Green Bay City Hall Surveillance Recording

FOX 11 has obtained 90 minutes of video and audio from Green Bay City Hall’s surveillance system, which has been the subject of controversy and accusations of invasion of privacy.

...obtained the city hall surveillance recordings through an open records request...to confirm Green Bay’s use of audio surveillance at city hall...

Green Bay city administrators have said they installed microphones for safety reasons. However, some city council members and outside attorneys claim the surveillance violates state and federal laws...

In the last week, the city denied requests to disable the microphones and delete any recordings...

One party consent is the law in Wisconsin. more

Whose Fingering Who in Spying This Week

• Netherlands Gives Russian Diplomats the Boot After Accusations of Spying more

• AI Can Be Used in Spying, Cost US Jobs, Experts Warn more

• Forget balloons. Are the Chinese spying on everyone through regular surveillance cameras? more

• Pakistan releases Bhil tribal imprisoned for 'spying' on nuclear facility for India more

• Russia launches criminal case against American, alleges ‘biological’ spying more

• Blinken says US has ‘no doubt’ China was conducting surveillance with balloon more

• ‘No apology’ from China over spy balloon: Blinken more

• Ex-KGB spy gives lesson in Soviet-style seduction more

• Gen. Keane: China spy craft shows how serious Beijing is in achieving ‘regional and global domination” more

Andrew Tate and the Wiretaps

The controversial social media personality Andrew Tate was carted off by Romanian police in December 2022 and accused of sex trafficking and organized crime. However, new wiretaps show that 2 women framed him and his brother Tristan Tate after infiltrating their lives and involving the embassy...

It's unclear what exactly is going on with Tate's charges in Romania and nobody knows whether these wiretap revelations will have an impact on his case moving forward. His fans wait impatiently for the outcome while the many people who dislike him continue to rejoice that he is behind bars. more

Spy History: The "Detective Dictograph"

The General Acoustic Company in New York manufactured and sold the "Detective Dictograph" which they patented in 1907--only ten years after Marconi's first successful transatlantic radio transmission.

The "Detective Dictograph" was a neat suitcase with a complete covert electronic audio surveillance system, which included a special carbon microphone for concealment and a long cable to run to the suitcase where the operator would covertly monitor the audio on headphones in the next room.

Yes, people were electronically bugging other people over 100 years ago.

NLRB vs. Employer Surveillance of Employees

A significant concern for managers of remote workers is the ability to engage, manage and monitor performance and productivity – and some healthcare employers have turned to technologies like tracking employee keystrokes, capturing screenshots, and on-camera requirements for employees during work hours.

This has caught the attention of the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, who recently issued a memorandum seeking to broaden of the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) and limit the electronic surveillance of employees...

Under well-established law, an employer can be found to violate Section 8(a)(1) of the Act if it implements new monitoring technologies in response to union and other protected activity, uses existing technologies to discover such protected activity, including by reviewing security-camera footage or employees’ social-media accounts; or creates the impression that it is doing such things. more

Possible New Exception to the All Party Consent Wiretap Law

Maryland is currently considering Senate Bill 749, permitting a person to intercept wire, oral, or electronic communication under certain circumstances. The bill was introduced on February 6, 2023, and has been assigned to the Judicial Proceedings Committee. If passed, the bill would amend the existing law prohibiting the interception of any communication without the consent of the parties involved.

Currently, Maryland law states that any person who willfully intercepts or discloses wire, oral, or electronic communication without the consent of the parties involved is guilty of a felony and is subject to imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to $10,000 or both. However, Senate Bill 749 would provide an exception to this law, allowing a person to intercept communication without the consent of the parties involved if the person reasonably believes they are in imminent danger of becoming a victim of certain crimes.

The proposed amendment to the law would allow a person to intercept communication if they reasonably believe they are in imminent danger of becoming the victim of a crime of violence, stalking, abuse, or a violation of a protective order. more

The Missing "Key Fob" That Made a Lt. Col. Sweat

An Army officer who leads ROTC at California Polytechnic State University faces criminal charges after a preteen girl found a recording device reportedly belonging to the officer and allegedly containing secretly captured images from multiple retail store dressing rooms.

Police claim Lt. Col. Jacob Sweatland, 39, called the store in Pismo Beach, California, asking whether anyone had found what he called his “key fob.”

Police were investigating the matter after a preteen girl found the device — and local law enforcement reviewed the contents of the device, which included images from dressing rooms from multiple stores. more

Patent: Adding a Camera to the Apple Watch

Apple was granted a new patent for a detachable watch-based camera retention system...

This new strap-based system is hardly Apple's first attempt at patenting watch-based camera functionality. In 2019, the company was awarded US-10331083-B1 for a watch band with an integrated, flexible optical sensor. If made available, this rotatable camera would allowing photos to be taken without the need to remove the watch from the user's wrist...

While a high-quality embedded camera could have practical use for some, it does raise potential privacy and security concerns for others.

The ability to capture photos covertly by removing the need for a larger, handheld camera or phone opens the door to anything from secret, unauthorized, and compromising photos to increased risk of corporate espionage. 

The embedded cameras would require a new level of security and awareness to ensure they were not improperly used in areas such as schools, locker rooms, restrooms, or in areas where confidential documents and information are at risk of being captured. more

Believe It or Not: Phone Company Not Taking a Customer's Money

South Africa: Police can’t pay network provider Vodacom for spying services, hampering crime-fighting efforts.

Efforts by the SA Police Service to fight crime were hampered after cellphone network provider Vodacom cut services, such as assisting in locating, intercepting calls and eavesdropping on calls and messages for all the network’s subscribers.

Crime intelligence requires cellphone network providers to spy on criminal suspects so that evidence can be obtained through a call interception process. more

Teacher Taps Her Way Into Their Hearts

PA - Wiretapping Charges - A Laurel Highlands High School teacher is accused of recording a student without his permission and sending the video to another student.

Ashley Thurby-Kolesar, 33, of Uniontown, faces felony charges of intercepting communications, disclosing intercepted communications and criminal use of a communication facility.

According to the criminal complaint, state police began an investigation into Thurby-Kolesar in mid-January amid concerns she was having an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old student. more  video

Corporate Espionage Can Be Very Cost-Effective (if undetected)

UK - A traffic clerk at a London warehouse was asked to leak confidential corporate information to a rival in exchange for a £50 payment from a delivery driver, according to an extraordinary corporate espionage claim lodged in the High Court. 

In the claim filed last week, Sheffield-based logistics firm Tuffnells alleged that DX Group employees Tom Middlewood, Jim Sinden and Joe Trappitt — all former employees of Tuffnells — conspired to obtain daily customer service reports. more You may also want to read: The Employee Competitor… and what to do about it

Spy History: Life Imitates Art - The Shoe Bug

...The discovery of a “shoe bug” then prompted SY (US State Department - Division of Security) to modify its ACRs (Acoustic Conference Room)...

In 1969, Harry G. Barnes, Jr., Deputy Chief of Mission in Bucharest, Romania, called a classified conference, which met in the “bubble.” SY officer Lou Grob was monitoring the meeting from another room and heard the conversation. He immediately informed the Administration Officer (the RSO’s superior) that there was a bug in the ACR. After searching, they found something resembling Don Adams’s “shoe phone” from the 1960s television series Get Smart!--the bug was located in the heel of Barnes’s shoe. 

Barnes had had the butler take his shoes out to be modified, and someone had installed the bug in the process. After this incident, SY officers covered ACRs with Reynolds plastic wrap to reduce the radiation of low-power devices such as shoe bugs until the proper security modifications could be made. more  "Psst... Wanna buy some spy shoes? Click this."

Balloon Incident Reveals More Than Spying

There is nothing new about superpowers spying on one another, even from balloons. But for pure gall, there was something different this time...

It may be months before American intelligence agencies can compare the audacious flight of a Chinese surveillance balloon across the country to other intrusions on America’s national security systems, to determine how it ranks.

After all, there is plenty of competition.

There was the theft of the designs of the F-35 about 15 years ago, enabling the Chinese air force to develop its own look-alike stealth fighter, with Chinese characteristics. There was the case of China’s premier hacking team lifting the security clearance files for 22 million Americans from the barely secured computers of the Office of Personnel Management in 2015. That, combined with stolen medical files from Anthem and travel records from Marriott hotels, has presumably helped the Chinese create a detailed blueprint of America’s national security infrastructure...

Not surprisingly, now it is coveted by military and intelligence officials who desperately want to reverse-engineer whatever remains the Coast Guard and the Navy can recover. more

Extra Credit: Spy vs Spy: A brief history of balloon spying & Thaddeus S. C. Lowe

NY AG Spikes Spyware

The New York Office of the Attorney General has announced punitive measures against Patrick Hinchy and 16 of the companies he owns, for illegally promoting spyware.

Since 2011, Hinchy has owned and operated numerous companies, including the 16 investigated by the New York OAG, for selling and promoting spyware targeting Android and iOS devices, including Auto Forward, Easy Spy, DDI Utilities, Highster Mobile, PhoneSpector, Surepoint, and TurboSpy.

Once installed on victim devices, the spyware would collect and exfiltrate data such as call logs, text messages, photos, videos, emails, Chrome browser data, location, and data from messaging and social media applications, including WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The spyware was sold to ‘customers’ looking to spy on their spouse, colleagues, or other individuals, and was installed on the victims’ devices without their knowledge and without notifying them of the data collection and exfiltration activities...

Collected data, the New York OAG has discovered, was being transmitted in an insecure manner, which exposed it to potential cyberattacks and snooping...

The New York OAG fined Hinchy and his companies $410,000 in penalties and ordered them to modify the software so that it would notify device owners of the data collection activities. more

AT&T Goes to the Dogs... or, Fetch 5GK9

AT&T has partnered with Ghost Robotics to test the many use cases of a fleet of 5G-connected robotic dogs in public safety and first response...

Surveillance
One use case involved robotic dogs with wireless network-connected cameras that were deployed at military bases for patrol. At Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, video feeds in real-time are sent to base personnel who always track activity on the base.

This same robotic dog could be used in commercial use cases either indoors or outdoors to patrol the perimeter of structures such as warehouses, logistics facilities, shopping malls or fleet centers. more