Proper Public Eavesdropping Etiquette...

...by Al Kratina, The Gazette
Canada - I worry about Montreal's eavesdroppers. Every week, they provide this very page with the overheard morsels in the box at right, many of which sound like contributors have been hiding under the desk of Gossip Girl script meetings.

But there's an art to eavesdropping, a delicate balance between subtle espionage and outright home invasion. And I'm concerned some of our eavesdroppers might inadvertently blur the lines and end up either imprisoned or nursing a nasty staph infection caused by rifling through a target's refuse.

So, I spent an afternoon testing out a few techniques, and came up with these four helpful pointers...

1. Wear headphones
2. Pick a high-traffic location
3. Don't listen to high school kids
4. Don't dress like a sex offender from a 1930s movie
(more)

Smoke in Pokomoke as they Duke it out

MD - A local blogger was charged with wiretapping after he allegedly recorded a conversation between himself, his wife -- a City Council candidate -- and Pocomoke City Mayor Michael McDermott and later posted it on a Web site.

According to court documents, William Burke -- an auctioneer who along with his wife, Stephanie Burke, publishes pocomoketattler.com -- used a digital recorder March 27 to tape about 37 minutes of a conversation with McDermott on the steps of Pocomoke City Hall...

The attributed post links to a short audio clip of a man saying, "Hey, you know what, I have a plan for you. Why don't you move?" and states the speaker is McDermott.

Burke was charged with wiretapping two days later. If found guilty, he could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. Burke will go before a judge for a preliminary hearing May 7.

The Maryland Annotated Code states it is illegal to record a conversation unless "all of the parties to the communication have given prior consent."

University of Maryland Media Law Professor Deborah Nelson said there is a lot of legal gray area with the situation since the recording was made in a public area. (more)

Sacrier Than An Escaped Bumper Car

UK - New CCTV cars that could capture drivers on film using mobile phones or eating at the wheel are being used in a road safety pilot by Greater Manchester Police.

The small smart cars have a 12 foot mast with a camera attached to them to film the behaviour of drivers.

Anyone whose behaviour is considered distracting could face a fine and points on their licence. (video)

Coronation Street Sweeps

UK - Every star in Coronation Street fears they could get the sack as recession-hit ITV slashes its budget, The People can reveal.

And to add to the panic, Corrie bosses have launched the biggest mole hunt in the show's 49-year history after a spate of damaging leaks about secret storylines and unrest among the cast.

Senior production staff have been ordered to hand over records of their phone calls while script conference rooms have been electronically swept for bugs...

During the meeting where producers, script editors and other senior staff discuss storylines, they were stunned to see an eavesdropping expert sweep the conference room for BUGGING devices.

And in another shake-up to keep confidential Corrie info in-house, the meetings previously held in hotels were moved to ITV's Quay Street studio complex in Manchester where the show is filmed. (more)

"I'm a Seoul man..."

Listenin' to ya on every mode
Good buggin' I got a truck load
I'm a Seoul man...

S. Korea - The National Intelligence Service (NIS) is engaging in more wiretapping than before. Wiretaps are five times more than what they were eight years ago, and of all government wiretaps, those by the NIS accounted for 98.5 percent. Cases like these cause members of the public to suspect the NIS is abusing its power. This suspicion is leading to a growth of opposition to a bill to revise the Communications Secrecy Protection Act Tong Bi Beop, proposed by the administration of President Lee Myung-bak and his ruling Grand National Party (GNP), which would make it possible to intercept mobile phone and internet communications. (more)

I park my truck up on a side street
I learned how to bug ya before I could eat
I'm a Seoul man...

In this cartoon, a citizen protest the wiretapping,
however, a member of the National Intelligence Service agency says,
“Don‘t you be curious about this kind of matter."

Well grab a phone and I'll pull you in
Steth-o-scope and tie up all the loose ends
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

I'm a Seoul man
You're a Seoul man
I'm a Seoul man
I'm a Seoul man
I'm a Seoul man
I'm a Seoul man

Cell Phone - Dead Giveaway

WA - A man who fatally shot his five children and killed himself had just discovered his wife was leaving him for another man, authorities said...

The night before, the father and his eldest daughter went in search of his wife, Angela Harrison. The daughter used a GPS feature in her mother's cell phone to find her with another man at a convenience store in nearby Auburn, said Ed Troyer, spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff. (more)

Security Director takeaways...
Aside from the eavesdropping and text spyware vulnerabilities, GPS can also be a security issue (for bad or good). Get to know the capabilities of the corporate cell phones you are specifying for your executives.
• Do not give them more features than they really need.
• Make them aware of features which could be used against them. (Google Latitude, for example.)
• Caution them about opening email attachments or temporarily loosing physical control of their phones. Both are opportunities to plant spyware.
• Swap out phones with factory fresh phones on a regular basis for high-value executives. It is cheap insurance against spyware attacks.
• Remember our warning back in December? (this one) Although the news report mentions a cell phone GPS I suspect it is more likely someone slipped a GPS tracker, like Zoombak, into her car. Check your executive vehicles periodically for items like these.

Kyrgyz Base Klaimz

"This station can eavesdrop the whole world -- every fax, every e-mailed letter. Every call from a mobile or landline phone is being recorded and processed. Billions of messages are being intercepted."

Who said it?
A. немного цыпленок (Russian to English)
B. 小的鸡 (Chinese to English)
C. The official web site. (more)
D. Russian state television who accused the United States of spying on China and Russia after secretly turning its only remaining air base in Central Asia into a state-of-the-art surveillance center. (more)

"How to Hack & Spy Through Anyone's Webcam"

Well, not exactly a 'how to' but a funny reality check nonetheless. Beware of Geeks bearing thumbdrive gifts! ~ Kevin (more)

Thus driving intelligence agencies, nuts.

Skype has become the world's single largest provider of international calls, surpassing even incumbent telcos like AT&T. (more)
Skype's strong encryption has been providing the illusion of "untappable" communications to many groups security agencies would like to monitor. (more)

Spooks Speak... once a year

...advance notice for next year...
According to organizers, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, an FBI special agent, an investigator for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a British historian, and a former Member of British Parliament will be the headliners this year for the sixth annual International Spy Conference... "This year it's about the role of lady spies who were responsible for many of the most daring intelligent operations of the modern era - while others played a notorious role working against the US," added Reeves. "And the role of sex in real-life spy adventures has been center stage though the ages." (you just missed it)... The Raleigh Spy Conference has been a unique convention that is known across the world for bringing espionage experts and former spies together in one place. (more)

The role of sex in real-life spy adventures...

"Appearing at next year's Raleigh Spy Conference..."
Germany - A German spy has been arrested for treason after allegedly giving away important secrets to his Kosovar translator with whom sources say he was having an affair.

The 42-year-old man, named only as Anton Robert K., was working in the Balkans when he developed an ‘intimate’ relationship with translator Murat A., 28, according to a report in Der Spiegel magazine.

He was arrested last Tuesday near Stuttgart, the magazine said, after returning from Pristina, where until 2008 he had been working undercover in a German government office. (more)

Well, ain't that a kick in the (thunk) Ow, my toe!!!

This just proves... if you can dream it, it can be. Remember, Flubber?
A unique goo-like substance, which upon strong impact immediately locks itself into a solidified form and then back into goo, was created by a British company. The material, which was dubbed “d3o,” is already being used in a range of shock-absorbing products, including footwear and ski attire. The company has recently been granted 100,000 pound by the UK Ministry of Defense for the development of impact-proof helmets fitted with d3o which should be able to reduce the kinetic energy of a bullet or piece of shrapnel by half.

The material was engineered using something called “intelligent molecules.” "When moved slowly, the molecules will slip past each other, but in a high-energy impact they will snag and lock together, becoming solid. In doing so they absorb energy,” explained Richard Palmer, the inventor of the substance who created the company d3o (which now sells the goo like substance with the same name). Once the pressure is relieved, the material restores itself to its original flexible state. (more) (video - 21st Century Black Adder hits Baldrick with shovel) (Weekend project with your kids. Make your own Flubber!)

"Mickey Big Ears" Snoops On The Polizei

Free, with Mickey Maus, Issue 12 - A police band radio! Hold on...
Issue 12 of the German Mickey Maus magazine came bundled with a Chinese-made novelty radio. The problem: said radio was reportedly able to tune into the normally secure police-band channels.

The German police were first alerted to this rather odd eavesdropping through concerned parents, who were wondering why Mickey was calling an Alle Punktnachricht (All Points Bulletin).

A copy of the white mini-radio, about the size of two matchbooks, was picked up by several of Hamburg's finest so that they could conduct further tests on the radio's limits. (more)

I will be in Hamburg on assignment in 3 weeks and will look into this further. Need anything inspected in the EU? Call me now. ~ Kevin

Spy School

OH - Sinclair Community College begins offering classes designed to help students land jobs as intelligence analysts, either with the government or defense contractors.

The courses for the spring quarter are titled Introduction to Intelligence Community and Fundamentals of Remote Sensing in Intelligence. Each has already attracted 29 students in advance registration, said Surinder Jain, Sinclair's interim associate dean for science, mathematics and engineering. Students seeking to take the courses must be U.S. citizens, Jain said.

Jain said he is encouraged by the student interest and hopes to have additional, related course offerings in place this fall.

It is the latest Miami Valley college to offer such courses in partnership with the Advanced Technical Intelligence Center for Human Capital Development. The Beavercreek school is leading the region's effort to train a new generation of intelligence analysts to help U.S. authorities keep an eye on what the nation's enemies are doing. (more)

Eavesdropper-Stopper Copper Fired - Hits Jackpot

MI - For the second time in two years, a former Iosco County sheriff's deputy has sued his department and landed a six-figure settlement.

Anthony Eno receives $215,000 in the most recent agreement, reached last month. The sum is to be paid by Iosco's insurance carrier, county officials say.

Eno sued the Iosco sheriff department in 2008 after then-Sheriff Michael Fischer fired him for ''substantial charges of misconduct,'' the department said at the time.

Eno denied any misconduct, alleging instead that his dismissal was an act of retaliation for his role as ''whistle blower'' in a previous case. In that 2006 case, Eno helped investigators prosecute a former undersheriff for eavesdropping. (more)