Sri Lanka 'Bigwigs' Tap & Tell

Sri Lanka - A Government bigwig has commenced a dirty programme of eavesdropping and recording the personal telephone dialogues of the opposition politicians and making them available to listen for a few handpicked media persons.

As a part of this programme, an editor-in-chief of a weekend English newspaper was summoned to the Presidential Secretariat and he was made to listen to a telephone dialogue between a UNP leader and another politician. (more)

SpyCam Story #416 - Ming's Bling Cam

CA - A man was arrested on suspicion of computer crimes and invasion of privacy for allegedly hacking into his Gardena employer's computer system and using video equipment to spy on the company's restrooms, police said on Wednesday.

Ryan Castillo, 29, was arrested last night and booked for "unauthorized access to a computer network," a felony, and for "looking into and observing a person in a restroom," a misdemeanor, said Gardena police Lt. Ed Burnett. The restrooms can be used by men or women, Burnett said.

"After further investigation, they discovered that an employee of the business had a small receiver with several video clips of a female employee using the restroom," Burnett said.

"It was also discovered that the suspected employee had hacked into the company's computer network and e-mail system," Burnett said. (more)(video)

Another GSM Bug Alert

The new GSM bugs are coming; lots of them. GSM bugs are very simple cell phones which auto-answer and do not ring when called - from any phone in the world.
• Inexpensive.
• Easy to operate.
• Easy to hide.
• Untraceable when used with a pre-paid SIM card.

...from the SingaSPY Tonga website...
GSM Room / Office Transmitter
TKS-171.AAA
Key Specifications:
• GSM room / office transmitter.
• This is an amazing listening device.
• With a powerful internal and external mic.
• It is not only works as a standard dial and listen mode but also works as a voice activated unit which you could set up remotely.
• It is very reliable remote monitoring device ideal for long term activity. (more)


(their TKS-171aa model)
Need to know if there is one in your office?
Call us.

Real-Time Cell Phone Eavesdropping

New spy phone allows real-time eavesdropping on calls. (video)
Countermeasure: Don't accept candy from strangers. (duh)

Engineer Indicted on Spying

A former U.S. defense contractor spent more than two years working with China's military to design and test a radar-evading component for a new Chinese cruise missile as part of an espionage conspiracy, according to a federal indictment.

The indictment of Noshir S. Gowadia, an Indian-born engineer, was submitted to U.S. District Court in Hawaii in October and states he worked closely with a Chinese government agent and missile technicians to illegally supply the stealth-missile technology during six visits to China between 2003 and 2005. (more)

Firefighter Spies

The image of the friendly firefighter helping rescue a wayward kitten from a tree might need updating. If the federal Department of Homeland Security has its way, firefighters across the country will be armed not only with firefighting equipment, but also issued training materials on how to recognize suspect behavior on the part of citizens and what to look for in peoples' homes that might be "suspicious." In other words, firefighters would become domestic spies. In fact, such training already has begun. (more)

Never Believe Your Caller ID Again

...from the website...
SPOOFEM.COM offers you the ability to change what someone sees on their call display when they receive a phone call. This is typically referred to as "Caller ID Spoofing" or "Call Display Spoofing".

You can show any phone number you wish on their call display. You can change your voice to male / female, record the conversation, SMS text message and be able to protect your privacy by not showing your number on their caller ID. (more)

There are other spoof options, too.
• Prepaid virtual calling card (free test call)
• SpoofCard Widget (free test call download for Mac OS X)
• Telespoof (free test call)
• Spooftel

While spoofing is currently legal, it may not be in the near future. Laws against it are in the works.
• H.R. 5304 [109th]: Preventing Harassment through Outbound Number Enforcement Act
• H.R. 251: Truth in Caller ID Act of 2007

If spoofing becomes illegal should you believe your Caller ID again?
No.

Sunday isn't only Jets vs. Patriots.
It could be Spy vs. Spy.

According to league sources familiar with the situation, the Jets were caught using a videotaping device during a game in Foxborough last season that resulted in the removal of a Jets employee. After Gillette Stadium officials saw him using the recorder early in the game, he was told to stop and leave the area. He had been filming from the mezzanine level between the scoreboard and a decorative lighthouse in an end zone. The camera was not confiscated by the Patriots or stadium security.

Tuesday night the Jets admitted that they did videotape the game and their employee was confronted, but said they had permission from the Patriots to film from that location. (more)

Police Chief Bugging Trial (update)

A former Lafayette Police Chief's trial will not head to court until March... Former chief Randy Hundley was slated for trial Dec 10th. He along with three other officers are facing eavesdropping charges. The four were indicted last year for allegedly hiding a microphone near the desk of Hundley's secretary in 2004. (more)

MD under fire from colleagues for hiring spy

Canada - Three of the largest professional organizations representing plastic surgeons in Canada are filing formal complaints against a Toronto physician who hired a private investigator to spy on a colleague whom she suspected was causing a drop in her business.

The Ontario Society of Plastic Surgery, the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgery and the Canadian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery plan to ask Ontario's medical watchdog to investigate Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar's decision to send an undercover female investigator to consult with plastic surgeon Dr. Sean Rice and secretly record the conversation. (more)

I beg your pardon, how about in your rose garden?

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is dropping his appeal in the CIA leak case, his attorney said Monday. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury and obstruction for lying about his conversations with reporters about outed CIA operative Valerie Plame. (more)

Profile: Dr. David Southall

He is viewed as an expert in Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, a condition which means parents deliberately induce or fabricate illnesses in their children to get attention for themselves.

He pioneered the use of covert video surveillance in the late eighties and early nineties, which led to a number of parents and step parents being prosecuted for abuse.

More recently...
He was banned from child protection work for three years. (more)

Pugnacious Prez Gets Wish

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is under pressure in a new wiretapping scandal after he was recorded threatening to punch a disgraced former advisor in the face for his role in a corruption scandal.

The conversation was taped last year on a line in Uribe's office, where he discusses matters of state and the operations of a government that receives billions of dollars in U.S. military and economic aid.

"I am furious with you and I hope someone is recording this call!" Uribe shouted at Luis Fernando Herrera, a one-time aide accused by a suspected drug lord of asking for $15 million in exchange for pulling strings to help him avoid extradition.

"If I see you I am going to punch you in the face!" Uribe yelled. (more)

...and then John McClane told me to say..."

"Lie Die Hard" director John McTiernan was granted bail and released on a $50,000 bond Monday, pending an appeal of his guilty plea for allegedly lying to the FBI about his knowledge of celebrity PI Anthony Pellicano's alleged illegal wiretapping operation.

Tiernan, 56, pleaded guilty in April 2006 to making a false statement to federal investigators. He later recanted his guilty plea, claiming he was jet-lagged and under the influence of alcohol and prescription medications when he made the statements to the FBI.

He also said he was given bad advice by his then-attorney. (more)

Mata Hari - Ten More Years to the Truth

The exotic and, some say, quixotic Mata Hari has spawned considerable cultural speculation since her mysterious World War I execution. Greta Garbo shot this fame further by playing her in a 1931 film. Kurt Vonnegut had Mother Night's protagonist dedicate his memoirs to her. Even the sexually diffident George Lucas permitted Indiana Jones to lose his virginity to her.

We won't know until 2017 -- the year when the case documents will be unsealed and revealed to the public -- if Mata Hari was a spy or not. But in the meantime, Yannick Murphy's third novel considers the circumstances that galvanized her legend, while ruing upon larger issues of womanhood, the burdens of perception and societal abuse. (more)