Removing cellular RF chip to cut ties to network (Samsung/Android Kernel)

[pac_redwood]

Greetings. I'm attempting to do the unthinkable. Cut ties to the cellular network and use my Samsung device as a standalone computing platform without being connected to the BORG. I am guessing that when my Samsung s8 powers-on the radio does a warm boot prior to the Android kernel init boot. I believe the radio in my s8 is a Exynos RF 5511 SOC or similar. Prior to the Android kernel booting the Samsung radio may search for the strongest local signal, registers it's IMEI and retrieve subscription info. This is pure speculation at this point and I'm seeking clarification if you the reader have this knowledge.
What I want to accomplish is removal of the Samsung radio SOC and replace it with a cheap microcontroller (PIC32 or somesuch) that mimics the I/O of the Exynos RF 5511 and ultimately tells all upstream processes that everything is good to launch Android. The Android kernel class TelephonyManager would then be modified on my custom Android kernel to handle missing pieces.

Does anyone here have experience with Samsung s8(or similar) motherboards? What is the boot process and where can I find schematics and data flow for the radio SOC?

[Peabody]

Would this be different from just removing the SIM, turning off cellular data, and forgetting all wireless connections? 

[pac_redwood]

Yes, very different. The plan is a clean slate computing platform with no RF SOC or antenna with later plans for LoRa.

[janoc]

Then just buy a board with your desired CPU and don't mess with the phone. There are plenty of cheap ARM SBCs these days.

If you remove the baseband IC the phone will most likely not even boot anymore because that chip often does a lot of other things than just talking to the cell network. And you can't know that without seeing the vendor's documentation.

What I want to accomplish is removal of the Samsung radio SOC and replace it with a cheap microcontroller (PIC32 or somesuch) that mimics the I/O of the Exynos RF 5511 and ultimately tells all upstream processes that everything is good to launch Android. The Android kernel class TelephonyManager would then be modified on my custom Android kernel to handle missing pieces.

Good luck finding any information about that. It is all proprietary.

Does anyone here have experience with Samsung s8(or similar) motherboards? What is the boot process and where can I find schematics and data flow for the radio SOC?

Pretty much nowhere, given that this is Samsung's proprietary information. That is certainly not published. You won't get even the chip's datasheet without an NDA, much less any documentation to an actual existing phone.

[Infraviolet]

If this is an old phone otherwise destined for scrap, what abou trying to simply remove the antennas or break the traces that lead to then instead? Antenna might make a more obvious target for disconnection than the RF ICs.

[coppercone2]

Well it might save power

[RoGeorge]

Removing or replacing the radio chip seem too hard to do, both in hardware and in software.

Easiest way:
- Put the phone in Airplane mode.  That will turn off cellular radio.
- Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth.  That will turn off 2.4GHz traffic.

If not enough, disconnect the antenna or cut the traces to antenna and put a dummy load.  Or remove the power from the Tx amplifier.  Or try altering the modem partition. 

Another way could be to remove Android entirely, and install some Linux if there is any for your phone model.  Might be, search on https://forum.xda-developers.com  Usually, in an Android phone there are more proprietary binary blobs than in Linux.

No matter which method is better for you, here's a brief parallel between the Android and the Linux boot, a bird-eye view in the premise of replacing Android with Linux on a mobile platform:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/info-android-device-partitions-and-filesystems.3586565/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/info-boot-process-android-vs-linux.3785254/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/info-is-it-possible-to-install-windows-ios-or-linux-on-android-device.3763961/

[gabiz_ro]

Maybe just simple as flashing with another software version and omit CP file, select only BL AP and CSC

[p.larner]

sounds like the question is the rantings from a nutjob/lunatic to me.

[Melt-O-Tronic]

sounds like the question is the rantings from a nutjob/lunatic to me.

That's rude and unnecessary. 

[antenna]

last time I put firmware on a smartphone with odin, I recall the radio stuff having its own firmware package.  Can't you just install the android side without the hardware-specific radio software package?

[janoc]

last time I put firmware on a smartphone with odin, I recall the radio stuff having its own firmware package.  Can't you just install the android side without the hardware-specific radio software package?

Probably depends on a phone, but:

a) If you are recycling a phone the radio baseband will certainly have something loaded on it already. So that won't help you at all if your plan is to disable the radio (plus the power considerations, etc.)

b) Most phones won't boot without at least some functionality from the baseband because it is often doing also other, non-radio related functions. Which you can't know unless you have the manufacturer's documentation.

[AndyBeez]

Would it be easier to operate the phone inside a homemade farraday cage? Seriously, chicken fencing, nails and wire can be picked up from Home Depot for a lot less money than the price of developing a fake SOC.

If you have to, short the antenna feed capacitor to ground and/or snap off the inline RF filtering and preamp chip. There may also be a way of disabling the RF side with custom software made using the freely available Android SDK.

[RoGeorge]

In the OP it is mentioned a Samsung S8.  For Samsung phones, the flasher tool is called Odin (for Windows).  To flash a Samsung phone from Linux, there is a command line tool named Heimdall.

There are 4 distinct files to flash (for Samsung)
        - BL - Bootloader
        - AP (formerly named PDA) - Android Processor - the bigger of all 4 images to flash with Odin
        - CP (formerly named PDA) - Core Processor - modem.img
        - CSC - 'Consumer Software Customization' or 'Country Specific Code'.  The CSC binary contains the Samsung PIT file, too (Partition Information Table - not the partition table, but a description of how to partition the internal memory of the phone).

The one named CP (Core Processor) contains the radio firmware, so the name 'modem.img' (radio here means in charge with the cellular network for mobile phones, not the FM radio).  CSC might be of interest, too, because it has the configurations for radio bands, frequencies and radio services specific to each provider/country, or at least that's my understanding from when I've rooted a scrapped Samsung J5 this summer.

[Simon]

Greetings. I'm attempting to do the unthinkable. Cut ties to the cellular network and use my Samsung device as a standalone computing platform without being connected to the BORG. I am guessing that when my Samsung s8 powers-on the radio does a warm boot prior to the Android kernel init boot. I believe the radio in my s8 is a Exynos RF 5511 SOC or similar. Prior to the Android kernel booting the Samsung radio may search for the strongest local signal, registers it's IMEI and retrieve subscription info. This is pure speculation at this point and I'm seeking clarification if you the reader have this knowledge.
What I want to accomplish is removal of the Samsung radio SOC and replace it with a cheap microcontroller (PIC32 or somesuch) that mimics the I/O of the Exynos RF 5511 and ultimately tells all upstream processes that everything is good to launch Android. The Android kernel class TelephonyManager would then be modified on my custom Android kernel to handle missing pieces.

Does anyone here have experience with Samsung s8(or similar) motherboards? What is the boot process and where can I find schematics and data flow for the radio SOC?

Just take the SIM out, if this is going down conspiracy routes then just don't bother.

[Melt-O-Tronic]

I don't get all the "nutjob" and "conspiracy" comments.  What's wrong with wanting a utility tablet that doesn't waste resources on unnecessary cellular connections and doesn't send telemetry to unknown organizations?  If you're not a hypocrite, you'd damn well better bend over backward to retrofit your Arduinos, STM32's and Raspberry Pis to send telemetry to all the marketers in the world.

Try to have a little respect for others, please.  Is this how Dave Jones wants new users treated?

[Simon]

OK, FACT, don't put a SIM in it and it WON'T talk to anyone! FACT, what are you talking about?

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

Are the Samsung Tablets and phones essentially the same hardware? I do have a Samsung Galaxy tablet that is the same thing as a big Samsung Phone but came without the cell phone stuff.  It has WIFI.
So maybe it is possible to somehow separate the phone function.And then you would have a $110 tablet.

[RoGeorge]

Phones can work without any SIM inserted.

It is mandated by law, though the telephony provider will allow only emergency calls,  such as 911 in USA or 112 in EU.
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/154651/can-an-android-phone-with-no-sim-card-make-an-emergency-call

[Melt-O-Tronic]

It would be interesting to know whether killing the cellular chip (if it's even a separate thing) would conserve power.  If simply taking the SIM out really turns off transmission (except for emergency calls), that would be pretty cool.

I have a retired Samsung phone that I keep for potentially this purpose (like a WiFi remote control or terminal).  I never thought about going so far as to kill the celluar function at the chip level, but that would be pretty cool if it's practical.  I guess I could also take it out to our remote property and use the spectrum analyzer to sniff for emissions on cellular bands to see if it amounts to anything significant.

[Simon]

Phones can work without any SIM inserted.

It is mandated by law, though the telephony provider will allow only emergency calls,  such as 911 in USA or 112 in EU.
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/154651/can-an-android-phone-with-no-sim-card-make-an-emergency-call

Yes of course, they can, but only for emergency calls, no one will give you free data. That is why this feels like we will end up down the conspiratorial route. you disable the things in the OS - don't forget wifi, take out the SIM and forget about it, unless you need to dial 999.

[RoGeorge]

Well, you said it won't talk to anyone, then you agree that of course it would talk to emergency services. 

About turning off all radio, aside from WiFi, don't forget Bluetooth.  In my phone, Bluetooth can be turned on/off independently of airplane mode and independently of WiFi off.

To recap,
- airplane mode, to stop the cellular radio
- Wi-Fi off, to stop the wireless network
- Bluetooth off, to stop BT and BTLE
- even shorter range, turn off the near field radio (NFC)
don't know what other transmitting ways are in the most recent phones, my smartphone is ancient.

I've never tested if this means complete radio silence, or if the phone first boots normally then applies the settings only after the OS is running.

Wondering about this because, for example in my provider's router, there is a WiFi-off settings, and it even has a physical button for that (aside from the SW setting).  Though when the router boots, it still turns on the WiFi for a brief second before the WiFi-off settings are applied.  It has a LED that shows WiFi traffic, which blinks a little, and it transmits something, I've seen the Tx signal while fooling around with a PlutoSDR.

Another thing, I'm curious if a phone would still receive SMS/disaster alerts in airplane mode.  AFAIK the SMS disaster alert should work without SIM, but should it work in airplane mode?

[Bicurico]

I don't get the question. Sure you can spend a lot of time and resources to convert a Samsung S8, without guarantee that it will work in the end.

Or

You can sell it and buy a Raspberry Pi and do all you want straight immediately.

It's like: I have this old Porsche which I want to convert to off road...

[Simon]

I'm still confused about the need to absolutely guarantee that it can't access the internet to the point of castrating it. I've not yet heard of a device that has had the SIM removed doing regular communication with the internet. Same for disabled wifi and even blutooth.

[antenna]

I'm still confused about the need to absolutely guarantee that it can't access the internet to the point of castrating it. I've not yet heard of a device that has had the SIM removed doing regular communication with the internet. Same for disabled wifi and even blutooth.

Heres a situation one might want to.

I have an app that a frined and I made (mostly my ideas, mostly his coding skills) that takes a plain text message and encodes it with a segment of a locally stored and very large one-time pad and generates a QR code of the encrypted data.  The app then rewrites that section of the one-time pad with zeros.  The next thing that happens is the sender uses his networked phone to take a picture of the QR and send it to the recipient.  The recpient then takes his non-networked tablet with the app and matching key pad and grabs the encoded QR with the camera.  It then extracts what part of the one time pad to grab from the QR and proceeds to decode the rest. Once the message is decoded, it is displayed and, just like on the sending side, that portion of one-time pad is rewritten with zeros.  The only thing that ever sees the network is the encoded data, never the keys. 

I know, it is only as secure as how well we hide our tablets/SD card with key files, but due to the truly uncrackable nature of one-time pads, we thought it was worth the hassle to go offline.  We have a prearranged code we can give eachother if either of us believe someone may have physically accessed the tablets, and in that respect, I cannot tell you all the ways we figured out how to know!

[Simon]

ever heard of whatsapp, signal......

[SeanB]

Or the easiest way to break crypto, the good old fashioned rubber hose and waterboard.

[antenna]

ever heard of whatsapp, signal......

Yes I have, but this way I don't have to trust them or pay them.

[Gyro]

You don't have to pay them. Use signal if you're worried about you data being monetised

[antenna]

You don't have to pay them. Use signal if you're worried about you data being monetised

First, I think my example on why someone "may have wanted" an RF-quiet device has inadvertently jacked this thread, and that was not my intention. 

The app I gave in my example is made, the work is done.  It requires no online services and none of the worlds best hackers can crack it due to the one-time pad which none of those other services use.  Why would I give up 100% security (short of torture, which wouldn't work anyhow because we too lose the keys and my memory sucks) for something more questionable?  Besides, being it is a one-time pad, if I were tortured into helping decode it, I could easily make up an equally random key that turns the code into a pizza crust recipe.

We thought we could trust MD5, we thought we could trust AES256, we thought the feds couldn't recover bitcoin, and we all thought our liberty safes were actually safe, so I will stick to my one time pad.  But thanks for the alternative options!

[Simon]

well this thread was doomed to go into conspiracies.

[AndyBeez]

well this thread was doomed to go into conspiracies.

Remember when 5G rays were proven by YT influencers to have caused Covid? Dave and Big Clive will still be debunking these fake technical experts and their snake oil tech for decades to come. Simple fact, if you use the internet then you share your metadata. Because this is how anonymous protocols function. Whether it's over 5G, PPPoE, LoRa, or by waving Semaphore flags, my end point is where I'm at. And this is recorded thousands of times a day in server logs across the world. Even here.

The trick for modern connected internet life is to learn how not to share your personal data. Or at least, how to anonymise yourself to those who do not need to know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Does the OP have a LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok or Instagram presence? If aged under 40, a near certainty. So having an RF inert tablet is not going to be a protection against the insidious gaze of 'THEM WHO ARE USING ALIEN MIND PROBE TECHNOLOGY' _{[cue X-Files music]}... 

[antenna]

I get a kick out of people who think that anyone interested in privacy is an instant conspiracy theorist.  It's always straight to the extreme, isn't it?

It has nothing to do with paranoia, we "foil hat wearers", as you may call us, know that those with the ability to monitor and track our every move either have much better things to do, or are doing it for market reasons ~ no big deal.  It is the peace of mind knowing I have the capability to send a message privately at hand if I ever need it, nothing more.  The app I have has been used three times total since we set them up 2 years ago, and all three times were tests.  I don't hide everything I say, my phone and computer doesn't even have passwords. I am merely prepared to hide just the important parts if a reason ever arises.  Theres a big difference between that and someone who thinks they are under constant surveillance. Being prepared for various situations does not make someone a conspiracy theorist or threat.

Edit:  Here is a conspiracy theory for you.  The government wants civilian privacy eliminated.  If only there was some evidence of that, just a little, it wouldn't be a theory anymore.  It would become a possibility.   It's not like the sheriff dept in your jurisdiction owns a stingray or similar, I mean, why would they?  They can get warrants, right?  lol

[Melt-O-Tronic]

It's appalling that a new user comes along, asks a simple question and gets called a "conspiracy theorist" and "nutjob".  Go back and re-read his (her?) two posts above -- they had nothing to do with that.  He simply wanted to repurpose a device for something that doesn't require wireless connectivity.  What is wrong with that?

And for those of you who jumped all over him, are you truly anti-privacy?  Is anyone who wants to conserve some vestige of privacy really a "nutjob" to you?  If so, I challenge you to post your account password and your home address here.  Hey, only a nutjob would want to protect their own privacy, right?

But we don't even know if that's his motive.  Maybe it is.  Maybe it's more about conserving power by not running unneeded hardware.  It doesn't matter, the question was legitimate.

The only reason this thread was "doomed to go into conspiracies" is because of some of the actual nutjob responders who jumped in with these baseless accusations.

This thread turned from a perfectly reasonable question to a shit show of misinterpretation and accusations.  A few of you should be ashamed of yourselves.

[Infraviolet]

"Use signal if you're..."
Just such a shame Signal don't have standalone clients for use on non-phone devices (Linux/Windows/Mac laptops/desktops... Rasp Pi...).

As for the mention of AES256 being vulnerable, since when? I know a working quantum computer would efectively halve the key length, but beyond that I hadn't heard of any problems. MD5, that was the one where the guy who found the vulnerability made a file "predicting the election", and shared the MD5 of the file with a betting shop to bet on the election result? Infact he had made two files predicting both possible winners, and made sure they both gave the same MD5.

As far as this thread goes, whether the OPs reason to get the device de-networked is about surveillance fears, or using the device as some sort of embedded computer in a room where he is running some super sensitive analogue thing and wants no risk of a nearby radio signal messing up a measurement... Surely removing the antenna itself is the solution, for saving power there might be advantages in removing the chip instead, but the power consumption of the rado related chip is surely insignificant compared to all the other things running inside the phone and draining the battery.

[Simon]

I get a kick out of people who think that anyone interested in privacy is an instant conspiracy theorist.  It's always straight to the extreme, isn't it?

It has nothing to do with paranoia,

conspiracies maybe not, but paranoia definitely

Edit:  Here is a conspiracy theory for you.  The government wants civilian privacy eliminated.  If only there was some evidence of that, just a little, it wouldn't be a theory anymore.  It would become a possibility.   It's not like the sheriff dept in your jurisdiction owns a stingray or similar, I mean, why would they?  They can get warrants, right?  lol

Nah, don't be silly, the only thing a government wants is to be re-elected, just look at all the cancelling of non existent controversial policies ours is talking about just to get back in in a years time....

[luudee]

Why not just get a raspberry

The cost of one will be less than all the rework you are planning to do ...

rudi

[RoGeorge]

Second hand phones are free, have a slim enclosure, battery, display, microphone, camera, etc.
It is so much tech in a phone, and all destined to be melted after a few years, while still working. 

[Bicurico]

Second hand phones are free, have a slim enclosure, battery, display, microphone, camera, etc.
It is so much tech in a phone, and all destined to be melted after a few years, while still working. 

I have pretty much kept my phones after getting new ones.

The other day I was trying to revive a Casio WSD-F20 watch (has a software bug that prevents connecting it to a new phone after resetting the watch, but that is another story).

Anyway, some users in similar condition suggested to connect the phone with an old Google Wear version, for example, the version built for Android v4.

Of course that Google Wear version would not install or run (after manually installing it anyway) on my current phone.

So I grabbed one of my old phones and thought that will be an easy task.

I was wrong:

- Battery dead
- Google Play would not offer the old Google Wear version nor allow to install the new one
- I had to download and install the Google Wear version I wanted from dubious sources - boy, that was slow
- To be able to download, I had to mess with expired certificates of the browser
- Everything was so slowwww

I would say that a >6 year old phone is useless. Current applications won't install, old version won't run, internet is incredibly slow, battery issues, plastic becomes sticky (the rubber coating), etc.

In my opinion:

New phone: use it for two years and sell it (I don't sell mine, they go into a drawer as a backup device, which I never use)
2 year old phone: use if for 2-4 years (if it lasts as long)
Over 6 years: dispose of it. Recycle it.

Want a cool application: get a Raspberry Pi, ESP32, STM32, etc.

You will get a working device, a functional SDK and you can even reproduce whatever you developed, since you can purchase further hardware.

Would be a shame of OP gets his super secure messaging system working, but anyone who wants to join in has to get an old S8 and remove a BGA chip...

[RoGeorge]

Seems the problem was the with a 3rd party service from Google (battery can be replaced, or power from 5V instead).

I never buy devices that can not work offline, and never use software as a service, only standalone software.  Been burned too many times by depending on a 3rd party.

As we speak, aside from the current phone:

- I keep in the home lab a Nokia Lumia from around 2010, always on the workbench as a camera for electronics.  Has great macro, good autofocus and just enough resolution, with Blutooth to transfer pics to the PC without any cable.
- a Samsung J5 from ~2015, has only one job, to play audiobooks.  Has a good enough internal speaker.  Always start from one click from where it left, don't need to keep the desktop running, and don't postpone a reboot just because I was listening to a certain chapter.  Can play at higher speeds, which is a must for most audiobooks.  And what I love the most, the phone has volume buttons, no clicking and no tapping, just press, it doesn't even turn on the screen while changing the volume (the player software is called Voice apk v4.3.3).
- a 3rd one (this is used really rare), it's some OEM brand I've never heard of, so old it has physical buttons.  Though it's very sensitive as an FM radio.
- thinking of adding a 4th one for a (unused for now) Bluetooth LE temp/humidity sensor, to log/display the data, as a weather station.

All of them have the RF transmitters off by default, of course, not because of conspiracy, but to minimize battery discharge first, and second to keep the RF noises at a minimum (while measuring in the lab).  Even for those many years old batteries, I usually recharge them only 1-2 times a week, maybe less.  In contrast, the normal mobile phone with radio on needs daily charging.

Now, if it were for all the discontinued smartphones to be open sourced and well documented, plus if it were to be made (from factory) with some digital IO accessible from outside, that will make them 100 times more useful in an electronics lab.

[AndyBeez]

I can understand the conspiracy theorists from one point of view.

The immutable right to communicate without prejudice is being circumvented by state legislatures across the free world in order to; protect children, stop people trafficking, ban climate change and, prevent crimes before they happen by deploying AI to generate 'minority report' evidence.

To achieve this netutopian aim, big tech companies will be forced to make their OS compliant with data monitoring standards. The end result will not be some MtM attack on your communication but rather, an end point 'virus scan' on everyone's freedom to express.

So there is no point sending data securely if, your OS scans your email for known phrases against a list of bad words held by your ISP, or deploys facial recognition technology to check you against America's most wanted before you can log in.

There will be  nothing to fear but the fear of not saying nothing.

[Simon]

I can understand the conspiracy theorists from one point of view.

The immutable right to communicate without prejudice is being circumvented by state legislatures across the free world in order to; protect children, stop people trafficking, ban climate change and, prevent crimes before they happen by deploying AI to generate 'minority report' evidence.

To achieve this netutopian aim, big tech companies will be forced to make their OS compliant with data monitoring standards. The end result will not be some MtM attack on your communication but rather, an end point 'virus scan' on everyone's freedom to express.

So there is no point sending data securely if, your OS scans your email for known phrases against a list of bad words held by your ISP, or deploys facial recognition technology to check you against America's most wanted before you can log in.

There will be  nothing to fear but the fear of not saying nothing.

and you have credible sources for this conspiracy? You seem to forget that the way that "the world order" as the theorists like to call it is actually Companies own governments, not governments forcing companies to do much. There are constant discoveries of companies making big donations or employing politicians, they don't do this just out of good will, or at least without significant good will returned them.

[RoGeorge]

and you have credible sources for this conspiracy?

You can not have evidence for what didn't happen yet (like a compliant OS), but such an OS doesn't look far fetched.  For example, there are already in place DRM policies embedded in media players and in drivers, regional DVDs, websites/Internet geo-fencing, Cloudflare and so on.

- There are already laws against end to end encryption.
- Youtube demonetizes channels, or individual videos, for telling facts as they are, every day.  Here's an example from today:  The Man Who Killed Millions and Saved Billions (Censored) from Veritasium channel, re-uploaded today
- RT news is banned in EU
- every internet video/news/material that does not align with "the ministry of truth" is banned, and there are laws to put in jail those who dare to ask wrong questions, for example there are laws for holocaust denial
- during covid, every opinion that beg to differ was labeled as disinformation and deleted, even when it was coming from known doctors, and even when sustained with experimental results

The world is heading to totalitarianism.  I've seen this increasing censoring before, during Ceausescu (he banned "The free Europe" and the "Voice of America" radio stations, just like EU bans RT news today).  Do you know what happened next?

At some point people started suspecting each other, just like in the medieval times, when the villagers were hunting witches.  Self policing started already in our society, too.  Today people have been mind-conditioned to feel offended for nothing, or to accuse of conspiracy and lunacy first, then ask why-such-and-so only later, if ever.  Brainwashing level today is higher than during the Caeusescu's regime in Romania.

In the western world we have cancel culture already.  People avoid speaking their mind, because they risk to lose their carrier, or even worst.

You know what's the next step?  Rating each other, even for no reason.  During communism, there were plenty of opportunists that eliminated their competition by rating them to the secret services.  Want to take the job of someone else, or want to get rid of a spouse in a love affair?  Easy, file an anonymous complaint to accuse them of anti-communism.  Good luck proving you are not a traitor.  Or in our times, good luck proving you are not a pedophile.  In general it is close to impossible to prove what you are not (and against a false accusation).

I don't want to turn this into a political debate, but you keep bringing conspiracies, and now you are asking for conspiracies evidence.  Yes, you are right the OP is over-doing it by removing the RF chip, but that doesn't mean conspiracies does not turn true once in a while.  For the average dudes like us, yes, removing the RF chip is tinfoil hat, but who knows.  Maybe the OP's political profile is a Snowden, or an Assange level.


About phones taping in particular, they are tapped, and they are triangulated (for example to deduce political alliances and such).  They always were.  Here's an officially acknowledge case, one from Ro (2012):  https://www.romania-insider.com/phone-tapping-scandal-involving-romanian-president-and-former-tax-administration-head-emerges, or take the more recent examples of phone calls that leaked online, from example the Nuland calls, and so on.


As long as something is technically possible, sooner or later someone else will hack that, friend or foe.  And never forget the history flips, so what might look today like a convenient law to have, or like an ally, tomorrow might flip and become your worst enemy.

That is why, it is never a good idea to surrender your rights and freedoms.  Never give to a 3rd party unlimited powers.