[batista]

If you are really worried about this, I recommend surgery.

Me too -but in a more literal way.

Sorry for the downvotable comment, but cannot resist a pun, especially when it kinda makes my actual point.

The thing is, whether the MBP is "always listening" or not is of little consequence, in an age when we know that governments look into the wires, have taps into ISPs and can listen to any and all mobile phone conversation.

Btw, my iMac 27" 2009, doesn't seem to register any sound with the internal mic set to the minimum volume. And there's also the "Audio MIDI setup" program, where you can disable it completely.

[marchdown]

They can eavesdrop on encrypted mobile phone connections? Do you have a solid source on that?

[runjake]

For starters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Klein

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gsm#GSM_service_security

  GSM uses several cryptographic algorithms for security.
  The A5/1 and A5/2 stream ciphers are used for ensuring 
  over-the-air voice privacy. A5/1 was developed first 
  and is a stronger algorithm used within Europe and the 
  United States; A5/2 is weaker and used in other 
  countries. Serious weaknesses have been found in both 
  algorithms: it is possible to break A5/2 in real-time 
  with a ciphertext-only attack, and in January 2007, The 
  Hacker's Choice started the A5/1 cracking project with 
  plans to use FPGAs that allow A5/1 to be broken with a 
  rainbow table attack.