Electronic Surveillance Law Overview

US - Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping – Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress (164 pages)

SpyCam Story #494 - Janitors Mopped Up

NY - MTA police busted a janitor for using a cell phone hidden in a bathroom stall to videotape more than a dozen women using the toilet at the Stamford train station.

Felicitos Gonzalez, who lives a block away from the bustling Metro-North facility, was arrested at his home and charged with 16 counts of voyeurism, the Stamford Advocate first reported on its Web site.

The perverted scheme was unraveled after a woman found the camera inside a basket of toilet paper and contacted the MTA police. Gonzalez could still face additional charges. (more)

CA - A former janitor has been given three years in prison for secretly videotaping students in the girls' locker room of a Westlake Village school.

Hilario Medina, 39, was sentenced Friday. He pleaded guilty to sexually violating the privacy of children. Eighteen lesser charges were dismissed.

Prosecutors say Medina used a video camera wrapped in a shirt and placed on a maintenance cart to secretly tape at least 18 girls at Oaks Christian School, which has grades six through 12. (more)

SpyCam Story #493 - 15-Years. No Parole.

MO - A federal judge gave the former owner of a tanning salon a 15-year prison sentence for producing child pornography by secretly videotaping teenage girls who were customers of his business. Brett Kent, who owned 360 Degree Tan on East Republic Road, won't be eligible for parole.

He admitted he used a hidden camera to secretly videotape at least 20 female customers, including seven minors, while they used the tanning beds... An employee of 360 Degree Tan discovered video of a customer (a minor female) in various stages of undress, including full nudity, on the business' computer... The employee reported what she found to Springfield police...

The camera lens was mounted inside the fan unit of a tanning bed using Velcro tape, positioned at the foot of the bed. Velcro tape was also found inside the fan unit of a second tanning bed. (more)

Satellite Version of Lo-Jack Proves Worth

UK - A JCB digger stolen in Durham has been recovered in the Netherlands after police followed it around Europe by using its satellite tracking device.

The new £50,000 machine travelled thousands of miles before it was found, journeying across England before resurfacing in the Netherlands and then going to Germany and back. It was tracked and recovered in an operation involving five English police forces as well as Dutch and German detectives.

...eight days after the theft the device switched itself on, telling police that the digger was in Middlesbrough. Four days later the tracker was sending a signal from Lancashire, but by the following day the digger was back in Humberside. The device was monitored by a group called Securi-Guard... then, they knew that it had left British shores, because the signal died.

Pete Stanley, of Securi-Guard, said: “It had been shipped over the North Sea in a container so the global positioning satellite (GPS) couldn’t pick up the tracker device until it had been unloaded.” (more)

$1 million reward for arrest of cyberextortionists

MO - A pharmacy benefits management firm announced that it is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the conviction of whomever is threatening to divulge the personal information of millions of its members.

St. Louis-based Express Scripts disclosed it received an anonymous letter that included the names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and, in some cases, prescription information of 75 members. The writer or writers threatened to release millions more of similar records if the business failed to pay an unspecified sum of money.

Anyone with information should contact the FBI at (800) CALL-FBI (225-5324). (more)

Spy Coins - You know you want one!

During the Cold War, Spies from both the East and West used Hollow Coins to ferry secret messages, suicide poisons, and microfilms undetected.

On May 1st, 1960 U2 Pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was shot down over the Soviet Union and taken captive. In his possession was a hollow silver dollar containing a poisoned needle that was to be used to take his own life in such a circumstance. For one reason or another, he did not use it and was held for 21 months by the Soviets. He was then exchanged for Soviet spy KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel) at the Glienicke Bridge, in Berlin, Germany.

Colonel Fisher was also no stranger to hollow coins... his original capture by the United States FBI was directly related to a hollow nickel that was used to transport microfilm.

Want one? Become a client. Click here.

Make: Your own spy gear!

No mission is impossible when makers put their minds to it.

Make Volume 16 will help you get smart [Sorry about that, Chief.] with a special section on spy tech. Learn how to build and use tiny surveillance devices, and how to know if a spy is using them on you. From tiny video cameras to sneaky recorders, this volume has enough cool stuff to make James Bond's inventor Q envious.

Coming soon!
On newsstands November 25!
(more) (complete Table of Contents)

Your Security Nightmare - Covert USB Sticks

He has in his pocket a seemingly torn and frayed piece of USB cabling. Who is he? A psycho nerd with his lucky charm, or a spy?

He pulls a cigarette lighter from his pocket. Who is he? A smoker, a pyro or a spy?"

He walks in wearing a nice watch; carrying a USB cable. Who is he? Who knows why? Spy?

"Woh, dude, a cassette tape! But, uh, why does it have a USB cable attached to it?" What do we have here; a Luddite or a Black Knight?

And, that hip flask?!? Or is it? Who is he - a data drunkard, or a spy?
Hint: This is really a 250GB USB drive – disguised as a flask! (more)

The reality is, you really don't know. These devices can carry a small library of your business secrets out the door, and make you smile at the same time. Conversely, they can also be used to inject spyware and viruses.

If you see these in your workplace don't be amused, be suspicious. ~Kevin

from the manufacturer's web site...
"Virtually undetectable spy camera built into classy looking metal and glass wrist watch for James Bond like espionage.

Ever want to go to a dress up party or to the office with a spy camera, but couldn't find the spy tool that you could carry with you wherever you went without drawing attention? We solved this problem for you, with this micro spy camera built into a fancy watch which lets you take spy video without anyone ever being the wiser. Artfully hidden behind the number 2, this mini-cam gives you an AVI format 352x288 resolution clips at 15FPS, and with 2GB of onboard storage, you will get hours upon hours of video.

The watch itself is an elegantly designed full metal watch with a glass face cover, has accurate, gear driven time in seconds, minutes and hours, has a back clasp design for easily taking the watch on and putting it off, and a twisting crown for time adjustment.

Imagine the candid video with sound that you can take without anyone ever being the wiser..." (more)

Why do I mention it?
So you will know what you are up against.

Lady: Bugs in flowers. Bed bugs, too!

MI - James Holland pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of stalking, two misdemeanor counts of attempted eavesdropping and one misdemeanor count of illegal entry, said Steven Hiller, deputy chief assistant prosecutor for Washtenaw County.

Holland had faced more serious felony charges of home invasion and eavesdropping, but the charges were reduced in a plea deal, Hiller said...

Holland's former girlfriend discovered a voice-activated tape recorder hidden in a flower basket on a wall in her home Sept. 4 and contacted the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department, sheriff's Sgt. David Archer said. Deputies interviewed Holland that night and he admitted to placing two tape recorders in his ex-girlfriend's home, Archer said.

"He confessed to a second recorder in the bedroom of the victim,'' Archer said.

Archer said Holland had entered his ex-girlfriend's home with a duplicate key, which he had made before he returned a key she had given him. (more)

$1 Billion Trade Secrets Theft - Employee Charged

CA - A former Intel Corp. engineer has been charged with stealing trade secrets worth $1 billion from the chip maker while he worked for its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts alleged this week in a five-count indictment that Biswamohan Pani, 33, illegally downloaded more than a dozen confidential documents from Intel's computer system in California during a four-day stretch in June. He had already resigned from Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel, but remained on the payroll and still had access to the company's computers while he burned unused vacation days.

What Pani's supervisors didn't know then is that instead of taking the time to investigate a hedge fund job Pani claimed he was considering, he had actually started working for AMD and for a brief period was on both companies' payrolls. (more)

Secret Service Secret Code Words Announced (?!?!)

via Associated Press...
"The Secret Service has released the code names for the Obama and Biden families.
The White House Military Office dubbed President-elect Barack Obama “Renegade,” while his wife, Michelle Obama, is “Renaissance.”

Their children, Malia and Sasha, were named “Radiance” and “Rosebud.”

Vice President-elect Joe Biden was given the name “Celtic.” His wife, Jill, was nicknamed “Capri.”

A spokesperson said the names aren’t as important as they once were because of more sophisticated communications equipment that’s more difficult to eavesdrop." (more)

We can make you a difficult eavesdropping target, too. Call us.

Spying is an art. Spying is art. Spying is. Spying.

via wired.com...
For most people, photographing something that isn't there might be tough. Not so for Trevor Paglen.

His shots of 189 secret spy satellites are the subject of a new exhibit -- despite the fact that, officially speaking, the satellites don't exist. The Other Night Sky, on display at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum through September 14 [Apologies for the late reporting.], is only a small selection from the 1,500 astrophotographs Paglen has taken thus far.

In taking these photos, Paglen is trying to draw a metaphorical connection between modern government secrecy and the doctrine of the Catholic Church in Galileo's time. (more)
(Applause)
Very cool, Trevor!
And, that's not all...
Trevor has a unusual book, too!
"I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagon's Black World"

They’re on the shoulder of all military personnel: patches that symbolize what a soldier’s unit does. But what happens if it’s top secret? Shown here for the first time, these sixty patches reveal a secret world of military imagery and jargon, where classified projects are known by peculiar names (“Goat Suckers,” “None of Your F***ing Business,” “Tastes Like Chicken”) and illustrated with occult symbols and ridiculous cartoons. Although the actual projects represented here (such as the notorious Area 51) are classified, these patches—which are worn by military units working on classified missions—are precisely photographed, strangely hinting at a world about which little is known.

By submitting hundreds of Freedom of Information requests, the author has also assembled an extensive and readable guide to the patches included here, making this volume one of the best available surveys of the military’s black world—a $27 billion industry that has quietly grown by almost 50 percent since 9/11.

SpyCam Story #492 - Camp Dumbstaffer

Canada - A camp employee who claimed he was only trying to scare a female co-worker when he hid a video camera in her shower stall will be sentenced in January.

The 19-year-old Fergus-area man pleaded guilty yesterday to voyeurism and breaching an undertaking by contacting the victim. The man cannot be named to protect the identity of his 17-year-old victim.

Court heard OPP were called to a camp in Wellington County Aug. 5 where a female employee reported being videotaped in the shower.

Police learned the girl was showering when she discovered the video camera on a shelf, hidden among some toiletries but pointed directly into the stall.

Officers discovered three videos on the camera. The first two depicted the suspect aiming the camera to ensure it was aimed correctly, while the third showed the victim nude in the shower.

The suspect was arrested for voyeurism and released by police on an undertaking, including a condition that he not contact the victim.

Nine hours later, he sent the victim a message through the Facebook networking website.

In that message, he wrote that the camera was there as "a prank" and said his intention was to scare someone and get their reaction on video. (more)

Corporate Spy Suit Ends

Von Roll USA Inc. said Friday it has settled its lawsuit against four former employees it had accused of corporate espionage.

In a U.S. District Court filing last December, the Swiss-based company claimed the employees, including former Chief Executive Jack Craig, were using stolen information to set up a rival company, Craig Wire Products LLC.

The suit even claimed that the employees — the others were Brett Portwood, Brad Archambeau and Linda Belcher — remotely accessed confidential information on Von Roll computers in its plant in Rotterdam.

Belcher and Archambeau are former managers at Von Roll's Rotterdam plant, court papers say.

On Friday, Von Roll in a written statement said "all claims and counterclaims in the case have now been settled and the lawsuit will be discontinued in its entirety." (more)