SpyCam Story #471 - D'oh!

SD - A Sioux Falls man accused of spying on women in his home bathroom pleaded guilty today. Nate Campbell will have to serve 20 days in jail. He was accused of using a web cam to record women using the bathroom at his former apartment in Sioux Falls. (more) In the complaint, it says authorities were notified after Campbell reportedly showed recordings of the two women on two occasions: one to a friend, the other to one of the victims. (history)

SpyCam Story #470 - Wrong Way Rubbed

TX - Police have arrested an Austin massage therapist accused of improper photography. Austin police investigators have confiscated a computer that belonged to Jason Charles Thompson, 34, that contains 120 files of his clients, and police say they may contain pictures or video of women getting dressed and undressed before and after massages.

"Apparently his room at the spa had towels and candles and a couple of cabinets. He had some personal items, so it would be easy enough to hide a video machine, a video camera," said Stephen Andreini, APD detective. (more) (video)

SpyCam Story #469 - New Record, 20 Years!

PA - A 45-year-old Phoenixville man who owned 16 apartments in Norristown is in custody on charges that he spied on female tenants, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said today.

Ferman said Norristown police, responding to a complaint from a tenant of Thomas Daley, discovered hidden cameras and audio equipment in three of four apartments Daley owns at 566 Stanbridge Street. The charges against him include invasion of privacy and criminal use of a communication facility, Ferman said.

She described the charges as "the tip of the iceberg." She said Daly admitted spying on female tenants for 20 years. The cameras were located in the women's bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms, Ferman said.

She said that investigators are still interviewing potential victims and that more charges are likely. (more)

UPDATE...
Thomas Daley, 45, covered his face as he left police headquarters Tuesday under the weight of over 1,000 new counts of spying on his female tenants.

"We have been inundated. Norristown police have been absolutely inundated with more people coming forward, more victims," Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.

Daley stands charged with secretly recording every intimidate detail of the young women who lived in at least seven apartments he owned around Norristown. He has admitted he installed hidden cameras and recording devices in bedrooms, bathrooms and the showers at the women's apartments.

Daley also installed cameras on the outside of the property so he could see when the women came and went. Police said he had an elaborate computerized surveillance setup in the basement of this home. All of it was working and active when police busted in Friday.

Daley told police he installed the cameras himself... Daley was being held Tuesday night on $2 million bail. (more) (video)

SpyCam Story #468 - Uncloaking SpyCams

Wireless SpyCam (color with audio) – $29.90.
Amazing size.
Amazing price.
Anyone can be a spy.

SpyCams are just one of the many surveillance devices we detect during the course of our corporate eavesdropping detection audits. One of the detection methods we use is a technique we developed ourselves, Thermal Emissions Spectrum Analysis® (TESA)

(more about TESA) (more about our bug detection techniques)

The First Real Dick Tracy Wrist Radio

Who invented the first real Dick Tracy wrist radio?

Wendy Rejan, Historian's Office, DCSOPS, Fort Monmouth, NJ knows...

"...yesterday’s science fiction became Fort Monmouth’s latest engineering endeavor in 1953 when scientists here developed one of the first electronic spy gadgets ---the Dick Tracy transistor watch radio.

Weighing in at just over two ounces, the radio could pick up radio stations from here to New York City. A hearing amplifier was connected to the radio by a wire concealed in the wearer’s sleeve. The mercury battery of the first model lasted about ten hours and a knob on the face of the watch allowed the wearer to select a frequency.

Signal Corps scientists here were ordered to come up with the wrist watch transistor radio on a Friday in August 1953. They had accomplished their mission by the following Monday.

First lieutenant Paul W. Cooper, an electrical engineer, was working in the Search and Intercept Department of the Signal Corps Engineering labs at the time. The department was responsible for research and development work with transistors.

The watch was invented by Cooper and Joseph F. O’Brien. Harry H. French was responsible for the printed wiring board and fabrication. According to Cooper, the scientists manufactured many of the components themselves." (more)

Stolen Cell Phone Tracker - Available NOW!

Ken Westin, founder of Gadgettrak advises...
PhoneBak is a unique patent-pending theft recovery solution that allows phone owners to have their phones "call them" in the event they are lost or stolen.

PhoneBak is triggered when the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) in your phone is replaced with an unauthorized one. When this occurs PhoneBak will silently send SMS messages) to pre-defined numbers you have entered (spouse, IT department etc), the information gathered will depend on the platform, but will usually include:
• The new phone number of your phone
• The IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
• The IMSI (International Mobiel Subscriber Identity)
• GSM Area Code
• Cell ID - GSM Localization
With this information you can contact the person who has your phone in the event it was simply "lost," or contact law enforcement with the details who can follow up with the service provider to get locate the phone.

Operating Systems include: Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Network Type: GSM. Not compatible with CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint.

OK, so GadgetTrak's PhoneBak doesn't turn your phone into a screamin' mimi, or let you spy on the cretin who glommed your phone, but... you can get protected today ($24.95), and "in the coming weeks," iPhone protection as well!

Other innovative products Ken has developed include:
• Lost & Found Tags (Use them on anything!)
• Laptop Theft Recovery Software
(Mac version also takes a photo of the thief.)
(PC version allows remote destruction of your data!)
• Removable Media Tracking

Maybe it was only "methodical and thorough"

Lidl (a German supermarket chain) has been fined about 1.5m Euros ($2,192,876.00) for spying on its employees, according to Guenter Schedler, the data protection commissioner in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Earlier reports had mentioned unconfirmed figures of a million-euro fine. Lidl said it "accepted" the fines, but denied the existence of any "systematic and comprehensive" company policy to spy on its staff. (more)

FutureWatch - Stolen Cell Phone Alarm / Tracker

Reportedly, coming soon.
From the inventor's web site...
Maverick Secure Mobile (MSM) is a security application.
Secure mobile helps you protect your data, track your stolen device, retrieve your phonebook & disable the stolen device remotely. The application works in hidden mode and cannot be viewed in the device...

1. Protects Your Data In case of theft/loss, the moment SIM change is detected, Secure mobile will encrypt all the data on the device like the phonebook, images, messages etc.

2. Track Device In case of loss/theft the application will send the phone number, device id, country code, operator name and area code(location) to the reporting device through sms. Secure Mobile will also report about activities performed on the stolen device via SMS; like Outgoing Calls made, etc.

3. Retrieve Phonebook The most important data on any device are the contacts. Using MSM one can retrieve phonebook from the stolen device.

4. Spy Call Spy call will switch on the loudspeaker & mic of the stolen device remotely, so that the caller can actually listen to the conversation other person is engaged in. This call will not give any notification/ ring to the stolen device.

5. Raise an alarm and disable the phone To disable stolen device remotely, send sms = hang from the Reporting device to the stolen device, and it will raise an alarm and start playing a loud Siren. MSM will also display a customized message.

6. Data Back-up Secure Mobile has a distinctive feature of incremental Data Back up. Using this feature one can back up all the data from the device to secure remote server using GPRS. So now all your data is very much secured and you can retrieve it without any hassle. All the above mentioned features can be used even if the SIM is not changed,
a. In case the device is lost by sending SMS “Activate” from the reporting device.
b. For Parental control of child’s mobile device by sending SMS “Track” from reporting device (more) (videos)

"Did too." "Did not!" "Did TOO!" "It's my ball..."

New Zealand - The All Blacks will complain to the Australian Rugby Union that Robbie Deans used secretly filmed footage of their trainings to prepare for Saturday night's test. (more)

Australia - The Wallabies were forced to angrily deny All Black allegations of spying yesterday in a bitter postscript to the Kiwis' thrilling triumph in Brisbane on Saturday night. (more)

Laptop Searches at US Borders (update)

News...
Customs and Border Patrol agents can grab your laptop, BlackBerry, or external hard drive without needing so much as a reason,
Good news...
but a new bill introduced last week to Congress would at least put some limits on how border searches could be done.
Bad news...
Coming so close to the end of this Congressional session, Sanchez's bill is unlikely to see action this year. It currently sits in the House Committee on Homeland Security, where it will likely expire when Congress adjourns. (more)

OH - An Oxford man has been busted for setting up computer spying software in a houseful of female college students and even stealing the women’s panties, authorities say.

Andrew Kevin Sizemore, 43, was convicted of nine charges Friday in a bizarre string of incidents involving young women who lived across Rose Street from him in Oxford, Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Lance Salyers said.

“He really was the kind of neighborhood creep that you worry about,” said Salyers. “He was spying on what they did on their computers and trying to solicit the girls to model for photos for him and stealing their panties. Who knows what his plans were for those things?” (more)

Wiretapping - Public Reaction Documentary

Wiretapping Sweden (2008) - Documentary about the blogosphere reaction to surveillance laws passed earlier this year in Sweden. (video)

"Hole-y wallet, Batman!"

A six-inch robotic spy plane modeled after a bat would gather data from sights, sounds and smells in urban combat zones and transmit information back to a soldier in real time.

The bat robot's body would be about six inches long. It would weigh about a quarter of a pound and use about 1 W of power.

That's the Army's concept, and it has awarded the University of Michigan College of Engineering a five-year, $10-million grant to help make it happen. The grant establishes the U-M Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology, called COM-BAT for short. The grant includes an option to renew for an additional five years and $12.5 million.

U-M researchers will focus on the microelectronics. They will develop sensors, communication tools and batteries for this micro-aerial vehicle that's been dubbed "the bat." Engineers envision tiny cameras for stereo vision, an array of mini microphones that could home in on sounds from different directions, and small detectors for nuclear radiation and poisonous gases. (more)

409,686 – available today for the same price!
The Vamp differs from most other flying toys because it’s an ‘Ornithopter’ – which means it flaps its wings to fly through the air – just like a real bat. The flapping wings and glowing red eyes give the eerie illusion that it’s a living (or undead!) thing, swooping through the darkness. (more)

"See, I’m a man of simple tastes. I like gunpowder…and dynamite…and gasoline! Do you know what all of these things have in common? They’re cheap!" – The Joker

What The 'Former' Spies Are Doing This Week

Former spy criticizes IRA involvement in film about his life...
Canada - Former British spy Martin McGartland may have dropped legal proceedings over Fifty Dead Men Walking, the film based on his life story. But that hasn't stopped him from continuing his criticism of the film and its Canadian director Kari Skogland. (more)

Former spy boss Masetlha's trial postponed...
South Africa - The fraud trial of former spy boss Billy Masetlha and his two co-accused was postponed in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday. Masetlha, former National Intelligence Agency manager for electronic surveillance Funokwakhe Madlala and IT expert Muziwendoda Kunene face fraud charges. (more)

Former spy, mom of 2, takes over party...
Israel - Tzipi Livni, 50, now on the road to become nation's second female PM (more)

Shift-Tense Spook-Speak Code... Decyphered

Australia - The deputy-director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, who cannot be named under Australian law, warned attendees of Australia's Security in Government Conference 2008 earlier this week that commercial and national espionage are becoming more intertwined.

The deputy-director general, Australia's No. 2 spy, said that geopolitical tensions and ongoing globalization will fuel espionage activity in the years ahead and that spying will affect(s) both the public and private sectors. (more) (speech)