Thursday, March 21, 2013

From the Security Scrapbook Archives - 2003

Here is what the Security Scrapbook looked like 10 years ago... (Some links are now dead.)

"They're GR-R-REAT!®"When the CIA's secret gadget-makers invented a listening device for the Asian jungles, they disguised it so the enemy wouldn't be tempted to pick it up and examine it: The device looked like tiger droppings. The guise worked. ... The CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology is celebrating its 40th anniversary by revealing a few dozen of its secrets for a new museum inside its headquarters near Washington. Keith Melton, a leading historian of intelligence, calls it "the finest spy musuem you'll never see." It is accessible only to CIA employees and guests admitted to those closed quarters.
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7721
See the e-poop at...
https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/cia-museum/experience-the-collection/index.html#!/artifact/17



 

SPECIAL SECTION -- The Jacko Show
...but not good for the gander-er.Last week, Jackson and his lawyer learned they were secretly videotaped by a camera hidden aboard the plane when Jackson traveled from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara to turn himself in. The discovery triggered an FBI investigation and a lawsuit by Jackson against the charter jet company. (Charter companies might record passenger cabin video to document any damage done by... oh say... rock stars who might party too hearty and cause damage.)
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=22&art

It's Plain View Doctrine, not Plane View Doctrine, Jimmy.A man claiming to be a news and photo agency reporter was arrested after Jackson's security staff found him aboard the entertainer's private plane while Jackson was surrendering to authorities.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031127-102246-4233r.htm

NSS...Sheriff's officials said several wireless microphones discovered outside their headquarters could be the latest of several attempts by journalists to surreptitiously get information on the Michael Jackson molestation case. The devices were found in a brushy area where Sheriff's Department employees frequently take breaks and where reporters are not normally allowed. Officials did not say when they discovered the microphones.
http://www.local6.com/news/2671587/detail.html

I always feel like
Somebody's watching me
Can I have my privacy
(...and Moon Walk stage left)
Michael Jackson thinks authorities may be spying on him in his own home. The Gloved One is said to be so fearful that his Neverland ranch has been bugged, he's even looking at his teddy bears suspiciously. A Jackson insider tells us the singer believes that law-enforcement officers may have planted electronic surveillance devices in his mansion last month when they spent 12 hours searching the grounds for evidence that he molested a 12-year-old boy. "He ordered a sweep of the entire place," said the source. "They're even running the teddy bears through radio-frequency sensors to see if there might be transmitters inside."
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/142156p-125978c.html
http://tinyurl.com/xz1s (Somebody's Watching Me - lyrics)

The plot thickens...COURT TV anchor Diane Dimond, who reported on the first days of the Michael Jackson sex case a decade ago, is the latest to be caught up in a Hollywood phone-bugging scandal. Dimond said yesterday that authorities have informed her that wiretaps on her phone from 1994 are part of evidence seized by the FBI last year from the computer of Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano. Dimond was a reporter for "Hard Copy" in 1993 in the first days after the story broke of a youngster accusing Jackson of sexually molesting him. Pellicano worked for Jackson's attorney, Harold Weitzman. (Have a feeling we'll hear more about Mr. Pellicano?)
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/10576.htm



SPECIAL SECTION -- "Teach your children well..."

In the 1960's...
Children were influenced by spy movies, TV shows and associated toys in a positive way. The 'spies' rarely spied. They were heros. They fought against evil-doers. They did "good." (Secret Agent / Danger Man, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, James Bond - 007, Mission Impossible, The Prisoner, The Saint, The Avengers...)

By the 1980's...The spies' toys had become the heros. Eavesdropping, snooping and general spying had become "cute."

Some people recognized this and raised editorial warning flags..."In becoming accustomed to such toys and the pleasures they bring, the seeds of an amoral and suspicious adulthood are unwittingly being cultivated." - from the article, You'd Better Watch Out! This is the Year of Spying Kits for Kids, Gary T. Marx, The Los Angeles Times, 1988.
http://www.spybusters.com/The_spying_problem_worsens.html

By the 21st century..."Competitive Intelligence" had become an established job description. Corporate eavesdropping and espionage inspections had become a routine necessity for survival. And Murray Associates (http://www.spybusters.com) celebrated 25 years in business with one specialty - eavesdropping auditing.

Today...Kiddy eavesdropping, snooping and general spying toys are now theme-corporations, e.g. Wild Planet's Spy Gear, Undercover Girl and Girl Tech. Even the venerable "Discovery Channel" offers twelve children's spy toys for sale, including a "Night Spy Dart Launcher" for "ages 5+" !!!

Logical Conclusion...Toys teach.
We reap what we sow.



ODDBALL

Bored?
Call a pay phone on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France and see who answers. +33 (0)1 47 53 75 68
http://www.payphone-project.com/

Really Really Bored?There were two old men, one a retired professor of psychology, and the other a retired professor of history. Their wives had talked them into a two week stay at a hotel in the mountains. They were sitting around on the porch of the hotel watching the sun set. The history professor said to the psychology professor, "Have you read Marx?"
To which the professor of psychology said,
"Yes, I think it's the wicker chairs!"


(more)