Cops Can't Spy on Your Yard and Home Without Warrant... sometimes

WA - A federal judge on Monday tossed evidence that was gathered by a webcam turned on for six weeks—that the authorities nailed to a utility pole 100 yards from a suspected drug dealer's rural Washington state house.

The Justice Department contended that the webcam, with pan-and-zoom capabilities that were operated from afar, was no different from a police officer's observation from the public right-of-way.

"After reviewing relevant Fourth Amendment jurisprudence and applying such to the facts here, the Court rules that the Constitution permits law enforcement officers to remotely and continuously view and record an individual’s front yard (and the activities and people thereon) through the use of a hidden video camera concealed off of the individual’s property but only upon obtaining a search warrant from a judge based on a showing of probable cause to believe criminal activity was occurring. The American people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the activities occurring in and around the front yard of their homes particularly where the home is located in a very rural, isolated setting. This reasonable expectation of privacy prohibits the warrantless, continuous, and covert recording of Mr. Vargas’ front yard for six weeks. Mr. Vargas’ motion to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the video feed is granted." (more)

Norway - Eavesdropping Devices Found - UPDATE

Stingray mobile phone surveillance equipment estimated to cost up to £200,000 has been found hidden near the Norwegian parliament, believed to be snooping on legislators.

Following a two week investigation, Norway's Aftenposten newspaper reported to the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) that it had discovered IMSI-catchers (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) of a type believed sold by Harris Corporation, located inside fake mobile phone stations near government and parliamentary buildings in Oslo. At least six devices were found, each about the size of a suitcase. Potential targets within a radius of one kilometre of the equipment include the prime minister's office, the ministry of defence, Stortinget (parliament) and the central bank, Norges Bank, ministers, state secretaries, members of parliament, state officials, the American and Israeli embassies as well as many private businesses...

Initially IMSI-catchers only collect data from the sim-card but the intrusion can escalate, as the Aftenposten report explains: The most advanced versions can register several hundred numbers in just a few minutes. Once a mobile phone has been detected by a fake base station, the IMSI-catcher can enter an active mode to eavesdrop on certain conversations. Then it will transmit the conversation to the real GSM-system acting as a ‘man-in-the-middle.

The fake base station can even register SMS-messages and install spyware enabling its operator to switch on the microphone so that the mobile phone can be used to bug rooms and meetings. (more)

Constables Gone Wild

UK - A detective constable accused of spying on unsuspecting hotel guests during a 10-month voyeurism spree appeared in court.

DC Daniel Williams, 36, is said to have watched the victims at the Jurys Inn in Milton Keynes and the The Mandolay Hotel, Guildford, Surrey between January and October this year... Williams, who has been suspended from duty, also faces separate allegations of involvement in the sex trade.

He allegedly incited girls work as prostitutes and hid the profits in socks stuffed into his chimney... Williams, who was working at Tooting police station at the time of the alleged offenses, is further charged with using the police computer to run checks on his clients. (more)

USA - A Kingston constable is facing charges of spying on two teenage girls known to him through a two-way mirror while they were camping in a recreational vehicle in Northumberland County.

Point Township (PA) police charged John C. Gould, 54, of Market Street, with six counts of invasion of privacy... Two girls ages 15 and 17 told Kingston police in early July they suspected Gould spied on them while they showered inside the RV while camping... A two-way mirror was attached to the bathroom wall permitting a one-way view of the bathroom from a bedroom, according to the complaint. A lamp without a shade was placed near the mirror to diminish visibility of the mirror, according to the complaint. (more)

Elf on the Shelf - Naughty or nice – or maybe just creepy?

Since 2005, the Elf on the Shelf has been a holiday tradition in homes. Children love seeing the little elf pop up in unexpected places. But one Canadian professor says the doll is not all fun and games — it’s teaching children to accept people spying on them.

In her paper, published in the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, Laura Pinto... argues that the children with an elf in their home, often cater to and try to always be on their best behavior for the doll, a fictional representation of power, instead of “engaging in and honing understandings of social relationships with peers, parents, teachers, and ‘real life’ others.”

The professor tells the Toronto Star, “If you grow up thinking it’s cool for the elves to watch me and report back to Santa, well, then it’s cool for the NSA to watch me and report back to the government.” (more)

More Fake Cell Phone Sites Discovered

A WUSA9 investigation has identified "very high suspicion" levels for cell phone spying in Washington, D.C. and in tests in the Ferguson, Mo. area.

WUSA9 recorded the suspicious activity using a device that detects unauthorized external access to a test phone connected to a standard cellular network.

The findings come as a Chinese website promises cell phone interception equipment for as little as $1,800 a unit in a spy world that was once controlled by government officials at costs near $500,000 a piece. (more)

Sony's Industrial Espionage Grand Slam

The Sony e-mail hack is too irresistible to ignore. The confiding messages trash stars like Angelina Jolie and Adam Sandler. The seven-figure salaries of studio execs, nearly all men, are underlined. Juicy remarks — all the more believable because of misspellings and bad grammar — kid about President Obama’s taste in movies. To top it off, North Korea might be behind it all.

Click to enlarge.

It’s the kind of tinsel town mess that is too good not to be true...

It was theft, a cyber break-in, that led to the disclosures. Hackers broke into the Sony Pictures Entertainment system and stole a boatload of private information: salaries, e-mails and personal data, with only a fraction trotted out so far.

It’s industrial espionage on a grand scale. Repairing Sony’s computer systems will cost tens of millions while some 30,000 Sony employees are left exposed... It’s a mugging, tech-style.

There are takeaways for the rest of us.  
• Never e-mail anything you can’t explain in public. 
• Think twice before hitting the send key. 
• Don’t assume anything remains secret after it’s typed out on screen. (more)

After 50 Years, Charlie is Finally Employed

The US military has been developing a robotic tuna that can infiltrate enemy territory.

The spy fish, which is made to look like a bluefin tuna, weighs a hundred pounds and is 5ft long.

Dubbed Project Silent Nemo, The United States Office of Naval Research is in the process of testing the tuna. The robot is controlled by remote control but can also be programmed to swim a pre-determined route.

Nemo could see active service in as little as a year’s time. (more)

Spy Cartoon - Smoke Screen Excuse for Smoke Signal Tapping

Thus, giving new meaning to watching the submarine "raceys"...

The Navy has issued a new report confirming the involvement of 12 sailors and petty officers in watching a series of secretly recorded videos 

taken over a period of ten months of fellow female shipmates undressing and showering. Only one of the men is accused of recording the videos.

"This was not 11 guys, each with different [cameras]," an anonymous source told the Navy Times. "It was really one guy doing the videography piece and then sharing it with other people." (more) (sing-a-long)

James Bond Held by Hackers - Cue Q

The producers of James Bond films have acknowledged that an early version of the screenplay for the new movie "SPECTRE" was among the material stolen in the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. 

The producers said in a statement Saturday that they are concerned that third parties who received the screenplay might seek to publish it — and warned the material is subject to copyright protection around the world.

The producers promised to "take all necessary steps to protect their rights against the persons who stole the screenplay, and against anyone who makes infringing uses of it or attempts to take commercial advantage of confidential property it knows to be stolen." (more)

Norway Alerts Politicians After Eavesdropping Devices Found

Norwegian police said Sunday they have warned politicians about possible eavesdropping of cellphone calls after several listening devices were reportedly found in central Oslo, including near government buildings and Parliament.

Siv Alsen from the security police said the National Security Authority has begun an investigation, but could not provide more information pending the agency's report...

Her comments followed media reports that illegal listening and tracking devices were found in fake mobile base stations, which could be used to monitor calls and data, as well as trace the movement of people in the area. (more)

Double Check Your Tech

via Bruce Schneier...
This is a creepy story. The FBI wanted access to a hotel guest's room without a warrant. So agents broke his Internet connection, and then posed as Internet technicians to gain access to his hotel room without a warrant.

From the motion to suppress:

The next time you call for assistance because the internet
service in your home is not working, the "technician" who comes
to your door may actually be an undercover government agent.
He will have secretly disconnected the service, knowing that
you will naturally call for help and -- when he shows up at
your door, impersonating a technician -- let him in. He will
walk through each room of your house, claiming to diagnose the
problem. Actually, he will be videotaping everything (and
everyone) inside. He will have no reason to suspect you have
broken the law, much less probable cause to obtain a search
warrant. But that makes no difference, because by letting him
in, you will have "consented" to an intrusive search of your
home.

Basically, the agents snooped around the hotel room, and gathered evidence that they submitted to a magistrate to get a warrant. Of course, they never told the judge that they had engineered the whole outage and planted the fake technicians. (more)

Woman Hides Spycam in Her Butt - Cookie Monster Digs It

There is an important lesson this spycam will teach all men...

Interesting Spy Stories of the Week

A former computer technician at HSBC Holdings’ Swiss unit, “celebrated as a hero abroad,” was indicted in Switzerland on charges of industrial espionage and violating bank secrecy laws, prosecutors said... accused of stealing client data in 2008 from HSBC’s Geneva office and passing it to French authorities... (more)

Verizon Voice Cypher, the product introduced with the encryption company Cellcrypt, offers business and government customers end-to-end encryption for voice calls on iOS, Android, or BlackBerry devices equipped with a special app. The encryption software provides secure communications for people speaking on devices with the app, regardless of their wireless carrier, and it can also connect to an organization's secure phone system. Cellcrypt and Verizon both say that law enforcement agencies will be able to access communications that take place over Voice Cypher, so long as they're able to prove that there's a legitimate law enforcement reason for doing so. (more)

US-based cyber security solutions firm FireEye has just uncovered a business espionage racket targeting over 100 corporates, to steal information. The FIN4 group, as FireEye calls the hacking outfit, has a deep knowledge of how business deals are reached and how corporate entities communicate within and outside the organization. Unlike in other attacks, the hacker group is said to be very focused. It targets people who might have access to confidential information. (more)

An electrical engineer for a defense contractor was fined $5,000 and sentenced to 180 hours of community service for falsely accusing his boss of spying for another country. (more)

Two Private Eyes, One GPS, One Fake DUI Tip = 200 x "I Take the 5th."

Two private investigators accused of tailing an Orange County councilman with a GPS device and setting up another by calling in a false drunk driving report were charged Thursday with false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit a crime, the district attorney's office said.

Private eye takes the 5th more than 200 times in fake-DUI case

The Costa Mesa councilmen were targeted in the midst of a protracted city-police fight in 2012. The detectives were hired hands for an Upland law firm that had an advertised client list of more than 120 public safety unions and a reputation for aggressive attacks on City Hall, prosecutors say.

Christopher Joseph Lanzillo, 45, of Lake Arrowhead and Scott Alan Impola, 46, of Canyon Lake put a GPS monitor on Councilman Steve Mensinger's car in July 2012, prosecutors say, and tracked him for about a month. (more)