you a message.
The alarm will also be recognized by the home alarm system company, and they will alert the police department, fire department or the hospital, in case you need any assistance from them. This way, you will be at ease whenever you leave the house. You can be comfortable knowing that if there’s a burglar trying to enter your house, then that person cannot just get away without being questioned by the police.
When you have a nanny taking care of your child at home, you can check on her any time of the day to make sure that your child is well taken care of. A smartphone will enable you to view them through cameras that you already have installed at home. This way, you can really see what everyone’s doing at your house.
For a smartphone with a wide screen, you can check on four rooms at the same time. To check if they are safe, check on them a couple of times during the time that you are away. This way, you are able to give them a call if you notice that there is something wrong.
Surveillance with a smartphone is also applicable in an office where you have a lot of employees. If you are the manager or the owner, of course you need to check on your people regularly to see if everyone is working well, and if they are not just lazing around.
Instead of going to every department all of the time, have your smartphone nearby. You can use the device anytime, to check on different departments. This will enable you to accomplish much more work than you usually do. Other than that, this is a great way of checking for any unscrupulous activities happening around the office.
Another great way that you can use a smartphone surveillance system, is in your car. Instead of buying a car alarm that wakes every neighbor when it sounds off in the middle of the night, you can opt to have a cell phone hidden somewhere in your car, instead.
You should choose a cell phone that has GSM with auto-answer and mute functions. You can usually see these features in a smartphone of any kind. The phone should have a good reception, and the microphone should be clear.
Take note of the IMEI number of your phone and the Subscriber Identity Module. When your car goes missing, all you need to do is report the numbers stated above to the police and to the mobile network. Inform them of the cell phone surveillance that you have in your car. This way, the offender can be easily tracked down. When there are conversations going on inside the car, you will be able to listen to these, which could give you enough clues to the whereabouts of the people who stole your car.
GPS tracking is also one of the most important uses of smartphone surveillance. With this software, you can track the movements of a person who has that phone. For example, if you install this software in the smartphone of your child, then you will be able to follow your kid’s whereabouts. Rest assured, you will know if he’s safe or not. If you have this system and something bad happens to you, then other people would be able to find your whereabouts, especially your family members.
Despite the benefits that cell phone surveillance offers, there are also some disadvantages that come with it. The first and foremost disadvantage is the invasion of privacy of the person whom you are tracking. Since you are able to check on that person anytime, you are able to view almost all of their activities.
If you do this with your husband or wife, he/she might think of it as lack of trust. This goes the same with your children. While it’s true that you are merely concerned about their safety, they might not understand it and they may see the situation as simply checking out on their every activity.
Nowadays, there are various products that offer cell phone surveillance. Some of the most common ones are Mobiscope and Cell Phone Spy and All-in-One Spy Windows Mobile.
Mobile phone networks are even producing phones that already have a surveillance system with it. Some home alarm companies are offering home alarm systems that can make use of cell phones to monitor the presence of burglars or anything suspicious. These devices will simply be installed either on your telephone or your cell phone, depending on what you choose.
Throughout the time that cell phone surveillance has been in existence, it has been proven that it can be beneficial. Even if there are some disadvantages that come with it, these are certainly outweighed by the benefits. The invasion of privacy which is the most common complaint of people who have this cell phone surveillance system, will be put to rest, when considering the safety of that person.
Today, you can go on a vacation without worrying about whether your house is safe or not. You can check on it anytime, and if you notice something of concern, the cops are just a call away. Also, you can be sure that your children are safe since you are able to monitor them with GPS tracking and the other devices for cell phone surveillance.
With the benefits that cell phone surveillance has to offer, more and more people are using it. For those who already have smartphones, having one would be relatively easy. If you have a mobile phone but it is not a smartphone, the cell phone surveillance system would be different for you. But nonetheless, both of them would do a good job for the monitoring you want to do.