"But I didn't break a law." "No problem. We fix."

A month after the conviction of Australian citizen Stern Hu for taking kickbacks and stealing trade secrets, China has issued definitions of what constitutes commercial secrets...

They were published late on Monday. China's lack of clarification of state or commercial secrets, highlighted by the Rio employees' trials, has alarmed both Chinese and foreign investors. (more)

The Tale of the Trojan Kid

NY - A Granville man was charged with eavesdropping Saturday after his ex-girlfriend discovered a recording device hidden in a child's backpack, police said.

Donald A. Connolly, 34, of Route 22, was charged with felony eavesdropping after someone in the ex-girlfriend's home spotted a red light on a 4-year-old's backpack, Glens Falls Police Sgt. Keith Knoop said.

Knoop described the incident as follows:
Connolly and the ex-girlfriend have a 4-year-old child in common. Connolly had dropped the child off at the woman's Glens Falls home Saturday, and a short time later the light was spotted on the backpack. They found what appeared to be a recording device sewn into the backpack, and brought it to the Police Department. Police confirmed it was an audiorecorder. (more)

Electronic surveillance: Report of the National Commission for the Review of Federal and State Laws Relating to Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance (Paperback)

"The book provides a background briefing on surveillance technology as it existed in 1976 - although classified devices of the period are not covered. There is a comprehensive description of telephone tapping techniques, wireless transmitters and how their transmissions are concealed, non-audio eavesdropping and tape-recording technology. Coverage is thorough and includes numerous block diagrams but no circuits or schematics. There is a section on counter measures (TSCM) which mostly emphasises how difficult this task is and another on the falsification of recordings." reviewed by John A. Faulkner "signalsnatcher" (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Smith & Jones - Back in Black

Forget you ever read this...

Men In Black director Barry Sonnenfeld has confirmed Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones's involvement in the new sequel. The filmmaker added that the movie will also be made in 3D and could be the big blockbuster release for May 2011's Memorial Day weekend. (more)

Bollygate I

India - ...a wiretap scandal is set to capture the attention of Parliament next week after media reports alleged that advanced tapping technology acquired by the government had been used to listen in on the conversations of opposition leaders as well as some Congress politicians.

The Indian version of the Watergate scandal surfaced in a report on Friday, claiming that sophisticated equipment meant to eavesdrop on and track terrorists and terror suspects had been used to spy on the conversations of the Congress's Digvijay Singh, NCP leader Sharad Pawar and CPM general secretary Prakash Karat. (more)

Bollygate II

India - Even as ... the alleged tapping of the phones of political leaders and senior bureaucrats is creating ripples in political circles, the fact remains that ordinary citizens are vulnerable to eavesdropping what with the advanced equipment used for the purpose. The new off-the-air GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) monitoring device, which has been used to track calls in the present case as claimed by the magazine, can be deployed anywhere. The device needs no authorisation as the phone is not being tapped at the exchange; it is only the signals that are intercepted between the phone and the cellphone tower and recorded on a hard disk.

The equipment can track and tap into any cellphone conversation within a two-km radius.

If this is not impressive enough, there are technologies available in the market that can convert your cellphone into an intelligence system by activating special software, to spy on you... a leading provider of analysis and surveillance solutions, has a technology that allows one to listen in to all phone calls made or received by the target handset, and also forwards all incoming and outgoing messages (SMS) on the target handset to a pre-defined number...

Interestingly, the application allows one to listen to a room conversation from anywhere in the world. It enables the user from the pre-defined number to call the phone when it is switched off and listen to the conversations taking place around the phone. (more)

Bollygate III

India - Even as various political leaders expressed outrage at reports that the government was eavesdropping on their telephone conversations, the UPA Government appeared gearing up to face the heat... Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said, “We are getting this examined. We have taken note of it and it is being looked into.” (more)

SpyCam Story #573 - Bollygate IV

India - An office-boy of a call centre was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly installing a spy-camera in the ladies' lavatory in the office, police said.

Sanjay was apprehended following investigations into a complaint filed by a call centre in north-west Delhi's Peetampura and its women employees after they found a spy-camera in a packet of freshener. (more)

Spybusters Tip # 823 - Two Wiretaps You Can Find Yourself

Imagine this...

• Partners in a business have a falling out, but one of them seems to know everything.

• The founder of a growing company is forced out, but still seems to know everything.

• A divorce is pending. The husband moves out, but still seems to know everything.

Q. "How could this be?"

A. The other person may have purchased a legal wiretap... from the phone company!
(The act of eavesdropping is still illegal, however.)

Q. "What can I do?"

A. Pick up a different phone and search for it.

Call your local phone company business office. Review your account. Specifically, look for an OPX or an FX, which your "partner" may have added.

An OPX is an Off Premise Extension. It is just what it sounds like; an extension phone, located in the same area served by your exchange, but somewhere else.

An FX is a Foreign Exchange. Same as an OPX, but located in some other exchange or area code.

Bonus Spybusters Tip...

Q. Not receiving all you calls? 

Are people leaving voice mail messages, but you never hear them, or they show up late? Check your account for Remote Access to Call Forwarding. This feature allows the other person to redirect your calls, at will, from anywhere, to anywhere. 

Once engaged, they can answer your customer's calls - using your company name, or send them to their own voice mail (using a recording of your voice mail greeting). They may even selectively transfer these intercepted messages back to your voice mail - possibly edited. (Think Mission Impossible).

Double Bonus Spybusters Tip...

Double check the number of phone lines listed as coming to your address. This should exactly match the number of lines you think you have. Any extras? Call a qualified TSCM specialist for a sweep. 

Triple Bonus Spybusters Tip...

Once you have sorted all this out with your local phone company business office, ask them to "flag" your account. This means they will only discuss your account, and make changes, if they are given the correct password. Pick a good password. Don't use "Afganistan Banana Stand," that's mine. Don't tell anyone what your password is.

"Is that a snooper in your pocket, or are you just glad to hear me?"

...via the seller's web site...

Works on wooden walls, doors, windows, steel plates, etc. 

Highly Sensitive, carefully adjust audio slowly, as not to cause discomfort to your ear-buds.

This product is being sold as an investigative tools for law enforcement or licensed investigators. Anyone else ordering this device should only be ordering it as a simple toy since MANY COUNTRIES STRICTLY PROHIBIT OWNERSHIP OF SPY DEVICES. (more)

Why do I mention it?

So you will know what you're up against.

Lost Tracking Device Found Moonlighting

The Orange County district attorney’s office filed charges Thursday against a former Costa Mesa police officer suspected of hiding a tracking device inside a woman’s vehicle, then showing up at places she would frequent, according to a news release.

Aaron Paul Parsons, 30, was charged with one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of an electronic tracking device. If convicted, he faces a maximum of six months in jail...

After several encounters, the woman became suspicious and checked her car, finding the device apparently belonging to the Costa Mesa Police Department. She immediately reported it to police. (more)

Espionage Bumble, Brilliant Marketing or...

 Drunken idiot employee? You decide.

"You are looking at Apple's next iPhone. It was found lost in a bar in Redwood City, camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS." (more, with video)

Cell Phone Spyware - Beware

The Internet ad claims... for $99.95 and 5 minutes of your time, you too can spy on any cell phone in the world! 

Sound too good to be true? Read the hype. You decide.

• Unleash the very latest technology that allows you to spy on any Cell Phone, Laptop or Bluetooth enabled device...

• Not just one program but an entire suite of programs designed to work with old phones, new phones, smart phones, java phones -There is a solution for any phone out there...

• INSTANT DOWNLOAD - PURCHASE RIGHT NOW!

• That means that in as little as 5 minutes you can be checking any phone you want.  

• ...instantly you will be reading your wife's SMS/text messages, listening to your kid's phone conversation, even knowing what your boss or your neighbor is saying. All of this is done in stealth mode. This means they will never know that you are doing this. And this works on ALL phones. Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, Blackberry, absolutely all of them. This will work in all countries, on all networks.

• "Will I have to install any software on the phone(s) I wish to spy on?"
No. This product only needs to be installed on your phone. (more)

You may also want to read the fine print before pressing that "Download" button. 
Legal Info - Refund Policy

"There is no guarantee that this product will do what it claims to do;" 
"The product, service or membership referenced herein is sold with a no refund policy allowed. All sales are final!" (more)

You've been warned.
Learn more about Cell Phone Privacy here.  ~Kevin

CSI your USB

"We're going to show you how to mimic Microsoft's offering (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor) using open-source software to unlock Windows accounts, investigate suspicious activity, see any file on a Windows disk and even peruse files that others believe have been permanently deleted." (more) 

Quick Take...

• Grab an old USB stick. (2GB or more)

• Read the directions. (here)

• Load BackTrack 4 onto your stick. (BackTrack 4 download)

(ta-daaaa!) 

• Now pretend you are William Petersen

Employee Spies on Boss (Oh, both are cops.)

The Botswana Police Service has suspended a senior police officer barely four months after he returned to work following his suspension arising from charges that he was allegedly involved in irregularities relating to tender procedures for the purchase of high-tech equipment to eavesdrop on cell phone and electronic mail conversations. This time around the officer was suspended for allegedly hacking his boss’s computer, thereby accessing privileged information. (more)