Penn State Researchers Show Conversations Can Be Remotely Detected from Cell Phone Vibrations

"Wireless-tapping" explores the possibility of remotely deciphering conversations from the tiny vibrations produced by a cell phone’s earpiece.

With the goal of protecting users’ privacy from potential bad actors, a team of computer science researchers at Penn State demonstrated that transcriptions of phone calls can be generated from radar measurements taken up to three meters.

The findings raise important questions about future privacy implications of such surveillance technology.