The rapid research and development in information technologies and electronic devices, along with their shrinkage in size has made surveillance obtainable to each of us. All you have to do is Google for GSM tracker, spy camera, hidden voice recorder. Don’t be surprised to see hundreds of thousands or even millions of espionage gear offers...
Detecting the bugging devices is not an easy and simple work. The term describing this type of activity is TSCM which is the abbreviation of Technical Surveillance Counter Measures. TSCM survey is a service provided by qualified personnel to detect the presence of technical surveillance devices and hazards and to identify technical security weaknesses that could aid in the conduct of a technical penetration of the surveyed facility.
A TSCM survey normally consists of a thorough
visual, electronic and physical inspection inside and outside of the
surveyed facility. In conducting surveillance protection one has to be
familiar with the tapping methods; hardware and software products;
engineering solutions used for this purpose as well as their unmasking
signs. Without this knowledge it is not possible to detect a well hidden
bug. more
by Brian Hochman, Director of American Studies and Associate Professor of English, Georgetown University
On February 11, 1955, an anonymous tip led two New York
Police Department detectives and two New York Telephone Company
investigators to an apartment on the fourth floor of a residential
building at 360 East 55th Street in midtown Manhattan.
In the back bedroom of the unit, the group discovered a cache of stolen wiretapping equipment that turned out to have direct lines into six of New York City’s largest telephone exchanges: PLaza 1, 3, and 5; MUrray Hill 8; ELdorado 5; and TEmpleton 8.
The connections blanketed an area of Manhattan running from East 38th Street to East 96th Street, a swath of the city’s most expensive real estate.
“There wasn’t a single tap-free telephone on the east side of New York,” professional wiretapper Bernard Spindel remarked of the arrangement. (Spindel was in all likelihood the source of the anonymous tip.) News of the discovery made the front page of the New York Times a week later. more
Such breaches of privacy once provoked outrage, but today most Americans have resigned themselves to constant electronic monitoring. How did we get from there to here?
Hochman explores the origins of wiretapping in military campaigns and criminal confidence games, and tracks the use of telephone taps in the U.S. government’s wars on alcohol, communism, terrorism, and crime. more
Wiretapping is nearly as old as electronic communications. Telegraph operators intercepted enemy messages during the Civil War. Law enforcement agencies were listening to private telephone calls as early as 1895. Communications firms have assisted government eavesdropping programs since the early 20th century―and they have spied on their own customers, too. Such breaches of privacy once provoked outrage, but today most Americans have resigned themselves to constant electronic monitoring.
How did we get from there to here? Hochman explores the origins of wiretapping in military campaigns and criminal confidence games, and tracks the use of telephone taps in the U.S. government’s wars on alcohol, communism, terrorism, and crime... more
Wiretapping Quote of the Week
Six years of wiretapping and this is what the Feds got? Cue Peggy Lee singing “Is that All There Is?"
~ Tom Cardella
more
Why it matters: Rashkov was echoing echoing claims from
a leading opposition politician, who said 32 politicians from three
parties had been wiretapped. All three parties are opponents of the
long-term ruling party, GERB, and former prime minister Boyko Borissov,
who dominated Bulgarian politics for the past decade. more
FL - A class-action suit in Lake County, Florida, alleges that Intel unlawfully intercepted communications without user consent. The claim is backed by the usage of analytics technology on Intel’s company website. Intel capitalizes on session-replay software to capture the interactions of people visiting the corporate homepage, a violation of user rights.
According to the lawsuit, Intel is violating the Florida
state wiretapping law by capturing keystrokes, mouse movements, and
other similar session-replay tech. more
MD - A woman is facing felony wiretapping charges on allegations she secretly recorded board meetings at the Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary.
Rosanna
E. Tufts, 61, of Cockeysville, was charged with 11 counts of
interception, disclosure or use of wire, electronic or oral
communication. more
1977 - S. Korea - The foreign ministry delivers a letter of protest to Washington
over the wiretapping of the office of President Park Chung-hee by the
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The agency was investigating an
allegation that a South Korean lobbyist paid bribes of up to US$1
million to high-level U.S. politicians at the behest of the South Korean
president, who did not get along with his U.S. counterpart, Jimmy
Carter. more
The billionaire co-owner of Le Monde newspaper, Xavier Niel, 52, told the Parliamentary Channel that as a teen in the 1980s he worked undercover for the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance after he was caught hacking the French channel Canal+...
The conversation cannot be confirmed as legitimate, and could even be business espionage...
