"Juz following up on complaint, newzboy."

Russia - Moscow's Tverskoi District Court has authorized the seizure of documents and computers from the New Times magazine after it published a story on police corruption...

The New Times said it had received a court notice about the impending confiscation and would appeal... The independent magazine also said it has complained to the Federal Security Service that an eavesdropping device had been found in the car of its editor-in-chief, Yevgenia Albats. (more)

Ain't this a kick in the head? (again)

Erin Muller says she found a GPS tracking device attached to the undercarriage of her car two weeks ago ... and Erin tells TMZ she believes her ex Michael Lohan is the one who put it there. Muller claims her dad found the device -- which can track the whereabouts of her vehicle in real time -- while he was checking for an oil leak... According to Muller's lawyer, cops are investigating the situation as a felony eavesdropping case -- and, as a result, Erin says she's so paranoid that she's going to have her apartment swept for bugs. (more)

Leave a key under the mat, Erin...

Michael Lohan has released an audio tape exclusively to RadarOnline.com which he says proves that his ex-fiance Erin Muller broke the restraining order against her, ultimately leading to her arrest on Thursday. (more)

Computer Stolen from Blagojevich's Attorney

Evidence in the Rod Blagojevich corruption case may have been stolen when burglars broke into the Chicago law firm representing the former Governor. They got away with eight computers and a safe which could have copies of those secret wiretap recordings provided by the F-B-I.... Blagojevich's attorneys don't think it will impact the June third trial date. (Stop snickering.) (more)

Street crime, or political espionage? You decide.

Skype Scalper Double-Crosses Swiss Patron

The Swiss creator of a Skype Trojan that can intercept calls made using the VoIP program has released the Trojan's source code online in an attempt to allow for its widespread detection.

In a translated interview with gulli.com, Ruben Unteregger says that with the Trojan's publication, "it will get analysed... signature patterns will be created by antivirus companies, the malware will be detected, blocked and deleted, if it tries to infect a system."

Previous reports from the IDG News Service tied the in-development Skype Trojan to the Swiss Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, which reportedly hired Unteregger's company to create the digital wiretap. (more)

SpyCam Story #540 - The Covert Cruiser

OH - Why did that police cruiser camera start recording?

That’s an unanswered question in the wake of the tape that showed Police Chief Tim Escola kissing and caressing a part-time officer under his command.

An attorney for the former chief suggested the cruiser camera may have been rigged, a claim township officials dispute.

POSSIBLE ANSWERS
Law Director Charles Hall said Escola or officer Janine England accidentally may have switched the camera system into a “covert mode,” which recorded their behavior June 2 as they drove a burglary suspect back from the Cincinnati area.

Those familiar with the equipment in Perry Township didn’t know the feature existed until Thursday after a review of the owner’s manual, Hall said. The system is less than a year old. “If you go to turn the device off and hold the power button, the camera goes into covert mode,” Hall said. In covert mode, the camera continues to record but the display screen and all lighting turns dark, he said.

Escola abruptly retired Tuesday night. England remains on the force and faces no discipline. (more with interesting comments) (video)

Business Espionage - Frankincar

Tong Jian S11
China’s first "self-designed" hybrid sports car...
Part Prius
Part Audi R8
Part Ferrari F430

via China Car Times...
The S11 was first unveiled at the Shanghai Auto show earlier this year to an impressed crowd. The car was designed by Shanghai based TJ Innova, the S11 looks fantastic, with Audi and Ferrari design tones slipped into its sleak body, under the platform there is an AWD drivechain pushing power to each corner of the car. (more)

Just coincidence?
You decide.

SpyCam Story #529 - "What's up Doc?"

The story you are about to read is real. Names have been dropped to protect the people involved and the city being sued. Just coincidence? You decide. (Dum-da-dum-dum...)

Charges were dropped against a ["revered for his expertise" professional] accused of spying on his patients... he was was arrested and spent a night in jail, after a patient falsely accused him of putting a hidden camera in an office bathroom.

He says a security lightbulb was used to keep an eye on his children in the backyard of his home, but the bulb was in his office because it was broken and he was ordering a new one.

His attorney said a construction worker grabbed the security bulb off the desk, and it was his account that helped drop the charges.

"The contractor went on his own volition and explained to the district attorney's office that he accidently put the non working security device in the bathroom thinking it was a lightbulb. It's really that simple, but again no one wanted to listen..."

The [city police] said they responded to a legitimate complaint.

Prosecutors dismissed the case saying in court, they had interviewed several witnesses, one of whom "offered an innocent explanation to the placement of the surveillance light bulb in the office bathroom of the defendant."

They went on to say, "[He] did not commit the crime with which he was charged."

[He] is suing the city for $[x] million.

from another report...
[He] said he used the bulb as an outdoor monitoring system to watch his kids while they played outside at home if he got called inside. The surveillance system wasn't a secret, he said.

"Everybody who knows me knows it didn't happen because everybody knew that I bought this thing for the backyard of my house," he said. "The kids helped me set it up."

[His] father was very ill with Parkinson's disease, and the family was in the process of moving from [the suburbs] to [the city], he said.

He brought the bulb down to the city to order a new encoder box that transmits the signal to a monitor. The original box was misplaced when the family was packing to move, he said.

from another report...
"At 5 until 12 I get a call from my secretary saying this guy thinks you're watching him pee. He called 9-11. He called the cops," [he] explained.

One of [his] patients called police when he found a light bulb with a small hidden surveillance camera in the men's bathroom.

Turns out a contractor doing work at the office accidentally installed the light.

[He] took the bulb to work that day to get it fixed.

from another report...
He said he brought it to work because he needed the code number on the camera to order a new one.

A contractor working in the office at night as part of an office expansion project told investigators he could not find a bulb when the light blew out in the bathroom, so he screwed in the broken one he found on [his] desk.

The public is generally aware of only one "lightbulb camera;" code number SVS-1. Sold on ebay and from many Web sites. It does not light. Simply a camera in lightbulb clothing, it transmits video over power lines. A decoder box is required to receive the signal. What is your verdict? (Dum-da-dum-dum-daaa...)

Has Castro Blackmailed Hollywood?

Sometimes a story comes along that sounds true but needs more evidence to back it up. You decide...

"My job was to bug their hotel rooms,” says high-ranking Cuban intelligence defector Delfin Fernandez. “With both cameras and listening devices. Most people have no idea they are being watched while they are in Cuba. But their personal activities are filmed under orders from Castro himself...”

"...famous Americans are the priority objectives of Castro’s intelligence,” says Fernandez. “When word came down that models Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss were coming to Cuba, the order was a routine one: 24-hour-a-day vigilance. Then we got a PRIORITY alert,” recalls Fernandez, “because there was a rumor that they would be sharing a room with Leonardo DiCaprio. The rumor set off a flurry of activity, and we set up the most sophisticated devices we had.”

“The American actor Jack Nicholson was another celebrity who was bugged and taped THOROUGHLY during his stay in the hotel Melia Cohiba,” states Fernandez, the man in charge of the bugging.

Turns out, however, that at least one visiting dignitary foiled Castro’s intelligence. On his visit to Cuba in 1998, Pope John Paul II’s assistants discovered and removed several bugging devices from His Holiness’ hotel room.

While holding up the book ”Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant” on his TV show, Bill O’Reilly called these celebs “Hollywood pinheads.” (more)

Bell a phoney? Espionage or not? You decide...

Seth Shulman writes...
"My latest book, The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret, is a nonfiction detective story. It recounts my experience, while working for a year as a science writing fellow at MIT, of stumbling upon a twisted mystery surrounding Bell's role in the invention of the telephone. Working from Bell's laboratory notebooks and his voluminous correspondence, I fell through a kind of historical trap door to becoming increasingly intrigued by the surprising story behind the invention of the telephone: a tale of romance, corruption, and unchecked ambition.

In the book, I try to capture the feel of the rich and exciting time in which Bell lived, as well as to tell my own story of chasing down clues about Bell’s life and times in rare archives and artifact collections around the world to unravel the surprising and long-hidden truth about him.

In the course of my research, I unearth a “smoking gun” that leaves little doubt that Bell furtively—and illegally—plagiarized his initial telephone design from his major competitor, Elisha Gray in his quest to secure what would become the most valuable U.S. patent ever issued. Afterwards, as Bell’s device led to the world’s largest monopoly, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, I trace how he hid his invention’s illicit beginnings." (more)

Note: Bevis's great grandfather was not the model.

Does someone near you always seem to know who's calling you?

Perhaps they have one of these... linked to your cell phone.

Bluetooth bracelet with vibration function and caller ID display.

Spybusters Tip # 429 - Keep Bluetooth turned off when not in use. (more)

Silvio Strikes Back

Italy - Investigators have become increasingly reliant on wiretaps in recent years... Use of wiretaps by prosecutors in Italy has grown exponentially in recent years.

Investigators say intercepts of telephone calls have become an essential tool of the police, who spend millions of dollars each year tracking down crime through wiretaps of landlines and mobile phones.

But the law may be about to change.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing government has drawn up a bill which would restrict police wiretaps to only the most serious crimes.

Much crime reporting in the Italian media is based on leaks of wiretaps and leading politicians, including Mr Berlusconi himself, have found to their embarrassment that details of their private telephone conversations have sometimes been leaked to newspapers.

Under the new law reporting of details of criminal investigations obtained through wiretaps would become illegal until a final verdict has been delivered.

Given the extreme slowness of Italian justice, this would mean that details of cases now before the courts might be reported by the press only in 15 years time. (more) (background)

Run, Duck and Cover

Turkey - Following the recent discovery of two covert listening devices at the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) headquarters in Ankara, party officials have begun to investigate whether the devices were planted by party members. (more)
meanwhile...
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, or MİT, is undergoing a comprehensive restructuring to increase its effectiveness... The Information Systems unit, which tapped wires and undertook grey zone activities, was left outside the intelligence department. Deputy undersecretariat for operations is replaced with the technical deputy undersecretariat, which now coordinates departments of information systems and electronic and technical intelligence. (more)

Meanwhile, at another Scot Palace...

(see previous palace story first)
Scotland - Royal security chiefs have launched an investigation after plans of the Queen's official residence in Scotland were found near a footpath...

The architect's drawings were discovered under a bush on a path leading to the Water of Leith, in Roseburn, Edinburgh... the plans showed power ducts, cables and a transformer, as well as the sizes of the gardens and locations for boiler rooms, gas meters, store cupboards, kitchens, toilets and wash areas. (more)

Facebook Connect, Google Connect...

"Just hours after the launch of Facebook Connect, Google also took the beta tags off its similar Friend Connect venture. Google and Facebook on Thursday announced the availability of competing authentication systems that enable Internet users to sign in to third party Web sites using either their Facebook or Google Account login details." (more)

Coincidence, or espionage?
You decide.

Wiretap coincidence or vendetta? You decide.

Italy - Gucci is the latest fashion label to be drawn into Italy's on-going "Spy Story" scandal - of which its former head of womenswear, Alessandra Facchinetti (and recently fired from Valentino), has previously been revealed as a target.

A Gucci spokesman yesterday confirmed in a statement that the Prosecutor's Office in Florence had ordered a search of the house's various Italy-based offices in relation to its investigation into the long-running scam, which saw the phones of various politicians, bankers, entrepreneurs, journalists and celebrities being wiretapped over a matter of years.

"The search is a result of the investigation on suspicion of the crime of revelation and use of official secrets," Gucci's spokesperson said, adding that the company was cooperating fully with the authorities. (more)

Just sayin'...
Silvio Berlusconi, an Italian politician, entrepreneur, real estate and insurance tycoon, bank and media proprietor, and sports team owner, and now the third longest-serving Prime Minister of the Italian Republic (President of the Council of Ministers of Italy), a position he has held on three separate occasions: from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2006, currently since 2008. (background 1 2 3 )

Spys Under Fire

Grenada's former spy chief, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Anthony De Gale has finally been questioned in connection with reports of missing files from the department. De Gale was questioned on Tuesday by members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at their location on Hillsborough Street, St. George's. The Spy Master was sent on his 120 days accumulated leave by newly installed Police Commissioner, James Clarkson after it was discovered that at the files at Special Branch were destroyed immediately after the July 8 General Elections which brought the then opposition National Democratic Congress of Tillman Thomas to power. (more)

Former India coach Greg Chappell on Saturday laughed off speculation that he was passing on secret information about the Indian team to Australia. Chappell, who quit as India coach last year after the team's first-round exit at the World Cup, is now touring with the Australian team as their assistant coach. (more)

And... they fire back!
A former MI5 chief, Dame Stella Rimington, has criticised the government's plans to extend the period under which suspects can be held without charge.

In comments cited by the Guardian newspaper, the ex-intelligence supremo said the 42-day detention plans were excessive.

Dame Rimington was speaking at the Crime Scene festival where she was launching her espionage thriller, Dead Line. (more)

Bonus points:
Guess who is who.
--------------------------------
Update - The winner is my very knowledgeable conterespionage colleague from Australia, who writes...
"Dame Stella Rimington was the former head of the domestic counter intelligence agency 'The Security Service' (aka MI5) whereas Dame Judy Dench plays the role of M (head of the Foreign Intelligence Service 'The Secret Service' aka MI6) in the James Bond Series.
So they don't represent the same agency... small point I know :)"

And I thought the casting department was being clever. Never underestimate the vast knowledge of the Security Scrapbook readership!

Have a spy question? Send it in. If I don't know the answer, I am sure one of our readers knows.

Quote of the Day - Cindy Sounds Bugged

Cindy Sheehan, American activist, running for Congress.

"So I walked into my room and bigger than life, there was a man standing by my desk holding the room phone with a screwdriver in his hand!

I immediately said; "What the hell are you doing? Are you putting a bug on my phone?" He looked like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and stammered out: "N--no, we are having problems with the phone." I told him to get out of my room because my phone was fine and I called the front desk and the person at the front desk stammered something out about "problems" with some of the phones." (more)

Obviously, this was not handled well. No follow through, no credibility. Next time, get to the bottom of it. Call hotel security. Demand proof of identity. Not satisfied? Think a crime is being committed? Call the police. Press charges.

If you think you have found a bug, wiretap, spycam or other form of electronic surveillance, follow this advice.

"Keep your berries in your pants 'ol chap."

UK - Concerns have been raised about the security of British secrets after a top political aide lost his BlackBerry device to a suspected Chinese spy, sources say.

The Sunday Times newspaper says one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's most senior aides was the victim of a "honeytrap" scheme in which the man was lured to a hotel room by a woman he met in a disco in Shanghai, China, only to find the next morning that his BlackBerry device had been stolen. (more)

SpyCam Story #446 - The Diogenes Dilemma

NY - Matt Walsh finally had his day in front of the NFL, and as far as commissioner Roger Goodell is concerned, this chapter of the Patriots videotaping saga is closed.

Walsh, a former Patriots video assistant who last week turned over eight tapes showing the team recording opposing offensive and defensive signals, met for more than three hours with Goodell yesterday. In the commissioner’s view, he offered no new information worth reopening the league’s investigation into the Patriots’ videotaping practices.

Goodell said Walsh told him there was no tape of the Rams walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. He said Walsh was unaware of any other violations of league policy, including the bugging of locker rooms, manipulation of communications equipment, or miking of players to pick up opposing signals...

He also told the commissioner that he had helped a small number of players scalp between eight and 12 Super Bowl tickets. (more)

Blackemail, Espionage or Just Coincidence?

MA - Two staff members in the school superintendent’s office spied on e-mails sent to Cambridge School Committee members over the span of one month. (more)

...administration officials did not tell the School Committee they were receiving committee e-mails from parents and others. A School Committee member only found out the two school officials were copied into School Committee e-mails after they hit “reply all” and found the duo copied in the e-mail. 14 days after it was discovered, School Committee members voted to enter contract negotiations with Superintendent Thomas Fowler-Finn. (more)