Cheney Understands the Power of Eavesdropping

In a chilling, unapologetic interview with ABC News, the vice president did nothing to dispel his reputation as the hardest of hard-liners in the war on terror... Wiretapping? "It's worked. It's been successful," he said, brushing off constitutional quibbles. (more)

No doubt about it. Bugs and wiretaps are extremely effective... which is why businesses inspect their sensitive areas quarterly to make sure electronic surveillance is not being used against them!

Leaks Are Costly ($310,760.00 in this case)

UK - A police inquiry into the leaking of information, which ended with a judge clearing a Milton Keynes journalist, cost £205,000 it has been revealed. (more)
Conversely, preventing leaks is cheap.

SpyCam Story #502 - The Laws Catch Up

Ohio - The State Legislature House Concurs with the following Senate Amendment...
HB 74 SPYING -- To make spying or eavesdropping upon a minor in a state of nudity for the purpose of sexual gratification or arousal a felony of the fifth degree under all circumstances. 93-0 (more)

Wiretaps in the land of Nazar Boncuk

TURKEY - Embassies wiretap phone conversations, expert claim. Computer and Program Engineers Foundation head Yılmaz Sönmez has claimed that foreign embassies in Turkey frequently wiretap phone conversations.

“Wiretapping is conducted quite easily in Turkey. Even a 17-year-old youngster can do it. Anyone who has YTL 500 ($327.00) can download wiretapping programs available on the Internet. It is foreign embassies that are most busy bugging phones in Turkey,” Sönmez asserted while briefing a parliamentary commission established to examine allegations that a top Republican People’s Party (CHP) member had been bugged. (more)

Turning a Blind Eye

UK - Once, Britain was the most watched nation in the world, with more than 4 million CCTV cameras monitoring our every move.

But now in these difficult economic times, it seems that Big Brother isn't actually watching, in fact no one is.

As cash-strapped police forces and councils around the UK are forced to tighten their belts in the recession, CCTV cameras around town centres are being left unmanned as they can't afford to pay anyone to watch out for crime as it happens. (more)

What Does Harry Caul Do On His Vacation?

You might catch him at the Dubai Marriott attending...
ISS World - Hi Tech Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Gathering Conference/Expo 24-26 February 2009

"TeleStrategies invites you and your colleagues to attend Intelligence Support Systems for Lawful Interception, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Gathering Conference and Exhibition scheduled on 24-26 February 2009 at JW Marriott Hotel, Dubai.
This ISS World program will feature over 91 LEA/Intell Electronic Surveillance and Communications Monitoring Training sessions and over 40 vendors exhibiting the latest in High Technology Network Interception, Intelligence Gathering and Criminal Investigation products."

Five Conference Tracks...
• Lawful Interception Solutions and Products
• Organized Crime, Criminal Investigative Analysis and Intelligence Gathering
• Telecom Call Data Retention and Handoff Solutions
• Mobile Location, Surveillance and Signal Intercept
• LEA/Intell/DoD Communication Monitoring and Surveillance Training
(more)

Q. What Do Former Spies Do?

A. Freelance spying!
The recent cyber attack on the U.S. military's classified computer network has been traced to a front company run by several former Russian KGB or Federal Security Service spies... (more)

Hollywood Wiretapper Gets 15-Years

CA - Hollywood's disgraced private investigator to the stars shuffled in shackles into a federal courtroom Monday and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in a celebrity wiretapping scandal.

The sentence was close to the 16 years sought by federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer ordered Pellicano to forfeit $2 million. The judge did not give the former sleuth credit for time served, meaning he will serve nearly all of the sentence.

Dressed in a green jailhouse jumpsuit, Anthony Pellicano, 65, blew a kiss to family members as he was led into court. (more)

HD Spycam Truly Crushes Employee Morale

via Wired...
The PR company's email begins thus: "You've never seen a camera like this." And it's true. The Digital Window from Scallop Imaging is a rather neat mix of hack and paranoia, a device cobbled together from five cellphone camera lenses, an Ethernet powered box and software which stitches the whole lot together for a seven megapixel, 15 frames per second, 180º view.

To further increase employee paranoia, you'll never know when the camera is looking at you. Because of the 180º view and high-definition, a digital zoom combined with digital pan mean the the cameras never move when looking around. (more) (more) (manufacturer)

World's Greenest & Cheapest Shredder

"Fast, efficient and easy to use, these 10-bladed scissors cut and shred at the same time. They slice through credit cards, destroy personal documents, paperwork, and bills so no one can see your discarded private information." (more)

Wiretap Victims Lash Out at PI

CA - Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano isn't the only person imprisoned as a result of his wiretaps of the rich and famous. His victims say they have never been able to free themselves from the emotional and financial fallout caused by his crimes.

A former reporter says she has nightmares about being hunted and raped. A mother copes with her daughter being mocked by other kids and their parents. An actress who once appeared in a popular television series says she has found little work since.

They are among the victims who submitted letters to the federal judge who is scheduled to sentence Pellicano on Monday. The former private eye is in custody after being convicted of a total of 78 counts, including wiretapping, racketeering and wire fraud, in two separate trials earlier this year. (more)

Business Espionage: World Cup Spying

Egyptian club Al Ahly's coach Friday angrily accused Mexican side Pachuca of spying on a team training session ahead of their crucial Club World Cup clash. "Three spies from Pachuka came to inspect our practice today. It's not fair. We didn't watch their practice. It's not fair," said coach Manuel Jose after their training session on Friday. (more)

FutureWatch - Eavesdropping's Future, Mindreading

Researchers at ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, say they've developed new analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person's brain and display them on a computer screen, according to Pink Tentacle, an English-language blog that covers news from Japan. Pink Tentacle picked up the info from Japan's Chunichi Shimbun daily newspaper...

Although the technology is still in the early phases of development, it paves the way for applications that until now have only been the stuff of science fiction, such as reading minds for interrogation purposes, eavesdropping on dreams as people snooze... And researchers at the University of Sheffield in England believe that fMRI is more useful than polygraphs, which have been shown to have false positives and negatives, in determining whether someone is lying. (more)

SpyCam Story #501 - Button Your Lip

UK - Teenagers in Cheltenham and Tewkesbury are being fitted with James Bond-style spy cameras in a bid to catch out rogue shop keepers who sell alcohol to underage buyers.

Teenagers are fitted with the cameras, which match buttons on their clothes, by specialist police teams. They are then monitored as they enter off-licences and supermarkets and attempt to buy alcohol. Sounds and images are relayed back to police officers outside the premises who can then take action.

During the past three years Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Police have carried out more than 500 test purchase operations. (more)

SpyCam Story #500 - 500 Failures & Counting

Welcome to the SpyCam Story 500 milestone.
Here, we feature news stories about video spying.

This Scrapbook feature started when a security director asked me, "How can I show my boss electronic eavesdropping is real and I am not just being paranoid?" Interesting problem. There are no 'illegal eavesdropping statistics' to quote.

Keep in mind, the media only reports spying failures; the one's who got caught. Successful spying is totally invisible. Like commercial airline stories; you never read about the successful landings.

The solution to the security director's conundrum...
• Track sales of eavesdropping devices.
• Track eavesdropping failures as reported by the media.
• Factor in... Most spycam, bug and wiretap failures are handled privately. They never make it to the lawsuit level, and media attention.• Factor in... Not all media stories make it to my attention.
• Factor in... Many spycam stories are in such bad taste I exclude them.
Now, we see the tip of the spyberg.

Security directors use this proof to substantiate their Eavesdropping Detection Audit budgets.

And now (drum roll)...
SpyCam Story #500
Extortionography - From Winehouse to the Big HouseUK - The man who sold video footage to a London tabloid showing Amy Winehouse engaged in what appeared to be drug use was sentenced to jail on Friday... Johnny Blagrove, and his girlfriend, Cara Burton, had filmed Ms. Winehouse, without her knowledge and sold the footage to The Sun for about $75,000. Mr. Blagrove and Ms. Burton admitted that they had offered to supply drugs to Ms. Winehouse and other celebrities. The police said that the couple had kept a list of celebrities they planned to record taking drugs. A judge sentenced Mr. Blagrove to two years in prison; Ms. Burton was ordered to perform two years’ community service. (more)