Picked as a winner, here, on 2/8.

Germany's "The Lives of Others," a searing look at totalitarian powers once wielded by East German secret police, the Stasi, won the Oscar for best foreign language film on Sunday.

The film by first-time filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck won rave reviews for its portrait of a Stasi agent who, while bugging a couple's home, develops an unexpected sympathy for them.

Malaysian state drops plan to spy on unmarried sex

A conservative state in Malaysia has dropped plans to recruit a network of spies to report unmarried couples having sex.

The Chief Minister in the northern state of Terengganu says the plan was scrapped after the Malaysian Prime Minister voiced his opposition to the plan.

The Prime Minister had called the proposed spy network an invasion of privacy, warning that it could also send the wrong message to foreign tourists.

"Do your own homework!"

A female science professor shares her personal spying experience... (more)

All of us know the feeling. It started in Third Grade when they looked over your shoulder. It continues now in the corporate world with co-workers and other corporations stealing your ideas and hard work.

The accompanying comments to her post are interesting, too. No consensus of moral opinion. Scary.

Nothing has changed except smart people now conduct quarterly searches for bugs and wiretaps.

...and you thought they were Sneakers.

Comverse continues to be at the center of an international wiretapping controversy which has serious implications for U.S. security. Interesting investigative report by FOX News, which is now rumored to be classified.

Up the creek...

Mozambique Minister spying on lazy workers...

Mozambique's Labour Minister, Maria Helena Taipo, early this morning surprised her employees, that were supposed to attend the public, by looking into complaints about the Ministry's service. Shocked about the staff's late arrival, she ordered a day's wage cut for all. (more)

Sometimes, surveillance does not require any electronics!

Spouse Spies

From mobile phones that double as transmitters to private eyes in far-away countries, companies are banking on the suspicions of spouses...

Responding to popular demand among wives whose husbands frequently visit China on business, due diligence companies are marketing new mobile phone eavesdropping technology for wives to listen in on their hubbies' phone conversations there. ...

When eavesdropping is not enough, many due diligence companies can ratchet up their services to include paying off Chinese police to follow a cheating Taiwanese husband and catch him, literally, with his pants down, the report added. (more)

On jamming cell phones...

"A client has asked me for information on blocking or jamming cellular phone and R/F signals from his corporate office." (from a well-respected security colleague)

Hi Sir,

Can't blame clients for asking. This is a fairly common request. In the U.S. jamming is illegal, but (more importantly) clients need to consider the civil and criminal lawsuit possibilities.

"I couldn't call 911 from the bathroom where Charlie had his heart attack. I was doing CPR and couldn't leave him to use a regular phone. He died!!!"

Who had this illegal jammer installed?
[enter client's name here]

Who installed it?
[enter electrician's name here]

Who advised them to do it?
[enter security specialist's name here]

Lotz-o-deep-pockets to pick.

Everyone wants a simple, cheap solution. Jamming and shielding are security sirens. They only look attractive, in a Ms. Smith sort of way.

Alternate client solutions...
- Establish a clearly defined 'no cell phone at work' policy.
- Establish consequences for non-compliance.
- Enforce it consistently and equally.
- Install cell phone detectors to alert when a cell phone is in use.
- Forget about shielding out other RF (bug) transmissions.
- Establish a regular TSCM audit schedule to search for bugs.
- Improve perimeter and general information security.
- Periodically, test for leaks.

I am sure all this just echos what you have already told them in different words. This rant, however, may help you to show them that your colleagues back you up.

If the client insists, send him the T-shirt and say "Good-bye."

~Kevin

"This is your Captain... listening."

A Japan Airlines pilot has been arrested on suspicion of planting bugging devices at the house of a flight attendant with whom he once had a romantic relationship, it was learned Friday.

According to police, Masahiro Nomura, 39, installed two radio-transmitting concealed microphones in the woman's house in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, and eavesdropped on her from June 2002 to November.

The relationship between Nomura and the flight attendant, 34, ended in October. She later found the microphones in a plug and an electric socket in her living room. She contacted the police, and they seized a receiver from Nomura's house on Feb. 9. (more)

Pssst... Wanna buy a KGB spy map?

What did the Russians ever do for us?
The spine-chilling fact is that they did more than you think.

Every Soviet leader from Stalin to Gorbachev knew not only where you lived but how to get there by tank. For over 50 years, before, during and after the Cold War, the Soviet military undertook the most comprehensive global survey ever attempted and created detailed, accurate maps of practically every country in the world.

Satellite images, high altitude aerial reconnaissance including spies on the ground were used to collect all possible information. (more) (sample) Ideas... Makes a cool wall hanging, or placemats.

Walter Mitty's PI avatar - another SpyBot

Boasting a motion detector, video camera, microphone and loudspeaker, Spyke is the ultimate Wi-Fi-enabled robot. We love him and so will you!

Main Features
- Spy robot - Spyke moves, watches, speaks and listens
- VOIP phone - Use your Spyke as a wireless VOIP phone (compatible with Skype 3.0 PC technology)
- Digital Music Player - listen to your own music over Wi-Fi with Spyke
- Video Surveillance - When a movement is detected, Spyke activates an alarm on your computer or sends you a picture by email
- Wi-Fi card included
- Motion sensors activate automatically when something happens
- Returns to recharging station automatically when battery is low
- Control on local Wi-Fi connection or remotely on internet (more)

SnitchBot News - Smokers, your butt is burned.

Robot manufacturer Tmsuk, Kyushu University and the Kanazawa Institute of Technology from Japan have all put their expertise together to develop a robot that can sniff out smoke. (more)

Spy Briefs (aka dirty underwear)

Sales of fake detective badges soar...
Kuala Lumpur - Rights groups reacted angrily on Thursday to a Muslim Malaysian state's plans to hire spies to catch couples engaged in extramarital sex, fearing it would lead to abuses of power. ... Under the plan, spies trained by Terengganu's religious officials will be located in hotels and parks. They will be rewarded for tipping off authorities about couples caught in compromising situations. (more)

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Meanwhile, over in Thailand...
Thailand's Shin Satellite has denied spying allegations by the Kingdom's military government. Despite that, Thai coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin vows to take back control of the satellites. (more)

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What's wrong with this picture?
Indonesia - On Monday, parliament's law commission will examine Mr Ruki (Chairman, KPK anti-corruption agency) over the counter-claims concerning the purchase of a $5 million phone tapping system by the corruption watchdog. ... The KPK was the only senior agency that had not been probed for corruption and the $5 million it paid for the wiretapping equipment was too high, cabinet minister Yusril Mahendra said. (more)

Spy Art

Art imitates life...
Build your own private spy agency. Travel around the world, trade with state secrets, weapon systems, spy codes, WMD, hire secretaries, agents, lawyers, helicopters and soldiers, establish agency stations and search for politicians. Game contains more than 30 missions including CIA Unlimited, Gen. Noriega, USAF, Colonel Gaddafi ,BND, Prime Minister, RAF, Cold War, Bin Laden, Sadam, KGB, Law Firm... (more)

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Art Watches Back...
City officials in Chicago placed surveillance cameras on top of giant twin towers designed by the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa using funds from the US Department of Homeland Security.

Paul Gray, co-owner and director of Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago which represents Plensa in the US, said the city “did not get permission from the artist” to use his towers in this way.

“When we learned about the concerns of Chicago’s art lovers, we took them down immediately,” says Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. (more) "...and, we really don't care for the long security lines at O'Hare either."

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Watch Art, Watch Spies...
"The Good Shepherd,” a chilly film about a spy trapped in the cold of his own heart, seeks to put a tragic human face on the Central Intelligence Agency, namely that of Matt Damon. The story more or less begins and ends at the Bay of Pigs. (more)

The Oscar-nominated director of "The Lives of Others" says his next movie won't be about secret surveillance -- he wants to do "lots of other stuff." (more)

Deja Vu, the recent Denzel Washington film about an ATF agent, is not a particularly interesting film in its own right but gains significance when we locate it in the evolution of the surveillance film. This venerable tradition includes Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), Antonioni’s Blowup (1966), Coppola’s The Conversation (1974), Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State (1998), Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002), Michael Haneke’s Caché (2005), and Scorsese’s latest offering, The Departed (2006). (more - an excellent read)

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“The more technology you use,
the easier it for them to keep tabs on you.”
~Edward 'Brill' Lyle

"Learn How To Spy On Top Ten Sites"

The hype...
"Have you heard about the new site ... that helps you beat your competition by spying on it?" (more)

The reality...
secretpagespy.com

The verdict...
We checked it out. If you are willing to trade your email address and your valuable time for a looong commercial message for marketing aids, in the hopes of gaining illicit 'spy' information on your competitors, using a few repackaged Internet search tools... Well, you get the idea.

Why smart organizations check for bugs... quarterly.

A controversy over covert video and audio surveillance equipment discovered in public buildings in a rural Ontario municipality has one elected official invoking the Watergate scandal.

The hidden cameras of Highlands East, in the Haliburton area, came to light last year at a fire hall. The station's commander had previously been dismissed when he and other volunteer firefighters were caught on tape drinking beer after the municipality had adopted a no-alcohol policy.

Highlands East Reeve Dave Burton and deputy reeve Jim Mackie, newly elected last November, are both volunteer firefighters, and criticized the use of surveillance in that matter and assumed it had ceased.

Mr. Mackie said he was astonished when a device was discovered in December concealed in a light fixture in the Gooderham firehall.

"The camera was powered up and broadcasting both audio and video, it was set up so anybody within about 300 feet who had that type of receiver could watch in there and listen with impunity."

After that discovery, Mr. Mackie said he went looking for other devices and found a hidden camera in the local arena, and another on the wall of the municipal building in Wilberforce.

Mr. Mackie said he was surprised by how "insidious" the device found in the fire hall was — no bigger than a loonie (a Canadian $1.00 coin measuring 26.5 mm). (more)