Editing Surveillance (section)

===Devices===
{{See also|United States v. Spy Factory, Inc.}}
[[Covert listening device]]s and video devices, or "bugs", are hidden electronic devices which are used to capture, record, and/or transmit data to a receiving party such as a law enforcement agency.

The U.S. has run numerous domestic intelligence operations, such as [[COINTELPRO]], which have bugged the homes, offices, and vehicles of thousands of U.S. citizens, usually [[political activists]], [[subversives]], and [[criminals]].<ref name="wolf-cointelpro">{{cite web|url=http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm|title=COINTELPRO|last=Wolf|first=Paul|work=(online collection of historical documents)|access-date=March 14, 2009}}</ref>

Law enforcement and intelligence services in the U.K. and the United States possess technology to remotely activate the microphones in cell phones, by accessing the phone's diagnostic/maintenance features, in order to listen to conversations that take place nearby the person who holds the phone.<ref name="roving-bugs"/><ref name="uk-mobile-bug"/><ref name="noaa-phone"/>