FBI Tracking Cell Phones

Not sure if this has been posted, so chow me please if it has.

Are these stories sensationalist or is there a nugget of truth in them?

The U.S. Commerce Department's security office warns that "a cellular telephone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone." An article in the Financial Times last year said mobile providers can "remotely install a piece of software on to any handset, without the owner's knowledge, which will activate the microphone even when its owner is not making a call."

http://news.com.com/2100-1029-6140191.html

Some news sources are saying it's possible to trasmit even with the phone off:

Cell phone users, beware. The FBI can listen to everything you say, even when the cell phone is turned off.

A recent court ruling in a case against the Genovese crime family revealed that the FBI has the ability from a remote location to activate a cell phone and turn its microphone into a listening device that transmits to an FBI listening post, a method known as a "roving bug." Experts say the only way to defeat it is to remove the cell phone battery.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/...u_hear_me.html

I find it improbable that non-bluetooth phones are able to transmit while powered off, least of all transmit voice data and GPS location without running out the battery fairly quickly.