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[on:]

Hi ,i am fairly new to arduino an i was wondering.Is there any way i can interfere an arduino with some extra shield or something to a cell phone communication and read the data transmitted.

To make it straight when my sister talks to her ugly boyfriend from her cell phone can i sniff their conversation with my arduino connected of course to my pc and read the data transmitted....       ]

P.S Seriously, i know that even if i receive the data i won't be able to decode it so it would be just a cool project....

[Reply #1 on:]

Well, you need to be licensed to TRANSMIT for those bands.. and although there is significant precedent that passive reception of a signal doesn't mean misuse.. however, cell data is that-- data.  Encrypted data, no less.. and the moment you actively try to decrypt that means you are no longer a passive receiver.. in fact you are violating laws that will get you sent away for a very very long time.  Might just get you sent someplace where people just don't come back from.  Hate your sister enough to get Waterboarded a couple times a day for a decade or so? LOL

For example, I've got a scanner that I purchased before certain laws came into play, which can do something called Active Trunk Tracking.  With this scanner, you can follow hop-frequency communications, like state police and federal organizations.  It's probably a gray area, but I don't think these are available any more, or have certain bands blocked out.  I've also got an older scanner that easily handles most 800-900Mhz cordless phones made before, say, 2004- if I want to set it up to do so.  About twenty years back I owned a specialized technician's Uniden transceiver handheld that violates at least a dozen FCC laws today.. including operating in transmit modes fully though all restricted bands including most police, fire, and aircraft/marine bands.  

Just because you can do a thing doesn't mean you should.

In this case, you are talking about actively hacking cell communications, which is a Felony.  You'll get no help here with that kind of thing... just stick to throwing open the door, farting really bad, shouting "Take that, foul beast!", and then running away.  Seems to work on my wife, so it ought to work on an overly aggravating sister..

[Reply #2 on:]

Wow ....i didn't know that these stuff were illegal....Maybe i will just try some other project ..let's say automatic water planting...sounds more easy and way more legal!!!

Thanks  anyway folks!!!

[Reply #3 on:]

Back in the day the analog cell phones were easy to listen to with a modified scanner. With the advent of digital cell phones the easy listening was defeated. Not sure if current cell phone digital transmissions are encripted or not. In the US it is illegal to evesdrop on cell phones (made illegal shortly after some recorded politicians conversations were released).

[Reply #4 on:]

In the US it is illegal to evesdrop on cell phones

In the US I think it's always been illegal to eavesdrop on ANY phone connection.  (Come to think of it, there might have been an exception for wireless phones, under the "anyone can receive any broadcast" provisions that pre-dated widespread use of wireless phones.  I had a former co-worker who delighted in using his scanner to listen in on (pre-cellular) wireless phone conversations...)

[Reply #5 on:]

I had a former co-worker who delighted in using his scanner to listen in on (pre-cellular) wireless phone conversations...

Well yes, one needs to keep up with the neighbors. The "baby monitor" cam setup let you see and listen. You are just out of the neighborhood info loop if your house does not resemble a CIA antenna farm.