Just when you thought they ran out of spies...

Lebanon's military prosecutor charged 10 more Lebanese with spying for Israel, bringing to 55 the total this year, a judicial source said. Four of those charged were already in custody, having been detained on suspicion of the crime, and the other six have yet to be arrested. (more)

It's not a book. It's not a movie. It's real.

Trial of CIA, Italian agents provides rare look at intelligence work... Testimony about the alleged 'rendition' of Egyptian Abu Omar features feuds and rogue conduct in a case that has apparently made and crushed careers. (more)

SpyCam Story #535 - SpyCam Saves Life

TX - When a 3-year-old patient kept having setbacks during her recovery, doctors at Dell Children's Medical Center suspected that the child's mother was to blame, Austin police said Wednesday.

They set up a hidden camera in the child's hospital room that police and court records said soon recorded Emily Beth McDonald smearing human waste on the girl's intravenous line, which can cause potentially life-threatening illnesses. (more)

UPDATE - An Austin woman has been accused of repeatedly smearing human waste on her 3-year-old daughter's intravenous feeding line, potentially causing life-threatening infections.

Emily Beth McDonald, 23, was charged with felony injury to a child.

According to an arrest affidavit, a surveillance video at Dell Children's Medical Center captured McDonald placing feces from a soiled diaper on the cap of a tube with a direct link to the child's bloodstream. (more)

Silvio's Wiretap Crusade Marches On

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi does not rule out a vote of confidence on the wiretap bill. Speaking to SkyTg24 he stated that "It would be better not to have a vote of confidence, but if we run into the slightest opposition we will immediately call a vote of confidence". Berlusconi pointed out that wiretaps cost the State 400 million euro every year, and that "the right to privacy is fundamental". (more) (background)

Photographers – Next on The List
Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has reacted angrily to the publication in Spain of photographs showing topless women and a naked man at his villa. He has threatened to sue Spain's El Pais newspaper, calling the photos an invasion of privacy. The photos - banned in Italy on privacy grounds - were taken from outside Mr Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia during a party for a Czech delegation. (more)

SpyCam Story #534 - Almost Identical to #531

NY - West Seneca Police have arrested a man they say used a camera to spy on his ex-girlfriends teenage daughter. Police say 38-year old Richard R. Vieira installed the camera inside the 19-year old's bedroom and videotaped her getting undressed. Police say Vieira had DVD copies of the video. Vieira's ex-girlfriend discovered the camera equipment but only after Vieira had already moved out of her home. (more)

Fuzzbusters Busted - Bug held photo of bugger

Korea - Two reporters from a local news agency were taken into custody on suspicion of attempting to eavesdrop on a meeting convened by the national police chief, investigators said yesterday.

According to police, the journalists installed a small recorder at a restaurant in Suwon, some 46 kilometers (29 miles) south of Seoul, where National Police Agency Commissioner Kang Hee-rak was hosting a dinner with senior police officers. (more)

UPDATE - The Gyeonggi Police Agency said the reporters from Asia News Agency installed an MP3 player with recording function on the ceiling of a restaurant in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, where National Police Agency Commissioner Kang Hee-rak was hosting a banquet Thursday for nearly 40 senior police officers in the province.

The event was held after Kang's regular inspection of police stations there, police said.

Choi Won-il, who was at the banquet, said, "At around 8:20, a restaurant employee informed me that a couple of people with suspicious gadgets had dropped by the restaurant before the dinner began."

Choi and restaurant employees searched the venue and found a recorder attached to the ceiling.

Police found a picture of one of the reporters saved on the gadget. During questioning, the journalist confessed to having installed the recorder with two other colleagues. (more)

SpyCam Story #533 - Blinky the TV Spy

The California Supreme Court seemed unlikely Wednesday to authorize employers to spy on their workers with hidden cameras.

At the same time, some members of the state high court appeared skeptical that two women who discovered a surveillance camera in their office had suffered serious harm. The women said they suffered emotional distress when they discovered the camera by chance after noticing a blinking red light. (more)

Suit Suits the Black Suits - EFF & ACLU Dispute

A U.S. District Court on Wednesday dismissed lawsuits against telecommunications companies in a warrantless wiretap case, ruling that former President George W. Bush's administration had properly requested the cases closed for national security reasons.

Companies including AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc faced dozens of suits accusing them of improper participation in a warrantless wiretap program launched by Bush after the September 11 attack...

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, which are coordinating the cases, said they would appeal, arguing the amended act was unconstitutional. (more)

"How silly can you get?"

US - The Pentagon may have issued top-secret clearances last year to as many as one-in-four applicants who had "significant derogatory information" in their backgrounds, including a record of foreign influence or criminal conduct, a little-noticed government audit says. (more) (sing-a-long)

Ok, so your company is not The Pentagon, but it is as important to you as the United States is to a General. You depend on your employees not picking your intellectual pockets.
• Do you conduct background checks on key employees?
• Do you have them sign an intellectual property agreement?
• Do you have legally acceptable security measures in place?
• When was the last time you had your offices checked for illegal electronic surveillance?

UPDATE (the very next day) - A Pentagon official with "top secret" security Clearance has been charged with conspiracy to pass classified information to an Agent of China, officials said Wednesday.

Retired air force Lieutenant Colonel James Wilbur Fondren, a deputy Director of the US Pacific Command's Washington Liaison Office, became the fourth person targeted after a Chinese espionage ring was unmasked last year. (more)

How to Spy on Your Kid Online

via Fox News...
Trust, But Verify
"The difference between responsible monitoring and spying is the 'Gotcha' factor," says Nurit Sheinberg, Ed.D., director of research and evaluation at the Mailman Segal Institute for Early Childhood Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL. If your kids don't know you'll be monitoring their use and you find something and go "Gotcha!" they'll be shocked and probably resentful, and may start hiding things from you. So once you decide how much and what kind of monitoring you'll do, let them in on it.

Your honesty has its perks: If they know you're watching, their self-monitoring instinct will likely kick in. (Of course, kids are masters at finding ways around parental control — more on that later.) One of the best things you can do: Put the computer in a central location. There's no better way to keep an eye on things than to be able to wander by and casually say, "Hey, what website is that?"

Yes, you want to trust your kids. But they're kids — relying on their word may not be enough to keep them safe. (more)

SpyCam Story #532 - "The doctor will see you now."

Philippines - Hayden Kho Jr. already said he was to blame for covertly filming his sexual encounters with women. The controversial doctor said he did not upload the video on the Web, and that someone was out to destroy his reputation by leaking those ‘stolen’ videos. But one of the last basic questions that remain unanswered is, “Why did he have the habit of recording his sex acts?" Unfortunately, the controversial doctor has no answer to this question. He said he has been consulting with a psychologist since last year just to get the answers to this question. (more)

SpyCam Story #531 - Bug in the Bathroom

OH - A Casstown-area man is accused of using a spy camera in the bathroom of his home to videotape a 19-year-old female. On Wednesday morning, 43-year-old John Miller was arraigned on charges of wiretapping, three counts of voyeurism, a charge of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Miller’s bond was set at $11,000. He remains in jail. (more)

Corrections officer sentenced for attempted eavesdropping

MI - William James Johnson, 34, of 127 Michigan Ave., Gladstone, was sentenced to 90 days in the Menominee County Jail on a charge of attempted eavesdropping/installing a device. He is scheduled to report to the jail by 8 p.m. Friday.

According to court records, Johnson attempted to install in the Delta County Sheriff's Department, without the consent of the sheriff, a device for "observing, recording, transmitting, photographing or eavesdropping." (more)

iPhone SpyWare

from the Web site...
"Mobile Spy is proud to announce the availability of the world's first commercial spy software for the Apple iPhone. Now you can use the powerful monitoring features of Mobile Spy on your iPhone! Works with ALL iPhones!

Mobile Spy will reveal the truth for any company or family using Apple smartphones. You will SILENTLY learn the truth about their calls, text messages and GPS locations by logging into your Mobile Spy account from any web browser." (more)

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

Fight Fire With Fire, Get Fired?

IL - A firefighter in the northern Illinois community of Sycamore has been charged with eavesdropping.

Authorities contend 42-year-old Kurt Mathey recorded a conversation between his fire chief and an assistant chief without their knowledge.

Mathey is out on bond after being indicted on one count of felony eavesdropping. He's on administrative leave from the department.

Mathey is the former president of Sycamore's firefighters union, which has been in heated negotiations with the city for several months. (more)