Spyware developed by a U.K. group can take control of a number of mobile devices, including iPhones and BlackBerrys, turning on microphones and cameras, tracking locations and monitoring emails, text messages and voice calls.

Gamma International specializes in “governmental IT intrusion and remote monitoring solutions,” as its website says. The company’s FinFisher software can infect personal computers as well, intercepting Skype calls and recording keystrokes, and was recently used to suppress dissent in Bahrain. The company says it did not sell the product to Bahrain’s government.

“People are walking around with tools for surveillance in their pockets,” said John Scott-Railton, a doctoral student at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs who researched the software. “These are the tools that can be used to turn on your microphone and turn your phone into a tracking device.”

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.