The Birddog is alive and selling well

from their press release...
Law Enforcement Associates Corporation, the largest U.S. developer and manufacturer of undercover surveillance equipment, today announced that year-to-date sales of the company's new Birddog(TM) GPS tracking system have surpassed 100 units and have contributed approximately $750,000 to fiscal 2007 revenue.

About the Birddog
The Birddog was originally released by AID in the 1970s as a radio frequency (RF)-enabled tracking system. The Birddog ultimately became the most widely used covert tracking device by local and federal law enforcement agencies. LEA re-launched the Birddog in January 2007, when the company introduced an all-new tracking device based on advanced GPS technology. (more)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Keep your flock together with this new Bladerunner product, a tyke-tracker GPS jacket!

Bladerunner teamed up with one of the U.K.'s leading GPS operators and have developed a childrens trackable Jacket.

Features:
- Very long battery life
- Fast signal aquisition
- 2 Quick Dial buttons for SOS situations

You can set a boundary and if your child wanders outside of this then you will be notified by mobile phone. There is a £10 monthly charge which gives you access to a secure website where you can view every movement of your child whilst wearing the jacket. This even expands to a historical view where past days/weeks or even months movements can be viewed. (more)

Trust Buster or Good Parenting? You decide.

You will either find this Fox News Morning Show segment "Spying on Your Kids" fascinating, appalling, or both.

The hosts' giddiness about spying on the young ones bordered on perverse. The thought that Ra-parent technology could also be used to spy on spouses did not escape them either.

The obvious star of this 'show and tell' is Todd, the gadget peddler.

"A psychologist" is also present - to provide that famous Fox News Network balance. Unfortunately, her introduction is lost under the opening applause. Co-host, Mike, disses her comment, "You don't have to go to these extremes..." with a "Doctor, thank you but were going back to it anyway."

Tune in next time, when we ask the question, "Who will keep an eye on the 'adults'?" (video)

IRONKEY

"The World's Most Secure USB Flash Drive with Internet Protection Services."

One of these is on its way here for testing. I'll let you know how we make out.

In the meantime, make yourselves aware of it. The concept alone - a super-secure USB memory stick - makes this the 'authorized' info-fob of choice for business and government.

One really cool 'Mission Imposible' feature...
"To prevent unauthorized people or crimeware (malicious software such as viruses and Trojans) from gaining access to your encrypted drive, the IronKey prevents password guessing attacks (e.g. brute-force or dictionary attacks). After 10 incorrect password attempts (and ample warnings), the IronKey locks out all further password attempts. It initiates a patent-pending self-destruct sequence that securely and permanently erases your encryption keys and data."

If self-destruction doesn't produce a puff of smoke, I'll suggest it to them. (more) (datasheet)
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(UPDATE 1 - One week later.)
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I received an IronKey for testing and have been putting it through its paces for about a month now. Flawless, easy to use; as security should be. We are recommending this to our clients.
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(UPDATE 2 - One year later.)
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11/6/08 - Ironkey has made slow progress in getting itself to work with systems other than Windows XP and Vista. A Linux 2.6+ version was released last June.

The Macintosh version is at the same "alpha-level" it was at a year ago. "We continue to work on developing Mac support, and plan to have Mac functionality available in a future release." Not acceptable.

More and more people are switching over to Macintosh at work. Some switch back and forth between work and home. This situation makes recommending Ironkey as a sole solution difficult for security consultants. Other companies, offer multi-platform support for their sticks – Windows Vista, 2000 SP4, XP, Mac OS10.x and above. (directions)

Idea... Roll your own Mac Encrypted Memory Stick, for FREE!

(I neither sell, nor receive commissions from, the products I recommend. Recommendations are made based solely on my client's best interests.)

This Week in Spy News...

Russia hits back over spy death
The Kremlin sought to turn the tables on Britain yesterday over the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, the dissident former security officer. (more)

Russia launches spy satellite
Russia on Tuesday launched a spy satellite to replenish its space-based military satellite cluster. (more)

India set to launch Israeli spy satellite
An Indian rocket may lift an Israeli spy satellite into orbit within days in the second deal to grab a share of the 2.5-billion-dollar global launch market, officials and reports said. (more)

Germany arrests suspected Sudanese spy
German police have arrested a Sudanese man suspected of spying on Sudanese opposition groups in Germany for Khartoum's intelligence service, the federal prosecutor's office said. (more)

Germany says Chinese state is behind cyber spying
The Chinese state is behind almost daily Internet espionage attacks on German companies and government bodies, a top German intelligence official said. (more)

Senator Denies AT&T, Verizon Cash Bought Spying Immunity Vote
Telecom executives - from companies seeking escape from privacy lawsuits accusing them of illegally collaborating with secret domestic spying programs - wrote thousands in checks to the re-election campaign of Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) (more)

Spain thwarts alleged Venezuelan spying
Spanish authorities thwarted an effort to spy on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero during a visit to Venezuela in 2005, a report says. (more)

Spy chief to disclose secret: U.S. intel spending
The nation’s spy chief will soon divulge one of the government’s most tightly-held secrets: the size of the national intelligence budget. (more)

Israeli Spy got Inside Intel for Syrian Reactor Attack
As more of the details surrounding the mysterious Israeli raid seep out about the destroyed Syrian nuclear reactor located near the Iraqi border, what emerges is that Israel had hard evidence from a spy or mole inside the facility who took pictures that were the hard evidence. That, plus detailed spy satellite pictures were provided to the US Intelligence community in July. (more)

Law firm fears government is tapping phones
VT - A law firm that represents clients at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan is warning its Vermont clients that it believes the federal government has been monitoring its phones and computer system. (more)

British spy agency recruits via video games
A British intelligence agency is seeking spies in cyberspace. GCHQ, the surveillance arm of British intelligence, said Thursday it hopes to attract computer-savvy young recruits by embedding job ads within video games such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent. (more)

First, Pro. Then, College. Now, High School.

FL - Collier County's prep edition of "Spygate'' may have been nothing more than a misunderstanding, or so the coaches at the heart of the mini-controversy claimed on Tuesday. ...

"Spygate'' was one of the names associated with the New England Patriots illegally videotaping sideline calls by opposing teams that the team was penalized for by the NFL earlier this season.

The accusations started flying on Saturday, when Albonizio and a few of his coaches confronted an elderly couple that they believed were filming his team's 44-14 win over McMahon for Naples. (more)

SpyCam Story #396 - Spy Shop Boys

Remember Dumb and Dumber, the two burglars caught on 17 cameras when robbing a spy surveillance gear shop back in July?

Well, we found the video!

Public Audio Surveillance Hits London

UK - "We're well aware of the security cameras already all over the city, but it looks like Londoners will also have to brace themselves for audio surveillance, too. In order to break up gangs, London police have begun a program using audio bugs placed in public places.

Public eavesdropping, sans warrants, by law enforcement is sure to rankle some privacy advocates. Authorities are hoping a drop in crime will quell the inevitable uproar. We shall see." (more) Bugs used to fight London gangs. (more)

"I'm Bugging Your Phone" (with audio clip)

You know eavesdropping and wiretapping are well-entrenched in our society when people are singing about it, dancing to it and even taking it as a moniker - like Wiretap Scars.

Remember???
Eavesdrop - Joanna "Rain" Raphael
Eavesdropping - Carol Slade
Eavesdropping - Anne Lindsay
Eavesdropping - d1sh1tu
Eavesdropping - Michail Sicas
Invitation To Eavesdrop - Shaun Groves
Hanging On The Phone - BWO
The Wiretap - Your Enemies Friends
Probably not. Good listening rarely involves eavesdropping. Hence, the old saying, "An eavesdropper never hears anything good about themselves."

There are tons of Private Investigator, Spy and Detective lyrics, too. Your chances of remembering these are better: Searchin', Peek-A-Boo, Secret Agent Man and the gloved one's famous Somebody Is Watching Me.

Rarely, however, has there been a more blatant expression of illegal eavesdropping than I’m Bugging Your Phone - by The Smith Connection

(from blog.allmusic.com)
...basically tells its addressee to seek a restraining order: “I’m buggin’ your phone, baby / Startin’ an investigation.” It’s not posed as a conditional threat. It’s posed as “I am doing this once I obtain the equipment and access to your telephone.” The protagonist complains about being avoided, finding notes, and some other things. The addressee should’ve allowed the bug to be placed, if only to have held a conversation in which she said, “I am through with that fool, specifically the fool who is bugging my phone.” (more) (audio clip)

Art reflects life.
Eavesdropping is real life.
Take care. Beware.

SpyCam Story #395 - Attentive Maintenence

SD - A Sioux Falls apartment maintenance worker is in jail accused of setting up a camera in his neighbor's apartment to spy on her.

Fifty-three-year-old Burton Morehead is charged with a misdemeanor crime called "trespassing with the intent to eavesdrop."

The 26-year-old woman who lives next door to Morehead found a webcam-style camera in her bathroom ceiling tile. She called 911, and police say they followed the cables into Morehead's apartment, where they were hooked into a TV.

Officers say there were several suspicious-looking holes drilled between the two apartments. (more) (video)

SpyCam Story #394 - Unauthorized Footsie

IL - An East Dundee podiatrist has been charged with eavesdropping and solicitation of sex after police said they found a hidden camera and videotapes and DVDs in his office showing him in sex acts with female patients in an examining room.

Dr. Steven Paul Loheide, 63, of 1002 Twisted Oak in Algonquin, works at Fox Valley Podiatry, 210 Penny Ave. He was charged in court Friday with eavesdropping without consent and possession of an eavesdropping device, both felonies, according to court records.

Loheide also was charged with the misdemeanors of unauthorized videotaping, battery and solicitation of a sex act, according to court records.

East Dundee Police Chief Terry Mee said their investigation began last Wednesday when an employee of Fox Valley Podiatry called police after she found a videotape of herself dressing and undressing in the examination room.

She said she was unaware that the videotaping had occurred and that she found the hidden camera in the examination room. (more) (update)

Five Red Hot 'Shoplifter in Custody' Tips

Charles A. Sennewald, CPP - one of the world's leading shoplifting security experts - shares 5 red hot do not's for when you have a shoplifter in custody:

1. Don't threaten a detained person with any use of force, exposure or incarceration.
2. Don't make any promises of rewards, benefits or leniency in return for cooperation.
3. Don't use any profanity, abusive or offensive at or in the presence of a person detained, even if provoked.
4. Don't belittle, make light of, laugh at or otherwise ridicule a detained person.
5. Don't make any comments about a person's race, ethnic origin or religion.

"Extend the same dignity to the person in your custody, you'd appreciate and hope to receive if the shoe was on the other foot."

Want to know more about Chuck?
Profile: IAPSC.org
Website: shoplifting.com

Landlord accused of eavesdropping on tenants

NY - A landlord has been arrested after being accused of placing an eavesdropping device under the kitchen cabinets of two tenants he was trying to evict, Suffolk County police said Monday.

John Gordon, 48, bought the mini electronic transmitter on the Internet and installed it when the tenants were not home, police said.

Gordon, who has another apartment in the house, was arrested Sunday and charged with burglary and eavesdropping. (more) (more)

...and you thought O.J. was bugged.

O.J. Simpson apparently doesn't have enough to worry about with two co-defendants in his Vegas robbery case ready to testify against him. Now a private eye who worked for Simpson is alleging that the disgraced gridiron star once hired notorious Hollywood P.I. Anthony Pellicano to bug and harass Nicole Brown Simpson.

Bill Pavelic, the lead investigator for Simpson's defense team during his criminal trial for the murders of Nicole and Ron Goldman, says: "I know for a fact that Nicole Brown Simpson was a victim of stalking and that her cars and residence had been wiretapped."

Pavelic, a 19-year veteran of the LAPD, believes Simpson hired Pellicano to do eavesdropping based, in part, on similarities to the bugging devices he says Pellicano planted at Michael Jackson 's Neverland Ranch.

Pellicano is currently in prison for illegal wiretapping.

"Cops knew about Pellicano's wiretapping of Nicole," alleges Pavelic, who will tell more in his book, "Guilty of Incompetence." "Had Nicole not been murdered, his wiretapping would have been exposed long ago." (more)

Spybuster's Tip #104 - $20. Unbuggable Phone

If this were art, it would be labeled "retro irony."

A land-line telephone that can be put in a paper envelope and sent to someone by snail-mail? There would be knowing nods, winks and guffaws all over the gallery.

But British industrial-design firm Priestman Goode isn't kidding. Its Post A Phone is meant as a "failsafe backup" when more sophisticated wireless technology goes off-line. (more)

Cheap enough to keep a spare one in your purse or jacket pocket. Thin enough so bugs can't be installed or internal wiring compromised. Just find a random analog line jack, plug in and make a 'safe' call.

In a work environment, finding an analog jack is usually just a matter of unplugging a fax machine or speakerphone unit.

At home, find your 'demarc' junction box, unplug the household wiring and plug this phone directly into the outside wiring - thus bypassing any internal wiretaps or recording devices!

No word on where you can actually buy a 'Post A Phone' yet. We will keep you 'posted'. Disposable phones are nothing new, however. We have reported on them before.