I've written quite a few columns on the topic of spying. Some were on spying on your competitors (bottom line: you are allowed to use only publicly available information; if you are the target you can engage in limited subterfuge to keep the competition guessing); spying on your workers (only when there is a compelling reason to suspect serious wrong-doing, and only when the information will be used in a focused and equitable way). I even wrote about doing Google searches on potential dates (best to have someone else do these for you and give you a thumbs up or thumbs down; knowing too much may take the romance out of your meeting.)
The latest topic I have encountered is spying on your spouse. This is a very active area, and quite sophisticated means are available to suspicious wives and husbands. I plan to write about this very delicate ethical topic soon.
Instead, looking at the impressive arsenal of gadgets and subterfuges used in this particular battleground of the war of the sexes inspired me to a different thought, very relevant to this season: How would we look if we spied on ourselves? (more)
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Don't puck with "Mr. Hockey"
Gordie Howe has won a temporary restraining order barring a neighbour from conducting surveillance on the hockey legend's home.
Howe, 79, who has been the subject of a residential association dispute for more than a year, says he's tired of being spied on.
The former Detroit Red Wings star and his wife, Colleen, on Tuesday filed an eight-count stalking lawsuit in Oakland County. The Howes claim Lionel and Karen Dorfman, a retired couple in their 70s, have engaged in unlawful eavesdropping and invasion of privacy for more than a year.
The Howes allege the Dorfmans have had a camera snapping photos of their house every five seconds - more than 17,000 photos a day. (more)
UPDATE
Hockey great Gordie Howe won a temporary restraining order barring a neighbour from conducting surveillance on his home. (more)
Howe, 79, who has been the subject of a residential association dispute for more than a year, says he's tired of being spied on.
The former Detroit Red Wings star and his wife, Colleen, on Tuesday filed an eight-count stalking lawsuit in Oakland County. The Howes claim Lionel and Karen Dorfman, a retired couple in their 70s, have engaged in unlawful eavesdropping and invasion of privacy for more than a year.
The Howes allege the Dorfmans have had a camera snapping photos of their house every five seconds - more than 17,000 photos a day. (more)
UPDATE
Hockey great Gordie Howe won a temporary restraining order barring a neighbour from conducting surveillance on his home. (more)
Wiretapping added to abuse charges
NH - Nashua police Wednesday arrested Theresa A. Bergeron, 36, of 13 Salem St., and charged her with one count of misdemeanor wiretapping and eavesdropping for allegedly secretly recording audio from a meeting with an official from the state Division of Children, Youth and Families. (more)
Why Is Sports Crime Different?
Professional sports are not just 'sports'. Sports are businesses, big businesses. Each team is a corporation. Their profits rise and fall on their successes and failures - just like any other business.
When a team executive spies for competitive advantage that team is stealing money from the losing opponent. This is a crime.
How much money are we talking about here?
Take the Super Bowl for example. Heck, take three Super Bowls. Winning via fraud can add up. Denny Hatch estimated three Super Bowl wins adds up to about $1.7 million!
Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots football coach, coincidentally 'led' his team to three Super Bowl victories. He was caught spying on his opponents. He was fined $500,000 (tax deductible) - approximately 12% of his yearly salary. He wasn't fired from his job. He wasn't suspended from even one game.
Is Belichick appealing the decision? No. Just a cost of doing business, I guess.
The McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team was fined $100 million this month for their little espionage caper against Ferrari. Are they appealing the decision? No. Cost of doing business?
Compare 'Sports' business to conventional business...
• A federal judge ignored a former Coca-Cola secretary’s tearful plea for mercy and sentenced her to eight years in prison for conspiring to steal trade secrets from the world’s largest beverage maker. U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester told Joya Williams, 42, that he was giving her a longer sentence than recommended by federal prosecutors and sentencing guidelines because, “This is the kind of offense that cannot be tolerated in our society.”
• Kenneth Lay, former Chairman of Enron, lost his job, faced a decades-long prison term for his fraud and died of a heart attack. Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's former CEO, is currently serving a 24-year, 4-month prison sentence.
• Hewlett-Packard's spy scandal: Carly Fiorina, former CEO, fired.
• Wal-Mart's spy scandal: Bruce Gabbard, security employee, fired.
Unlike Belichick and the McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team 'Wacky Racers', none of the conventional business folks are out there 'enjoying the game' any more.
So, why is stealing money in the sports world treated differently?
What messages does this send to our children?
~Kevin
When a team executive spies for competitive advantage that team is stealing money from the losing opponent. This is a crime.
How much money are we talking about here?
Take the Super Bowl for example. Heck, take three Super Bowls. Winning via fraud can add up. Denny Hatch estimated three Super Bowl wins adds up to about $1.7 million!
Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots football coach, coincidentally 'led' his team to three Super Bowl victories. He was caught spying on his opponents. He was fined $500,000 (tax deductible) - approximately 12% of his yearly salary. He wasn't fired from his job. He wasn't suspended from even one game.
Is Belichick appealing the decision? No. Just a cost of doing business, I guess.
The McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team was fined $100 million this month for their little espionage caper against Ferrari. Are they appealing the decision? No. Cost of doing business?
Compare 'Sports' business to conventional business...
• A federal judge ignored a former Coca-Cola secretary’s tearful plea for mercy and sentenced her to eight years in prison for conspiring to steal trade secrets from the world’s largest beverage maker. U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester told Joya Williams, 42, that he was giving her a longer sentence than recommended by federal prosecutors and sentencing guidelines because, “This is the kind of offense that cannot be tolerated in our society.”
• Kenneth Lay, former Chairman of Enron, lost his job, faced a decades-long prison term for his fraud and died of a heart attack. Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's former CEO, is currently serving a 24-year, 4-month prison sentence.
• Hewlett-Packard's spy scandal: Carly Fiorina, former CEO, fired.
• Wal-Mart's spy scandal: Bruce Gabbard, security employee, fired.
Unlike Belichick and the McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team 'Wacky Racers', none of the conventional business folks are out there 'enjoying the game' any more.
So, why is stealing money in the sports world treated differently?
What messages does this send to our children?
~Kevin
Corporate Spy: Industrial Espionage and Counterintelligence in the Multinational Enterprise
FREE LUNCHTIME AUTHOR DEBRIEFING AND BOOK SIGNING - Thursday, 4 October; 12 noon – 1 pmIn May of 2006, PepsiCo alerted the Coca Cola Company that someone was trying to sell Coke’s secrets. An FBI sting implicated a secretary who has since been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for conspiring to steal trade secrets from the famous beverage maker.
How unusual was this case?
How frequently are businesses under attack?
How can they protect themselves?
Join Steeple Aston, PhD, author of Corporate Spy, as he uncovers the world of the corporate spies: who they are and how they operate. You’ll learn the warning signs and hear about some of the most dramatic cases of industrial espionage in recent years. (more)
International Spy Museum
800 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20004
202.393.7798
She bootscoots. He taps. What could possibly go wrong?
Australia - The lawyer husband of slain West Australian Supreme Court registrar Corryn Rayney has become the prime suspect in his estranged wife's murder. Ms. Rayney disappeared after an evening bootscooting dance class on August 7, 2007.
Lloyd Rayney, the prominent lawyer, was arrested and charged with installing an illegal phone bugging device on the telephone in the Como house the couple had shared with their two daughters.
The dramatic new development came after police returned to search the Rayney home in Monash Street, forcing their way in after Mr. Rayney refused to answer the door. (more)
Lloyd Rayney, the prominent lawyer, was arrested and charged with installing an illegal phone bugging device on the telephone in the Como house the couple had shared with their two daughters.
The dramatic new development came after police returned to search the Rayney home in Monash Street, forcing their way in after Mr. Rayney refused to answer the door. (more)
Pay Per Peep
Thousands of Big Brother viewers pay RealNetworks $40 a season to watch live footage from inside the CBS reality show's spycam-riddled house. (more)
China's Hot Stock: Orwell Inc.
The American economy may be teetering on the brink of a recession, but there's an industry our hedge fund gurus believe has an almost limitless future: the Chinese police state.
In a stunning report in the New York Times last week, correspondent Keith Bradsher documented the rise of China's electronic surveillance industry, whose leading companies have incorporated themselves in the United States and obtained the lion's share of their capital from U.S. hedge funds. Though ostensibly private, these companies are a for-profit adjunct of the Chinese government.
Li Runsen, technology director of the government's ministry of public security and the top cop policing China's Internet usage against the occasional appearance of a dangerous idea, now also moonlights as a director of China Security and Surveillance Technology, a company soon to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (more)
In a stunning report in the New York Times last week, correspondent Keith Bradsher documented the rise of China's electronic surveillance industry, whose leading companies have incorporated themselves in the United States and obtained the lion's share of their capital from U.S. hedge funds. Though ostensibly private, these companies are a for-profit adjunct of the Chinese government.
Li Runsen, technology director of the government's ministry of public security and the top cop policing China's Internet usage against the occasional appearance of a dangerous idea, now also moonlights as a director of China Security and Surveillance Technology, a company soon to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (more)
Mobile Phone Eavesdropping - a resurgence
Cell phones have become so much a part of our lives that we don't stop to think about the vulnerabilities unique to this technology.
For example, there is the simple act of eavesdropping.
How many times have you been the unwitting listener to someone else's phone conversation? It has become a profitable pastime for many.
There are two types of eavesdropping — casual and technical. Someone with an interest can, of course, overhear things you say on your cell phone. Never use it in a public place to call your bank, visit with your financial advisor or conduct any personal business. Don't use your cell phone to talk to automated banking or credit card systems where you speak your account numbers or personal identification numbers. New scanners have been developed which search airwaves for decodable cell signals. Think before you speak. (more)
For example, there is the simple act of eavesdropping.
How many times have you been the unwitting listener to someone else's phone conversation? It has become a profitable pastime for many.
There are two types of eavesdropping — casual and technical. Someone with an interest can, of course, overhear things you say on your cell phone. Never use it in a public place to call your bank, visit with your financial advisor or conduct any personal business. Don't use your cell phone to talk to automated banking or credit card systems where you speak your account numbers or personal identification numbers. New scanners have been developed which search airwaves for decodable cell signals. Think before you speak. (more)
More Snitch Gear Tales
The age-old business of breaking up has taken a decidedly Orwellian turn, with digital evidence like e-mail messages, traces of Web site visits and mobile telephone records now permeating many contentious divorce cases.Photo - Jolene Barten-Bolender says she discovered a tracking device in a wheel well of the family car.
Spurned lovers steal each other’s BlackBerrys. Suspicious spouses hack into each other’s e-mail accounts. They load surveillance software onto the family PC, sometimes discovering shocking infidelities.
Divorce lawyers routinely set out to find every bit of private data about their clients’ adversaries, often hiring investigators with sophisticated digital forensic tools to snoop into household computers.
“In just about every case now, to some extent, there is some electronic evidence,” said Gaetano Ferro, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, who also runs seminars on gathering electronic evidence. “It has completely changed our field.”
Privacy advocates have grown increasingly worried that digital tools are giving governments and powerful corporations the ability to peek into peoples’ lives as never before. But the real snoops are often much closer to home. (more)
CD Burner Burns You - and other snitch gear tales
Our gear is eating our privacy!
• Finger-pointing printers
• Cell phone surveillance
• Digital camera (finger) prints
CNBC explains how...
• Finger-pointing printers
• Cell phone surveillance
• Digital camera (finger) prints
CNBC explains how...
Friday, September 21, 2007
SpyCam Story #376 - Cross's Word Puzzle
AL - The origin of an FBI investigation of Lawrence County Commission offices, including the seizure of an apparent bugging system, could remain a mystery for months or longer.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Harwell G. Davis III placed the search warrant proceeding under seal Tuesday, prohibiting public access to the affidavit, the search warrant and the return of the search warrant. ...
FBI agents seized a clock radio purchased from the Alabama Spy Shop from the commission office. Agents seized the following items from Assistant County Administrator Karen Harrison's office: seven video cassettes, a digital display 12-channel receiver, one power supply, audio visual cables, coaxial cables and a receipt and purchase order from Alabama Spy Shop.
The bugging system had reportedly been in place since 2004.
Cross said he didn't know about the bugging system or why someone would install it. (more)
U.S. Magistrate Judge Harwell G. Davis III placed the search warrant proceeding under seal Tuesday, prohibiting public access to the affidavit, the search warrant and the return of the search warrant. ...
FBI agents seized a clock radio purchased from the Alabama Spy Shop from the commission office. Agents seized the following items from Assistant County Administrator Karen Harrison's office: seven video cassettes, a digital display 12-channel receiver, one power supply, audio visual cables, coaxial cables and a receipt and purchase order from Alabama Spy Shop.
The bugging system had reportedly been in place since 2004.
Cross said he didn't know about the bugging system or why someone would install it. (more)
China and Russia Spying at Cold War Levels
Chinese and Russian spies are stalking the United States at levels close to those seen during the tense covert espionage duels of the Cold War, the top US intelligence officer warned Tuesday.
Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell raised the specter of a new era of clandestine intelligence wars during a House of Representatives hearing on a contentious new law on warrantless wiretapping. (more)
Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell raised the specter of a new era of clandestine intelligence wars during a House of Representatives hearing on a contentious new law on warrantless wiretapping. (more)
Caught Snooping, Husband Sues Spy Software Vendor
An Ohio man facing a lawsuit from his wife's friend for intercepting her emails using spyware on a household computer filed suit Friday against the spyware maker, arguing the company's ads failed to warn him that using it to monitor his family, including his wife, would violate state and federal laws.Relying on a federal wiretap law that allows victims of spying to sue for damages, Jeffrey Havlicek argues that Deep Software, the Canadian company that sold him the key logger, should pay him thousands of dollars in damages and pay any claim from the lawsuit filed against him for spying illegally. (more)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)