UK - Simon Cowell is warning gossip mongers 'enough is enough' after snagging an undercover reporter who planted a magnetic tracking bug underneath his blinging Bentley mobile.The TV judge says he won't tolerate anymore silly media games, complaining he is exhausted at being hounded by the press for the last seven years.Cowell's spokesman Max Clifford said his team have caught the journalist who planted the device and says the failed ploy is the final straw. (more)
China - "Microphone makers in the region, spurred on by a huge market demand, are up and ready to ramp up production of silicon microphones with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processing technology. Worldwide shipment is forecast to reach nearly 1.6 billion units in 2011..." (more)
So, just how small is a MEMS microphone?
Get a penny.
Look at Lincoln.
It would fit up his nose.
(1.35 x 1.35 x 0.3 mm)
(source)
FutureWatch - Micro Micro Mics combined with other MEM technology, micro micro power components and micro micro batteries to create a new generation of eavesdropping bugs. Sci-fi SpyDust becomes fact. (more)
Once you are outside of the USA, anything that you say can be eavesdropped on without a court order by US authorities... and authorities from every other country. This rarely-mentioned exception in the US eavesdropping law was recently reaffirmed in this terrorist bombing case."El-Hage contends that the District Court erred by (1) recognizing a foreign intelligenceexception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement, (2) concluding that the search of El-Hage’s home and surveillance of his telephone lines qualified for inclusion in that exception, and (3) resolving El-Hage’s motion on the basis of an ex parte review of classified materials, without affording El-Hage’s counsel access to those materials or holding a suppression hearing. Because we hold that the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of reasonableness—and not the Warrant Clause—governs extraterritorial searches of U.S. citizens and that the searches challenged on this appeal were reasonable, we find no error in the District Court’s denial of El-Hage’s suppression motion."
Daruma Dolls are those cute round little wish dolls without arms or legs. Heck, they don't even have eyes until you start wishing. Appropriately, Zen ...until now.
(cue Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me")That 'someone' is stuffing these hollow,
"Holy moly my wish came true,"s
with spycams!!!Instant Japanese Santa?
Naughty? Nice?
Daruma sees all.
"Your wish is..."Let's go shopping... (video)
Canada - A budding coalition between New Democrats, the separatist Bloc Quebecois and Liberals is an exercise in nation building, NDP Leader Jack Layton told his caucus in a conference call covertly recorded by the government.Layton's national unity musings were secretly recorded Saturday by the Conservatives. They held the tape for a day and then had an official from the Prime Minister's Office deliver it to various media on Sunday. (more) (extortionography)
via WCBD-TV...
High-resolution hidden cameras sell for as little as a couple of hundred dollars and they come in all shapes and sizes.
The rapid spread of spy technology has caught the eye of privacy advocates. Michael Scott teaches technology and information privacy law at Southwestern Law School. “Technology develops so quickly that it takes a long time for the law to catch up,” he explained.
A quick YouTube search for spy cameras turns up what appear to be dozens of illegally shot hidden camera videos in fitting rooms, tanning salons and people’s homes. Of course, for every gadget, there’s usually a counter gadget. (and in the corporate world, counter-surveillance specialists.)
“There are a lot of people who are worried that someone else might be pointing a camera at them that shouldn’t be,” said Morris. Especially celebrities...
Kid Rock’s security team recently found a hidden camera in his dressing room in Minneapolis. (more) (video report)
UK - The House of Commons office of Damian Green, the Tories' immigration spokesman, is routinely swept for electronic bugging devices, along with other offices belonging to senior Conservatives, amid fears of covert monitoring, The Independent on Sunday has discovered.Anger surrounding the shadow immigration minister's arrest last week escalated dramatically last night over suspicions of a major bugging scandal inside the Palace of Westminster. (more)
NY - Officials with the Lincoln-Edison Charter School have proposed establishing a middle school with the theme of "Homeland Security." Students would receive instruction in emergency response, computer security and other issues related to "Homeland Security." ... (one course mentioned) ADVANCED INTEL 201 - Basic Wiretapping: What'd Daddy Say About That Lady? - Students will hone their wiretapping skills by listening in on their parents' phone calls. Students will learn how to properly interpret statements such as "Junior's acting kinda weird lately" and "What's that clicking noise?" (more)
UK - Music mogul Simon Cowell has vowed to step up his security after a bugging device was reportedly found under his car.The American Idol judge became suspicious his movements were being monitored after repeatedly spotting a mysterious biker at supposedly private meetings. And his fears were confirmed when a security sweep uncovered a hi-tech tracking device attached to the undercarriage of his $211,000 (GBP140,000) Bentley Continental. (more)
• pick on a female,• with a gun,• who, oh by the way... is an FBI Agent,
• who, oh by the way... will shoot your sorry...
SC - ...man faces criminal charges after he was shot during a scuffle with an FBI agent outside her home... Ronnie William Pennington, 59, of 116 William St., was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and peeping Tom, eavesdropping or peeping, according to warrants... He tried to get away, and she grabbed him... The man hit her with his hands as he tried to escape... The woman, who was not injured, fired a handgun at the man, striking him in the left buttocks... (more) The initial investigation lead officers believe the shooting was justified. (imagine that)
VT - A Woodford man, who apparently used a stethoscope to eavesdrop on his ex-girlfriend, was charged with stalking Tuesday by Vermont State Police.Police arrested Ryan Nystrom, 23, after a witness spotted a young man perched on a residential back porch roof, next to a bedroom window early Tuesday morning.A police report says the victim and her new boyfriend were in the bedroom at the time of the incident. (more)
Wiretap-proof telephone
This scrambler keeps private phone conversations safe from wiretappers and eavesdroppers. Fitted to an ordinary handset, it needs no electrical connection, has its own power source. To hear, a person needs an unscrambler coded identically. Delcon Division, Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., sells it for $275, keeps your name and code locked in its vault. (more)
Unsold units were later turned into platform shoes :)
Just kidding.
PA - Former Philadelphia TV anchor Larry Mendte has learned his fate for spying on his co-worker's computers.Mendte was snooping on former CBS 3 co-anchor Alycia Lane's emails and releasing personal information about her to the media. His punishment for his evil ways? • Six months house arrest • He must wear an electronic monitoring device • $5,000 fine• 250 hours of community service• Three years probation• Special filtering device on his personal computer• No contact with Lane Mendte, 51, had pleaded guilty to one felony count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization and obtaining information, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid.He had accessed Lane's emails thousands of times according to prosecutors. Lane fired back at Mendte in September by filing a suit in the Common Pleas Court. Lane accuses Mendte of invading her privacy and helping to cause her demise by leaking information to the press. (more) (background)
101 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius
equips you with complete plans, instructions, parts lists, and sources for devices that let you:
