When does intelligence become spying?

Lessons from the NFL...

"Yes, business spying really does happen. This may be old news, but it’s a timely reminder for those companies wanting to stay out of the courtroom." ...

"When it comes to spying, major corporations sometimes succumb to the same temptation as the Patriots did, with the same embarrassing results. Big names like Oracle, Procter + Gamble, Hitachi, and Hewlett Packard are among the more notable firms that have been accused of spying in recent years. Each incident received embarrassing front-page treatment. The press has a heyday with these corporate moral pratfalls. But are they breaches of the law or just severe ethical lapses? Mike Sandman, Fuld & Company Senior Vice President, was interviewed by CNBC on September 12, about how companies can avoid crossing over the line and still watch their competition." ~ Leonard Fuld, pioneer in the field of competitive intelligence. (more)

Moral: Don't spy... and, don't be someone else's victim.

Workplace Eavesdropping - Hidden Voice Recorder

AL - A hidden recording device was found at a Valley college. The interim president (Lavell Thrasher) of Snead State Community College in Boaz contacted the FBI after a mini-cassette tape recorder was found attached to the underside of a desk. ...

The device was found in the maintenance director's office, who apparently didn't know about it. Employee evaluations have recently been taking place in that office. This incident is still under investigation.

Thrasher doesn't know how long it will take to get to the bottom of it. (more)

This bugging device was found by accident.
Everyone should be so lucky.
Security directors who don't depend on luck call us.

FutureWatch - The Death of the Cubicle

Cubicles have become jokes.
Their popularity is waning.
One major reason...
Eavesdropping and privacy issues.
"It (a cubicle) gives you this incredibly false sense of privacy," said Carl Bass, chief executive of software maker Autodesk Inc., who is pushing for more open layouts at his own company. (more)

TSCM - Your missing security cog, explained.

TSCM, electronic eavesdropping detection, or just plain 'bug sweeps'. Call it what you will, but if it is not a key element in your corporate security plan, you're toast.

Remember Achilles?
Remember the Death Star?
Their big security smiles had one tooth missing.

Make inspections for bugs, wiretaps and other espionage tricks part of your corporate security.

Need to convince your bosses?
Have them watch this easy-to-understand cartoon about the Death Star's gapping hole. (video)

"I spy with my FSB eye..."

The head of Russia's Federal Security Service told a popular weekly that the FSB had identified over 300 foreign spies over the past four years. (more)

SpyCam Story #392 - Students Vent Lust

IN - It wasn't so much about what students saw or captured on cellphone cameras at Paul Hadley Middle School this week - it was how they climbed into their spy perches that concerned Principal Larry Goldsberry and Mooresville Consolidated School Corp. Superintendent Curt Freeman.

Goldsberry spent most of Wednesday and Thursday telling parents and talking to about 20 students after vents were removed in the girls' and boys' locker room ceilings. At least one student took a picture of the girls on his cellphone camera. (more) (more)

Snitch Bear for Santa Moms

Nakamiki Children GSM Cell Phone
"Easy for Parents to Keep an Eye on Their Kids at School"
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"Boo-boo" is a new type of cell phone being marketed to the world from a company in China. The marketing logic being used is that somehow eavesdropping on children will make them safer when at school.

Faulty logic?
Think about this...
- What will teachers think about having their classrooms bugged?
- Who else will buy these, gut the bear and use the entrails to bug?
- What psychological effect does this have on these kids?
- Will bugging and eavesdropping seem seem morally normal to their whole generation twenty years from now?
(more) (more)

"I'm watching you."

Even non-tech savvy parents look like they are going to get the option to spy on their kids every move when they are behind the wheel of Mommy and Daddy’s Lexus. It seems that tracking kids’ movements by GPS is so old school now that it is not funny. The next generation of driving monitors looks set to incorporate video surveillance. In case you are wondering the technology is being honed as you read this by American Family Insurance. (more)

Several U.S. auto insurers have begun offering in-car cameras or global positioning equipment to help parents monitor their teenagers' driving behavior, hoping to reduce the alarming number of crashes involving young new motorists.

Industry experts say it's too soon to gauge the effectiveness of programs like American Family Insurance Co.'s Teen Safe Driver, used by the Kindermans in Madison, Wis. But the case for needing to improve highway safety for teens is compelling. (more) (video)

Blue Bugging - Corporate Data Risk

UK - Thieves are using Bluetooth phones to detect whether motorists have left laptops, mobile phones or state-of-the-art PDAs in their cars.

PC Davis said: "Even if they are out of sight in the boot or glove compartment, the Bluetooth technology enables computer-literate thieves to locate compatible kit easily."

When a car contains a Bluetooth-enabled laptop, a signal on the screen of the thief's mobile displays not just its presence, but also its make or model.

The thieves then have an easy target and the expensive laptops are often stolen to order.

PC Davis said: "Blue-bugging techniques can also be used to hack into mobiles, which are increasingly used as portable data stores, with details such as passwords, PIN numbers and other sensitive information ready for the taking.

"These days, a great deal of confidential company information, bank account details, private emails and so on are accessible through laptops, PDAs and even mobiles.

"People should realise that as well as equipment losses, they are at serious risk of corporate data theft if Bluetooth devices are left enabled and unsecured." (more)

SpyCam Story #390 - On, Wisconsin!

WI - A case of second degree sexual assault and another case of a man allegedly video-taping individuals showering in North Scott Hall is under investigation, according to UW-Oshkosh University Police reports.

On Oct. 3, a student reported that an unknown individual was caught covertly videotaping him when he was showering in North Scott Hall. The suspect fled when he was discovered and remains unknown at this time. The UP and the Department of Residence Life are investigating. (more)

Ripley's, Tracy, Bond or iClone... you decide.

"Welcome to the future! The M500 Cellwatch ™is the world's smallest mobile watch phone. Keeping time and keeping Contact will never be the same again.

The M500 Cellwatch™ takes mobile communications to a whole new level. With over 80 hours standby time, full sms functionality, full blue tooth compatibility, Internet Browser, WAP, GPRS, MMS, Mp3 Mp4 Player, Flight Mode, A2DP Stereo Sound, 128 Mb Memory, USB and Data Cable for connectivity and software uploads and downloads, 300 number memory storage and its sleek sophisticated design make this the world's first truly mobile Cellwatch™.

The following dates are now the confirmed delivery dates for the M500. South Africa, October 25th 2007, Australia October 25th 2007, USA October 25th 2007, Europe October 25th 2007. All Internet Orders, due to the long wait by many customers, will be commencing October 19th 2007 and be shipped by Fedex from Hong Kong." (more) (more) (video)
This pegs both my Technolustmeter and Dorkometer:)

SpyCam Story #389 - Mayor Runs!

UK - Covert video surveillance has shown former Mayor John Walker walking unaided, socialising and at one point running, during a host of ceremonies.

More video evidence showed Walker standing for 50 minutes and at one stage running at a ceremony outside St George’s Hall, on November 11, 2005.

Walker, 57, and his wife Catie, 49, face three charges of conspiracy to fraudulently obtain disability living allowance and income support between 1999 and 2005 which they deny. (more)

Spybuster's Tip #101 - Stethocopes

Free videos like How To Build A High-Tech Spy Stethoscope ...for under $25.00! are teaching creepy apartment neighbors and landlords how to listen-in to your bedroom bashes, lover's quarrels and other private confabulations.

Kevin's Cheap Countermeasure:
Mount one of these on the common wall.
- Make the pervert think the plumbing is leaking. $49.00
- Make the creep think the steam pipe is leaking. $8.00 - $200.00
(Look for the $8.00, B001 "Soothing Shell" on eBay.)
- Get an old FM radio with remote speakers. Hang the speakers on the wall - backwards. Tune to the static sound in-between stations. You only need to play this at a very low volume. After a short period of time you won't even notice the hissing sound yourself. $0.00 - $eBay.

Mission Creeps

Spy Technology Shifts Its Aim...

Scotland - Spy technology is to be used to catch out Edinburgh benefit cheats by listening in on telephone conversations.

Voice risk analysis software will be used by council workers to detect changes in callers' voices to give an indication of levels of stress.

Callers' normal voices will be recorded at the beginning of calls and compared with how they sound after they are asked to supply evidence to support their claims.

A similar scheme in Harrow, north London, caught out 173 benefit cheats between May and July this year, saving around £110,000.

Lie detecting experts said the technology - which is widely used in the insurance industry - was not entirely reliable. But Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, the city's finance leader, said it would act as a deterrent to would-be cheats. (more)

Next step... councillors calling home to ask spouses a few questions?

SpyCam Story #388 - One Jailed, One Bailed

Australia - A peeping tom accountant who installed a spy camera in a female toilet at his work and saved more than 1000 images of women and children has been sentenced to 14 months' jail.

Ross Andrew Sargent, 46, was ordered to serve at least eight months' prison before being eligible for parole.

Magistrate Sarah Dawes today described Sargent's offending over 20 months as "voyeuristic and disturbing''. (more)

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Canada - An arrest warrant was issued this morning for an alleged pervert who admitted to police he had secreted a video camera in the ceiling of a women’s bathroom at NAIT, but claimed it was just “a joke.”

Brad Lenz, 27, was supposed to have been in provincial court for a decision by a judge as to whether or not he was guilty on charges of voyeurism, mischief, possession of counterfeit money and making counterfeit money.

Judge Elizabeth Johnson ordered the arrest warrant after Lenz’s lawyer admitted his client was not present.

“Mr. Lenz is not here,” said defense lawyer Kelly Dawson. “I have no explanation for his absence." (more)