FBI uses criminal tactics, including spyware, to spy on you

You read that headline correctly. The line between good guys and bad guys has once again been blurred. Correction, make that very, very murky. It’s bad enough you have to try and stay safe from the bad guys but when the so called good guys start to use the bad guy’s tactics to spy on you, we have a larger problem.

Federal agencies have largely kept quiet about these capabilities, but court documents and interviews with people involved in the programs provide new details about the hacking tools, including spyware delivered to computers and phones through email or Web links—techniques more commonly associated with attacks by criminals.

The FBI develops some hacking tools internally and purchases others from the private sector. With such technology, the bureau can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google Android software to record conversations, one former U.S. official said. It can do the same to microphones in laptops without the user knowing, the person said. Google declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal.

No one’s commenting, not even Google? Don’t be evil? Yeah.