SpyCam Story #495 - Another Carer Taking

KY - When the family of a Louisville grandmother suspected her caretaker was stealing money, they set up two hidden cameras in her home.

It wasn't long, police said, before those cameras captured 56-year-old Marilyn Martindale committing crimes. Video released to WLKY shows Martindale allegedly taking the woman's purse out of view of the camera, then returning it several minutes later. Investigators said Martindale stole several hundred dollars out of the purse on that occasion. Another video shows Martindale rummaging through the woman's bedroom drawer, police said to steal more money the family had put there as bait. (more) (other caretakers caught on video)

Side story...
Burglar caught on video.

Need a gift for an Evil Genius?

101 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius equips you with complete plans, instructions, parts lists, and sources for devices that let you:
• See and photograph in the dark
• Wire yourself for undetected recording
• Construct a hidden briefcase camera
• Alter photographic evidence
• Digitally disguise your telephone voice
• Tap and record telephone conversations
• Privately record called numbers, with time stamp, from any phone
• Build a secret time-lapse camera
• Build and install motion-activated spy cameras or listening devices
• Hear and record what's said from great distances
• Build & install a nanny cam for viewing & recording activity from afar
• Secretly install key-logging software on any computer
• Learn what Web sites others are surfing
• Recover deleted computer files
• View other peoples' computer screens from your PC
• Control your spy equipment from afar

More Evil Genius books...
Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius : 28 Build-It-Yourself
MORE Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius
51 High-Tech Practical Jokes for the Evil Genius
Electronics Sensors for the Evil Genius: 54 Electrifying Projects
PC Mods for the Evil Genius
...and many more

Simon Cowell (update) - Bugger Caught

UK - Simon Cowell is warning gossip mongers 'enough is enough' after snagging an undercover reporter who planted a magnetic tracking bug underneath his blinging Bentley mobile.

The TV judge says he won't tolerate anymore silly media games, complaining he is exhausted at being hounded by the press for the last seven years.

Cowell's spokesman Max Clifford said his team have caught the journalist who planted the device and says the failed ploy is the final straw. (more)

FutureWatch - SpyDust is Coming

China - "Microphone makers in the region, spurred on by a huge market demand, are up and ready to ramp up production of silicon microphones with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processing technology. Worldwide shipment is forecast to reach nearly 1.6 billion units in 2011..." (more)

So, just how small is a MEMS microphone?
Get a penny.
Look at Lincoln.
It would fit up his nose.
(1.35 x 1.35 x 0.3 mm)
(source)

FutureWatch - Micro Micro Mics combined with other MEM technology, micro micro power components and micro micro batteries to create a new generation of eavesdropping bugs. Sci-fi SpyDust becomes fact. (more)

Business Alert - Outside the USA (shhhhh!)

Once you are outside of the USA, anything that you say can be eavesdropped on without a court order by US authorities... and authorities from every other country. This rarely-mentioned exception in the US eavesdropping law was recently reaffirmed in this terrorist bombing case.

"El-Hage contends that the District Court erred by (1) recognizing a foreign intelligence
exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement, (2) concluding that the search of El-Hage’s home and surveillance of his telephone lines qualified for inclusion in that exception, and (3) resolving El-Hage’s motion on the basis of an ex parte review of classified materials, without affording El-Hage’s counsel access to those materials or holding a suppression hearing. Because we hold that the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of reasonableness—and not the Warrant Clause—governs extraterritorial searches of U.S. citizens and that the searches challenged on this appeal were reasonable, we find no error in the District Court’s denial of El-Hage’s suppression motion."

Daruma Dolls have their eye on you...

Daruma Dolls are those cute round little wish dolls without arms or legs. Heck, they don't even have eyes until you start wishing. Appropriately, Zen ...until now.
(cue Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me")

That 'someone' is stuffing these hollow,
"Holy moly my wish came true,"s
with spycams!!!

Instant Japanese Santa?
Naughty? Nice?
Daruma sees all.
"Your wish is..."

Let's go shopping... (video)

Extortionography: The 'private' conference call

Canada - A budding coalition between New Democrats, the separatist Bloc Quebecois and Liberals is an exercise in nation building, NDP Leader Jack Layton told his caucus in a conference call covertly recorded by the government.

Layton's national unity musings were secretly recorded Saturday by the Conservatives. They held the tape for a day and then had an official from the Prime Minister's Office deliver it to various media on Sunday. (more) (extortionography)

High tech spy gear now available to the public

via WCBD-TV...
High-resolution hidden cameras sell for as little as a couple of hundred dollars and they come in all shapes and sizes.

The rapid spread of spy technology has caught the eye of privacy advocates. Michael Scott teaches technology and information privacy law at Southwestern Law School. “Technology develops so quickly that it takes a long time for the law to catch up,” he explained.

A quick YouTube search for spy cameras turns up what appear to be dozens of illegally shot hidden camera videos in fitting rooms, tanning salons and people’s homes. Of course, for every gadget, there’s usually a counter gadget. (and in the corporate world, counter-surveillance specialists.)

“There are a lot of people who are worried that someone else might be pointing a camera at them that shouldn’t be,” said Morris. Especially celebrities... Kid Rock’s security team recently found a hidden camera in his dressing room in Minneapolis. (more) (video report)

Bugging scandal inside the Commons

UK - The House of Commons office of Damian Green, the Tories' immigration spokesman, is routinely swept for electronic bugging devices, along with other offices belonging to senior Conservatives, amid fears of covert monitoring, The Independent on Sunday has discovered.

Anger surrounding the shadow immigration minister's arrest last week escalated dramatically last night over suspicions of a major bugging scandal inside the Palace of Westminster. (more)

Let the backlashing begin... (satire)

NY - Officials with the Lincoln-Edison Charter School have proposed establishing a middle school with the theme of "Homeland Security." Students would receive instruction in emergency response, computer security and other issues related to "Homeland Security." ...
(one course mentioned)
ADVANCED INTEL 201 - Basic Wiretapping: What'd Daddy Say About That Lady? - Students will hone their wiretapping skills by listening in on their parents' phone calls. Students will learn how to properly interpret statements such as "Junior's acting kinda weird lately" and "What's that clicking noise?" (more)

Idol's Idol Car Bugged

UK - Music mogul Simon Cowell has vowed to step up his security after a bugging device was reportedly found under his car.

The American Idol judge became suspicious his movements were being monitored after repeatedly spotting a mysterious biker at supposedly private meetings. And his fears were confirmed when a security sweep uncovered a hi-tech tracking device attached to the undercarriage of his $211,000 (GBP140,000) Bentley Continental. (more)

If you are going to peep and eavesdrop, don't...

• pick on a female,
• with a gun,
• who, oh by the way... is an FBI Agent,
• who, oh by the way... will shoot your sorry...

SC - ...man faces criminal charges after he was shot during a scuffle with an FBI agent outside her home... Ronnie William Pennington, 59, of 116 William St., was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and peeping Tom, eavesdropping or peeping, according to warrants... He tried to get away, and she grabbed him... The man hit her with his hands as he tried to escape... The woman, who was not injured, fired a handgun at the man, striking him in the left buttocks... (more)
The initial investigation lead officers believe the shooting was justified. (imagine that)

"Heavy breath, ok, another heavy breath. Humm."

VT - A Woodford man, who apparently used a stethoscope to eavesdrop on his ex-girlfriend, was charged with stalking Tuesday by Vermont State Police.

Police arrested Ryan Nystrom, 23, after a witness spotted a young man perched on a residential back porch roof, next to a bedroom window early Tuesday morning.

A police report says the victim and her new boyfriend were in the bedroom at the time of the incident. (more)

I'm Dreaming of a Spy Christmas

New spy tank transmits video and audio
...the Spy Video ATV-360, can handle nearly anything in its path since it is, as the name indicates, and all-terrain vehicle. With a simple push of a remote button, the ATV’s camera will transmit a 360-degree scan of its surroundings. OK. No one is in the kitchen, it’s safe to proceed.

The ATV’s track-based movement allows it to climb over obstacles while being controlled remotely up to 75 feet away. The video images it sends back are displayed on an LCD lens built into a pair of glasses. A single earbud helps the spy hear what’s going on around the ATV. (more)

Wireless SpyCam Built into a Wristwatch!
"A normal but luxury metal wristwatch has one smallest camera inside. Just press the power switch; it begins transmitting high quality color video with sound to our supplied 2.4GHz wireless MPEG-4 DVR up to 300 feet away. Put the DVR in a bag or on a belt. Then, just press one button. It will start to transmitter video and audio simultaneously. This also works as a normal watch." (more)

Wireless SpyCam Helicopter
The Draganflyer X6 is a remotely operated, unmanned, miniature helicopter designed to carry wireless video cameras and still cameras. Operate the Draganflyer X6 helicopter with the easy to use handheld controller while viewing what the helicopter sees through video glasses... The Draganflyer X6 helicopter uses 11 sensors and thousands of lines of code to self-stabilize during flight. This means the Draganflyer X6 is easier to fly than any other helicopter in its class. (more with video)

1966 Telephone Encryption Device

Wiretap-proof telephone
This scrambler keeps private phone conversations safe from wiretappers and eavesdroppers. Fitted to an ordinary handset, it needs no electrical connection, has its own power source. To hear, a person needs an unscrambler coded identically. Delcon Division, Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., sells it for $275, keeps your name and code locked in its vault. (more)

Unsold units were later turned into platform shoes :)
Just kidding.