SpyCam Story #574 - Bath Man

MI - A Pellston man facing multiple felony charges for allegedly using a hidden camera and computer in his home to obtain sexually explicit images... Jaimie Emanuel McDonald, 36, was arrested March 2 by the Emmet County Sheriff’s Department, after two individuals in his home discovered a hidden camera shooting through a two-way mirror in the bathroom they had been using.

An affidavit in district court states that McDonald’s video camera was attached to a nearby computer, which captured the images of three victims — one of whom is under the age of 18 — taking showers and using the toilet... McDonald had allegedly been capturing video for five months — September 2009 to February 2010.

Originally, McDonald faced seven felonies... however, three more charges were added against him in a separate case, relating to the same incident, when another victim came forward. (more)

New BlackBerry SpyWare

US software firm Retina-X Studios on Tuesday released a more vigilant version of its Mobile Spy program that captures every email and picture from BlackBerry smartphones...

The previous version of Mobile Spy software kept track of text messaging and telephone calls, providing online access to data by employers, parents or whoever else is paying for smartphone accounts.

New Mobile Spy 4.0 software also provides employers or parents with smartphone contacts, calendar events, memos and records of which mobile phone towers a device was within range range of, according to Retina-X...

Versions of Mobile Spy are available for iPhone devices as well as for smartphones running on Android, Symbian, or Windows Mobile software, according to the Retina-X website.

Monitoring by Mobile Spy software is designed to go unnoticed after the software is installed on smartphones, the company said. The monitoring service is available for an annual subscription of 100 dollars. (more)

When bugs, taps and spies just aren't enough...

China to Enforce New Encryption Rules
China is set to implement new rules that would require makers of certain electronic equipment to disclose key encryption information to be eligible for government procurement sales, creating a possible showdown with foreign companies that are unlikely to comply. 

Beginning Saturday, makers of six categories of technology products, including smart cards, firewall technology and Internet routers, will have to disclose encryption codes to authorities for certification to participate in bidding for government purchases. Such encryption information is closely guarded by companies, and industry officials say foreign companies that fall under the new rules are unlikely to comply, which could mean they are cut off from government contracts for those products...

 

Disclosing encryption information is "something companies cannot and will not do," said Jorg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China at a briefing last week, because such codes are often kept secret by companies for both competitive and security reasons. 

Two companies that are likely to be affected by the rules are Gemalto NV, a maker of smart cards and other digital security products, and Cisco Systems Inc., the U.S. network-equipment giant. Cisco declined to comment on the new rules. Gemalto didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. (more)

Gordon Brown - Hot Miked

UK - Eight days before the U.K.'s hotly contested election, Prime Minister Gordon Brown committed the campaign's biggest gaffe on Wednesday when a live microphone caught him calling a voter "bigoted" after she confronted him over government policies including immigration... In an interview later with the British Broadcasting Corp., a visibly distressed Mr. Brown apologized to the voter over the incident... (more)

"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)