Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Fri, 27 Apr 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
=====================================================
Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. HTML versions are archived at http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- Peeping In PA
SPECIAL SECTION -- 30 Bugs Found?
SPECIAL SECTION -- Plane talk
SPECIAL SECTION -- One Weird Week =====================================================
Oregon Senate passes police eavesdropping measure...
The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would reverse the
effects of a court ruling that has barred police from recording
conversations by electronic surveillance without a search warrant. The
measure, SB654, now goes to the House. The bill would revise
eavesdropping laws to allow warrantless recordings when officers have
"probable cause" to believe a drug crime or prostitution was being
committed, or that another felony was being committed and that the
immediate circumstances made it unreasonable to obtain a court order. http://oregonlive.com/newsflash/
"...but, he drank Guinness, so we say 'what the hell.'"
For three years, David Rupert, a 49-year-old truck driver from a small
town in upstate New York, was an agent at the center of a dangerous,
high-stakes game of international terrorism and intrigue. Today, he and
his wife, Maureen, endure the daily tedium of FBI protective custody -
in seclusion, constantly fearful, rarely alone, but safe from those who
would kill him. In a few weeks, he will be spirited to Ireland to
testify at the trial of one of the IRA's most ruthless leaders, a trial
with implications for the entire peace process. "He's a rat bastard,"
said a bitter John McDonagh, leader of one of the New York Irish
Republican groups penetrated by Rupert and turned inside out. "He's a
disgusting rat and an informer. He was introduced to our group by people
in Chicago. We were suspicious of him from the start." http://www.nypostonline.com/news/worldnews/29219.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- Peeping In PA
Another landlord, another spycam...
PITTSBURGH - A Westmoreland County dentist who moonlighted as a landlord
and used video cameras to spy on his female tenant was arrested
yesterday. Allegheny County police said Raymond Seitz placed video
cameras above a shower head and in the bedroom of a woman who rented an
apartment in Forest Hills, a Pittsburgh suburb. "She was in the bathroom
and happened to look up and see something shiny in this heating vent and
investigated and found there was a camera on her," Lt. Dave Walsh, of
the Allegheny County Police, told a Pittsburgh TV station. The cameras
were connected to monitors in the basement and the unidentified tenant
said she often saw Seitz parked outside the apartment, police said.
(Possible short-range wireless transmission.) Seitz surrendered to
police and was being held on $25,000 bond. http://dailynews.philly.com:80/content/daily_news/
Another town, another spycam... at the National Fraud Center!
A Willow Grove (PA) man was charged yesterday as a Peeping Tom, accused
of videotaping two nursing mothers as they used a breast pump in a
storage closet while at work, prosecutors said. Christopher Simms, 34,
of Kanes Road, set up an elaborate videotaping system to spy on the two
co-workers while they used a pump, authorities said. But the scheme
quickly fell apart last week. After he recorded one of the women, the
other spotted the camera, hidden in a trash bag and rigged to Simms
computer, prosecutors said. Simms is married with two children ages 1
and 4, a neighbor said. It's not clear if his wife breast-fed or is
breastfeeding. "You would think he's seen enough of that at home," a
neighbor said. Prosecutors said that Simms, a computer expert who works
at the National Fraud Center on Welsh Road in Willow Grove, put a lot of
work into his set-up and seemed determined to capture these women during
a very personal and vulnerable moment. Simms, worked at the center for
five years. http://dailynews.philly.com:80/content/daily_news/
SPECIAL SECTION -- 30 Bugs Found?
DAY 1 - 30 spy bugs found in Whitehall...
ABOUT 30 electronic listening bugs have been found in Ministry of
Defence (MoD) buildings, including its Whitehall headquarters in London.
The devices are understood to have been hidden in offices, including
rooms used by intelligence staff, within the past 10 years. They were
uncovered during recent refurbishment work, having remained in place
despite regular sweeps by security staff. http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/04/22/
DAY 2 - Who?
The Russians...
Mystery last night surrounded reports that as many as 30 eavesdropping
devices had been discovered in Ministry of Defence buildings, including
its headquarters in Whitehall. The ministry said the Sunday newspaper
reports could not be confirmed but it was "always vigilant about
security" and "regularly" swept the buildings for devices. Defence
sources suggested that the bugs were planted over the past 10 years by
Russian spies... http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,476772,00.html
The French, of course...
French arms companies attempting to elbow British competitors aside are
suspected of planting electronic bugs uncovered inside Ministry of
Defence buildings. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
DAY 3 - Voice of Reason...
"It's the UK press running away with themselves again. A few months ago
the MoD IT Security division put on a small internal exhibition to
heighten awareness to staff of what was being done to protect the MoD,
and examples of present day threats. They had gone out to the local
London "Spy Shops" (of which there are many) and bought 30 bugs as
examples of clandestine surveillance. Somehow this got to the British
press who have never let the truth get in the way of a good story and
has been distorted and exaggerated."
(a UK source believed to be reliable)
DAY 4 - Besides, can the French still afford to spy?
Chirac's party 'took millions from spy fund'
French president, Jacques Chirac, will face damaging allegations this
week that his Gaullist party helped itself to millions of pounds from
secret government funds intended to finance the activities of the
intelligence services. http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/04/22/stifgneur01006.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- Plane talk
Hummmm... The U.S. crew on board the Navy EP-3E surveillance plane that made an
emergency landing in China was not able to destroy all sensitive
material onboard the aircraft, government and military officials said Thursday. http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/breakingnews/US/0,3560,874948,00.html
Showing they cut the US a break...
China will send back the bodies of 14 Taiwanese airmen who were killed
on the mainland in 1963 when their spy plane was shot down, a lawmaker
said Friday. http://asia.biz.yahoo.com/news/asian_markets/
ANDES' GANG
Starring Froggie the Gremlin...
A US surveillance plane provided "location data" to a Peruvian Air Force
aircraft that opened fire on a small plane over the Amazon region
Friday, killing a US missionary and her child, a State Department
official acknowledged late Saturday. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010422/1/nffq.html
And, Midnight the Cat...
Peru has offered a $5 million reward for the capture of Vladimiro
Montesinos, the fugitive spy chief at the centre of corruption scandals
that brought down former President Alberto Fujimori. http://www.excite.co.uk/news/story/
Fly the friendly skies of...
Twin 22-year-old sisters got into a screaming argument aboard a United
Airlines flight to China... A flight attendant tried to calm the
sisters, and Cynthia Mikuta hit her in the face... One of the pilots
walked to the rear of the aircraft and told the sisters to return to
their seats, then sat with them to ensure there would be no more
trouble, but Cynthia Mikuta hit the pilot in the head... When the flight
crew put Cynthia Mikuta in flexible handcuffs, Crystal Mikuta put
another flight attendant in a chokehold... the sisters screamed
obscenities during the entire episode. http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/20/fighting.sisters.ap/index.html?s=10 http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/20/fighting.sisters.ap/story.fighting.sisters.jpg
Paging passengers Cynthia and Crystal Mikuta...
A robotic reconnaissance jet developed for the Air Force will try to fly
from California to Australia on Sunday, becoming the first such aircraft
to cross the Pacific Ocean. The unpiloted Global Hawk spy plane will
take off from the Mojave Desert before dawn and land at a Royal
Australian Air Force Base outside Adelaide after a 221/2-hour,
8,600-mile flight. Designed primarily for reconnaissance, the Global
Hawk also could be equipped with eavesdropping devices http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010421/ts/global_hawk.html
P.S. It made it! ... and set a world record as the furthest a robotic
aircraft has flown between two points. http://www.theage.com.au/news/2001/04/24/FFXQ887RVLC.html
UFO bureau shuts as aliens shun Earth...
After chronicling extraterrestrial activity for nearly half a century,
the British Flying Saucer Bureau has suspended its activities because of
an apparent sharp decline in the number of alien visitors to Earth. The
bureau, which once had 1,500 members worldwide, used to receive at least
30 reports of UFO sightings every week, but they have now all but dried
up. Its monthly meetings have been canceled after a fall in attendance. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-118521,00.html
In other News...
Greece - In drafting a bill that consolidates sweeping surveillance
measures and introduces mandatory DNA testing of suspects for the first
time, the justice minister has found himself up against the kind of
academics, scholars and legal experts with a passion for civil liberties
and individual rights he himself had displayed as a legal scholar. http://athensnews.dolnet.gr/athweb/
Really bugged spies loose it...
A convicted husband-and-wife team of Marxist spies lost their Supreme
Court appeal Monday. The court, without comment, turned away the
couple's claim that the federal government was wrong to plan its
successful sting operation based on secretly recorded information about
the woman's fragile mental health... (and that) the couple should have
been allowed access to the government's written justifications for a
550-day bugging operation. http://news.lycos.com/headlines/Politics/
"I hear voices... they keep calling me names..." Imagine living in a world with sensors inserted everywhere, including
sunglasses, so any time you meet new people their names appear before
your eyes. If you're blind their names could be whispered to you through
earplugs, thanks to voice-enabling software. Even if you don't speak the
same language as the people you encounter, you'll have their words
translated for you in real time. No one would remain anonymous -- you'd
know the name of anyone you encountered in the world. To the chagrin of
privacy-minded people, crossing that fine line into someone else's space
is part of IBM's job -- especially in the field of pervasive computing. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,43186,00.html
New Flashlight Sees Through Doors...
Police officers serving a warrant or searching for a suspect hiding
inside a building could soon have a new tool for protecting themselves
and finding the "bad guy." A prototype device called the RADAR
Flashlight, developed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), can
detect a human's presence through doors and walls up to 8 inches thick. http://unisci.com/stories/20012/0416015.htm
SPECIAL SECTION -- One Weird Week
The Richard Kiel smile...
American police dogs are being equipped with a new weapon in the fight
against crime: titanium false teeth designed to improve their bite - and
their grip - on anyone trying to escape the law. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
The James Bond smile... An alleged bigamist is accused of falsely telling his fiancee he was a
CIA agent and taking money from her with the promise to clear her record
of a drunken-driving offense. Glenn Alabastro, 29, pleaded innocent
Friday to charges of theft by false pretenses and unlawful use of a
badge... Alabastro pleaded earlier in the week to a bigamy count. His
bail was set at $40,000. http://www.sacbee.com/news/
Putin' safety first...
Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday ratified the Open Skies
Treaty, removing one of the last obstacles to the long-stalled agreement
aimed at reducing the risk of war by permitting countries to conduct
surveillance flights over each others' territory. http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/world/digdocs/019792.htm
Putin loved ones first...
Putin 'rigged Miss Russia contest as policewoman's secret admirer'
...the Kremlin was accused of dictating the result of this year's Miss
Russia beauty contest. Miss Fyodorova, a 5ft 9in brunette, was
categorical in her denial. "It's just a coincidence that we are both
from St Petersburg, the work of fate," she said firmly. (So... do you
know him, or what?) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Calling Doctor Howard...
Chung Chi-cheong was lying on the operating table undergoing surgery on
his colon when a cellphone rang. Suddenly, his surgeon was chatting
about buying a BMW... Hours afterward, Chung was rushed back to the
hospital with a punctured colon... The seven doctors and one layperson
presiding over a 14-hour hearing discounted phone company records of a
13-minute conversation, accepting the surgeon's testimony that he had
forgotten to shut off his phone... A nurse and the caller, also a
doctor, backed him up. (What?) http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/111/nation/
They're not just for serial killers any more...
Telephone voice changers have entered the mainstream. Home-based
professionals use them to impersonate receptionists. Bosses can spy on,
er, monitor, their employees' telephone skills while disguising their
voices. Single women can give unknown callers the impression a
testosterone-pumped he-man shares digs with them. Ranging from the
inexpensive and creepy sounding ("Hello, Sidney, do you like scary
movies?") to high-tech and high performance, there are voice changers to
fit your every camouflage need. http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010421/540849.html
Give me an 'O'... Give me a 'C'... ok, Fire!
China says 30 people have been executed at a mass rally as part of a
campaign against organised crime. The executions, in the industrial city
of Wuhan in central China, were carried out immediately after the death
penalties were passed. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/nat/newsnat-21apr2001-83.htm
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Fri, 20 Apr 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
=====================================================
Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. HTML versions are archived at http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- Which Country Has The Least Privacy? =====================================================
Security Director's Cautionary Tale # 486
(another wireless LAN eavesdropping story)
Shipley, a computer security researcher and consultant, is demonstrating
what many ... are quietly describing as the next big thing in hacking.
It doesn't take long to produce results.
... the laptop displays the name of a wireless network operating within
one of the anonymous downtown office buildings: "SOMA AirNet." Seconds
later another network appears, then another: "addwater," "wilson,"
"tangentfund." After fifteen minutes, his jury-rigged wireless hacking
setup has discovered seventeen networks beaconing their location to the
world. After an hour, the number is close to eighty.
The Smith-Barney Bug... they urn it.
The district court held that the placement of an electronic surveillance
microphone at an outdoor grave site memorial service ... did not violate
constitutional or statutory rights... The electronic surveillance device
consisted of a microphone planted in an urn, which recorded sounds and
conversations at the grave site.
The officers did not obtain a judicial warrant or court order, nor did
they obtain the family's consent before placing the surveillance device
at the grave site. However, the officers did obtain permission from the
owners of the cemetery to enter and conduct their surveillance.
Kee v. City of Rowlett Texas, 5th Cir., March 28, 2001, 99-10555 http://www.law.com/
Let's send them Rocky & Bullwinkle...
China has showed video footage and photographs of what it called "very
convincing" proof that the U.S. spy plane was to blame for the mid-air
collision... an animation depicting China's version of the crash... http://uk.news.yahoo.com/010419/80/blsi3.html
"Q" to You...
Sarnoff Corp. said its low-power, 1.2 inch by 1 inch digital camera will
allow mobile phone users to send and receive film-quality photo and
video images along with their calls. ... it created the technology as a
part of a U.S. government contract to build a miniaturized surveillance
camera for use in covert spy operations http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/spycameras010417.html
And now for something completely different...
British intelligence officers have developed a rather worrying tendency
of forgetting that they are carrying a computer, leaving a trail
littered with lost laptops. The British Defense Ministry has reported
205 laptops missing since 1997 -- most of which contained classified
information. That's an average of 51 lost laptops per year. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,43088,00.html
(I thought this problem was solved last week?) http://www.excite.co.uk/news/story/UKOnlineReportTopNews/
SPECIAL SECTION -- Which Country Has The Least Privacy?
1. America.
Americans' right to information privacy is in peril,
the American Civil Liberties Union said today in
its latest national advertisement. The ad features
a large photo of a cell phone, with the headline:
"Now equipped with 3-way calling. You, whoever
you're dialing, and the government." http://www.aclu.org/privacyrights/
2. The Netherlands.
Police in the Netherlands are using wiretaps far
more often than authorities in the rest of Europe
or the U.S., but experts are not sure why. The Dutch
rate of wiretapping far surpasses that in the U.S.,
both on a per capita basis and in absolute numbers,
according to sketchy data released by police.
The Dutch rate is one per 53,000 in population.
The U.S. rate... one per 455,000.
Source: Privacy Journal, April 2001 http://www.privacyjournal.net
Whoa! Major expansion, dude...
The Mossad took the unusual step Sunday of advertising in the
help-wanted sections of newspapers in search of 13 engineers for its
technology unit. http://www.nandotimes.com/
Are you STILL talking to me?
Taxi drivers show first ‘spy’ video... video evidence gathered by
cabbies spying on private hire drivers will be presented to city
councillors next week. A number of black cab drivers have been filming
their mini cab rivals in an attempt to prove they break taxi rules. http://www.edinburghnews.com/news.cfm?id=EN01068044
NO... I'll get the check!
Russia: A quarrel among patrons at a restaurant in St. Petersburg
escalated on 14 April, and one of the individuals involved threw
grenades at the others. Two of the grenades exploded, injuring six
people, two of them seriously. Police officers arrested two people.
AIR SECURITY International - HOT SPOTS – 4/16/01 http://www.airsecurity.com/hotform.htm
Need a good movie this weekend...
"The Dish"
Australia snags moon walk signal for the world to see. http://www.thedishmovie.net
Next weekend...
"The Tailor of Panama"
Spying unmasked as the nasty, shabby business it really is. http://www.edmontonjournal.com
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Sat, 14 Apr 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
=====================================================
Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. HTML versions are archived at http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- China Syndrome
SPECIAL SECTION -- News You Can Use
SPECIAL SECTION -- Peeping TV Saga Continues
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Usual Nonsense =====================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- China Syndrome
Welcome home...
Leaving their damaged spy plane on a Chinese island, 24 U.S. crew
members landed in Hawaii on Thursday to cheers and to face two long days
of debriefing before weekend reunions with families and friends. http://news.ino.com/intraday/?storyid=DJN593260803
Like ants on a dead bird...
Satellite imagery showed the Chinese removing equipment from the EP-3
spy plane yesterday, reinforcing the belief among American intelligence
agencies that they are already working to copy the design of the plane. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Security Alert #443 -- Fake Book Trick
A trick almost as old as the Trojan Horse is making the rounds again. RECIPIO is distributing a hard back 'gift' book to top corporate executives.
Keep an eye out for it.
The book looks real. It even comes shrink wrapped... but the center is
cut out. A customized computer mouse with the RECIPIO name resides within.
A novel promotion? Cute and harmless? Not in this day and age.
The book could just have easily contained an eavesdropping device,
a cake of C4 explosive, or... a customized mouse which stores all
keystrokes and emails them out during idle time.
Special thanks to Murray Associates Technical Investigator William Milley for this unusual discovery - whose name is coincidentially the same as our RCMP colleague.
Available to private security as well...
The government revealed Thursday that it implanted a satellite-tracking
device in a suspect's car and tracked him as he drove around Oregon and
Washington. ... this appears to be the first criminal prosecution in
which a GPS transmitter has been used.
Security Director's Cautionary Tale #453
Boss's e-mail bites back
A chief executive who used an e-mail to threaten his staff with the sack
for being lazy has seen his company's share price collapse after the
message appeared on the internet. (Interesting e-mail.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/world/americas/newsid_1263000/1263917.stm
Last week, Fruit of the Loom accused Gildan Activewear of industrial
espionage. Let's listen as this exciting saga continues...
"... and thus we had the munchies for Fruit, your honor."
Gildan Activewear Inc. maintained a stony public silence yesterday in
the face of explosive allegations that one of its top executives
orchestrated an industrial-espionage coup last fall from Gildan's
Montreal head office. Gildan shares have been dropping for the past six
trading days, losing a further 50 cents yesterday to $22.25. They took a
hit last week after Gildan shut a factory in Barbados. Jamaican police
had found between 10 and 30 tonnes of marijuana in a container
originating from that plant. http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/pages/010410/5065694.html
"Spy laptop safety no longer mission impossible." -- Q Spies and security service staff will be issued with high-tech James
Bond style briefcases after a spate of embarrassing bungles in which
agents have lost official secrets, the Ministry of Defence has said. http://www.excite.co.uk/news/story/UKOnlineReportTopNews
People of Earth...
Does your 'mission statement' leave you with that "yes, master" feeling?
Company credo have you zonked? Are people around you speaking
corporatize, while carefully not saying a thing? Tired of the
your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal? Gort... Klaatu Barada Nikto...
show them the cluetrain. http://www.cluetrain.com/
SPECIAL SECTION -- Peeping TV Saga Continues
"What is... who's watching you, Alex."
It could be your boss, your government, your spouse, or a sexual creep.
As technology explodes, the law can't keep up. http://www.macleans.ca/
Peeping Toms Go Electronic...
Cheap, tiny spy cameras make women increasingly vulnerable to digital voyeurs http://www.macleans.ca/
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
ST Microelectronics has introduced a highly integrated digital color
microcamera module highly suited for the next generation of cellular
phones, personal digital assistants and other portable communications
devices. The Digital Camera Module occupies just 10 x 10 x 7.5mm, an
important factor in space starved portable gear. (...less than $20. an
eyeball; dime-sized; and coming to a bug near you soon...) http://eu.st.com/stonline/press/news/year2001/p901p.htm
"Ahhhhh!!!!" -- Kevin (Home Alone, 1990)
Homing device. How your cellphone tracks your movements. http://www.macleans.ca/
Home of the blues...
A man in Memphis secretly installed a spyware program called Spector on
his 13-year-old stepdaughter's personal computer last fall and
discovered, by reading her private e-mail, that she was having sex with
her 37-year-old schoolteacher. http://www.fortune.com/
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Usual Nonsense
Play da squealing-like-a-pig guy again...
Andrew Bassaner's Northeast Philadelphia moving company... held
furniture, rugs and other belongings for ransom. They were demanding
payment more than what was originally quoted, and they were stealing out
of the trucks. He was also ordered to stand trial on an illegal
wiretapping count for tape recording telephone conversations with customers. http://dailynews.philly.com:80/content/daily_news/2001/04/07/local/MOVE07C.htm
Mob don's death ends era in Detroit... At the end, with his kidneys shot and his heart failing, mobster Anthony
Giacalone's moment of fame was a fading memory. His one-time world of
big cars and bookies, of sleek suits and shakedowns, was, if not in
ruins, then at least aging and vulnerable, with a few outright bumblers
in the ranks. "Nitwit Incorporated," one defense attorney called them,
referring to two wise guys in Giacalone's gang whose misadventures were
taped by the FBI. They blithely wondered aloud - as recorders rolled -
whether anyone was eavesdropping. The FBI bugged several members'
vehicles, phones and homes ... also placed several under surveillance,
but Nove Tocco, 53, and Paul Corrado, 42, easily had the loosest lips,
regularly boasting and bumbling their way around town while FBI cameras
and microphones stayed within range. Some of their patter indicated this
was anything but a happy Mafia family. http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com
Computer Crime... Police Squad Style.
An 18-year old man escaped from his cell by breaking the window open and
using computer cords to climb down. The computer was in the only cell in
the jail where the window could be partially opened. This was the second
escape ever from the police jail in central Stockholm. http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,46262,00.html
Evidently, the rest of the country already knows...
Advertisements will appear soon in the New Yorker and the New York Times
to raise awareness about U.S. government surveillance programs. http://www.idg.net/ic_508002_1794_9-10000.html
"I want to thank all the organizations who have ever tapped my phone!"
The third annual U.S. Big Brother awards. The "Most Invasive Proposal"
award went to the FBI's Carnivore privacy eating program. The "Greatest
Corporate Invader" award went to ChoicePoint, the private
data-collection company at the center of Florida's election debacle. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/04/13/107.html
"Spy Kids" remains under close surveillance:
The family flick about pint-sized secret agents was the No. 1 movie for
the second straight weekend despite a flurry of new films. http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010408/16/ent-box-office
FREE Weather Alerts To Your Pager.
STORM ALERT is currently testing their county by county NOAA weather
alert warning system. Alerts are sent to your pager, email address, or
both. For the time being, the service is free. Sign-up is easy. Just
supply your email and pager info. First impression... (I am testing it
now.) Excellent, but don't ask for too many types of alerts. It will keep
your pager busy, and eat up your character credits. http://209.225.0.234/sas/info.asp
---------------------------------------
Forbidden Planet (1956)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Forbin Project (1969)
------ (Hold that thought.) -------
So stop co-founding already...
Super Computers Could Take Over the World (2001)
The co-founder of one of Silicon Valley's top technology companies
believes scientific advances may be ushering humanity into a nightmare
world where super smart machines force mankind into extinction. (Ok, let go.) http://www.light1998.com/Super-computers/Super-computers.htm
Remember Sea-Monkeys?
My friend spotted a box of Sea-Monkeys in a mall science store this week.
I tried to save him. He bought them for his 3-year old daughter anyway.
Sea-Monkeys may be fish-bait, but they have also been sucker-bait for
40+ years now. Take your own painful trip down memory lane. http://www.sea-monkey.com
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Sat, 07 Apr 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
=====================================================
Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. HTML versions are archived at http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director Stuff
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Alphabet Soup Gang (KGB, CIA, KYP, FSB...)
SPECIAL SECTION -- Chinese Checkers
SPECIAL SECTION -- Competitor College -- Laser Beam Eavesdropping?
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Arts & Self Cleaning Windows (really) =====================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director Stuff
Security Director Cautionary Tale # 646
WIRELESS LAN EAVESDROPPING -- The short story. War dialing, the hacking practice of phoning up every extension of a
corporate phone network until the number associated with a firm's modem
bank is hit upon, has been replaced by war driving with the introduction
of wireless LANS. Our source tell us that war driving ... involves
motoring between likely target firms with a PC fitted with a LAN card
and trying to break into their networks. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/17976.html
Also... A University of Maryland research team said Tuesday that it had
identified several more security flaws in the much-maligned 802.11
wireless LAN protocol.
Notes... 1: Think this is the data equivalent of the cordless phone?
(Right-o!)
2: Think serious spies will trawl for your email and data as well?
(Right again!)
3: Think you DON'T have a wireless LAN?
(Better check. Adding a rogue wireless LAN node to your regular LAN is
Spy Trick #366.)
4: Wireless LAN detection and evaluation is now a standard element
of our electronic eavesdropping audit services.
Security Director's Budget Justification # 205
Or.. Why my budget contains espionage countermeasures funding. Rambus Inc. had a mole called "Secret Squirrel" tipping it off to
private SDRAM deliberations at JEDEC in 1997, Infineon Technologies has
charged in the federal district court in Richmond, Va. ... the e-mails
from "Secret Squirrel" and "Deep Throat" provided details of the DLL technology... http://www.electronicstimes.com/story/OEG20010405S0037
Security Director's Budget Justification # 206
Or.. Why my budget contains espionage countermeasures funding.
Fruit of the Loom Inc. has filed a lawsuit against upstart rival Gildan
Activewear Inc. of Montreal, alleging Gildan is an industrial spy that
stole its top secret "Sew Plan" and hired away key executives to gain
unfair competitive advantage flogging that icon of American mass
culture, the T-shirt. "This case is about industrial espionage at the
highest corporate level and the lengths to which predatory competitors
will go to obtain commercial advantage," Bowling Green, Ky.-based Fruit
of the Loom and subsidiary Union Underwear Co. Inc. allege in a
complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Illinois. "The stolen operating plans provide Gildan with a road map to
Fruit of the Loom's production and sales strategies worldwide. Gildan's
conduct has irreparably harmed Fruit of the Loom and mocks any notion of
'fair' competition," the company says in the complaint. http://www.globeinvestor.com/
"Hey Cisco... Stick 'um up."
A former Cisco Systems engineer pleaded guilty to federal charges that
he stole information from the giant maker of computer networking
equipment before leaving to join a competitor ... will receive three
years' probation and pay no fine. (Well, slap my wrist.) http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-5233119.html
"Hey Cisco... Stick 'um up again."
A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted two Cisco Systems accountants,
accusing them of breaking into the company's computer system and
illegally transferring millions of dollars in Cisco stock into their own
brokerage accounts. http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/fraud05.htm
Security Director Cautionary Tale # 647
E-mail wiretapping used to spy on corporate communications.
Corporate spies are using covert JavaScript code within email to track
the contents of sensitive financial communications. That's the warning
from managed service provider Activis which said that it is seeing
increasing use of malicious JavaScript coding to create Web bugs that spy
on Internet traffic. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/18147.html
Security Director Cautionary Tale # 648
Moral... Upgrade virus software to detect 'SubSeven.'
A new tool for malicious hackers is making the rounds on the Web. It can
allow someone access to just about anything on your computer -- even
cameras and microphones. http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/03/24/hacker.tool/index.html
Security Director Best Practices #111
Tight Security. Tough Jobs...
Imagine working in a place where your desktop computer restricts access.
No personal e-mail. No Internet. Imagine rules enforced where -- not
only are you not allowed to tell outsiders what goes on within your
walls -- you're not even allowed to tell colleagues working at the same
place on the very same project. Tough new security precautions at the FBI?
Nope. Just standard procedure in the paranoid world of animation.
Pixar Animation Studios. Animators say tight security is necessary in the business. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,42578,00.html
Security Director Espionage Alert # 543
It just got harder to keep your e-mail confidential. With certain e-mail
programs, composers of messages can now get copies of replies and
forwarded messages secretly bounced back to them. Let us say opposing
counsel sends you a confidential settlement proposal. You forward it to
your client. If your opponent is sufficiently fluent in a basic
programming language called JavaScript, he might be able to program his
e-mail so that a copy of your forwarded e-mail gets delivered to him as
soon as you send it. This devious trick has earned the nickname "e-mail
wiretapping" by the Denver-based Privacy Foundation. And like most
hacker-like activities, it is quickly gaining prevalence. http://www.law.com/
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Alphabet Soup Gang (KGB, CIA, KYP, FSB...)
Last month... 200 Spying Monks
This month... 24 Spying Gypsies Cyprus - Another 24 gypsies crossed to the free areas on Sunday ...
causing the government serious concern. Justice Minister Nicos Koshis
said that the intelligence services (KYP) suspected some of the gypsies
might be Turkish spies. http://www.hri.org/news/cyprus/cmnews/2001/01-04-03.cmnews.html#04
"... So, why is it ok for James?"
A FEMALE Army officer has been sent back to Britain after having an
affair with a Russian spy while serving in Kosovo. http://www.edinburghnews.com/news.cfm?id=EN01063199
Well... that explains it now, doesn't it.
A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "There is no evidence that
national security has been compromised. She was not there in an
intelligence or signals capacity but as an escort." http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_218536.html?menu=
Or, does it?...
The Russian, in his late 30s, was specially trained in seduction, said
the Sun, adding that he belongs to a spy group whose male officers are
known as "Romeos" and female officers as "swallows". http://www.europeaninternet.com/russia/news.php3?id=331248
Let's ask her dad...
But her father, a retired detective sergeant with Merseyside police,
said that her relationship was a "classic case of boy meets girl" and
his daughter had merely been "practising her Russian" with the colonel.
... His daughter had since been replaced by a Romanian officer. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
---
Leering Doesn't Pay. Lear Does...
A former factory supervisor serving a prison sentence for secretly
videotaping women in a plant restroom has been ordered to pay $34,532 in
restitution to his former employer. William Lear, 41, will be required
to start paying ... for on-site counseling expenses, changing locks and
other costs. He hid a video camera in the restroom and made videotapes
last year from April through September, moving the camera at times to
get different views. St. Joseph Township police ... seized 40 tapes from
Lear's office and home. ... the camera was hidden in the restroom's
ceiling and connected by cable to a recorder and a monitor in Lear's office. http://detnews.com:80/2001/metro/0103/31/d06d-205867.htm
Maybe leering does pay...
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that (accused FBI spy) Hanssen
befriended a stripper he met in the early 1990s, and may have spent
$10,000 on car for her and bought her an airline ticket to Tokyo. ...
There was no evidence of a romantic or sexual relationship between the two. http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/hanssen_gma010406.html
Come on... It's ALWAYS the bookshop owner.
Bookshop owner Leung Hwa - reported detained in the mainland on spying
charges - is a most unlikely person to be involved in espionage,
acquaintances say. Mr Leung had been detained by state security agents
on suspicion that he worked for a Taiwanese intelligence agency. http://www.hk-imail.com/inews/public/article_v.cfm?articleid=19783&intcatid=1
Igor, don't give up your day job...
Several radio transmitters laid out in glass display boxes carry tags
identifying them as property of the United States government... "We once
had a group of American tourists here, and we thanked them all because
the museum effectively exists thanks to U.S. taxpayers," Igor
Nikolayevich joked. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/04/02/018.html
CIA Internal Affairs...
Court-supervised mediation has collapsed between the CIA and a group of
current and former employees who allege that the agency has violated
their right to private counsel, clearing the way for further litigation
on the issue. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29534-2001Apr2.html
CIA Senior Analyst an Apparent Suicide, Police Say
The cause of death was asphyxiation. (And then we read...)
Yannuzzi had been questioned about a month ago by the CIA's inspector
general in an internal investigation triggered by a manager who had
received two cash bonuses and a promotion despite an incident in which
she was found to have CHOKED a subordinate during a workplace outburst
in September 1998. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45714-2001Apr5.html
"Ok, everybody back to work."
Spying-As-Usual Expected After Expulsion Hoopla. Despite short-term
disruptions to espionage activities, U.S. and Russian spying operations
will continue apace once the dust settles from the recent diplomatic
expulsions, say Moscow-based intelligence experts. http://www.europeaninternet.com/russia/news.php3?id=329472
But seriously folks...
CHINA hinted last night that it might put the crew of an American spy
plane on trial as tension over the grounding and seizure of the aircraft grew. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-109461,00.html
...and the bellweathers from Bellhaven don't like it a wee bit.
Dangerous superpower showdown. The spy plane incident between the United
States and China has all the makings of a showdown that could spin
dangerously out of control. Not since the Cold War years has the world
been forced to watch, helplessly, from the sidelines as two superpowers
engage in heated rhetoric, with apparently scant concern for the
potential consequences of their actions. http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/searchresults.cfm?id=61367&keyword=the
Cool headed analysis...
The Chinese are intentionally creating a crisis by refusing to release
the downed EP-3E surveillance aircraft or its crew for several reasons.
Chinese intelligence needs time to examine the plane and its equipment.
Beijing wants to show its people the power of their government.
Internally, the Chinese are divided over the proper course of action and
feel no pressure to act quickly. http://www.stratfor.com/home/giu/archive/040501
Stories behind the stories...
The Americans caught it last year.
The Greeks caught it last month.
The Chinese will catch it this month.
OLYMPIC FEVER STRIKES AGAIN...
China's biggest risk in spy-plane incident: Losing 2008 Olympics.
China craves the Olympics on a level that borders on obsession. Its
aging Communist leaders view the Summer Games as the Holy Grail of world recognition. http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/04/02/national/02OLYMPICS.htm
This just in...
A senior Beijing city official said he hoped a diplomatic crisis over a
U.S. Navy spy plane that landed in China wouldn't hurt Beijing's bid to
host the 2008 Summer Olympics. http://asia.biz.yahoo.com/news/asian_markets/
Red Green Berets Yellowed...
The Pentagon delayed announcing a decision Wednesday on whether to buy
Army berets from China, as a standoff continued over a downed U.S. spy
plane and its crew. http://asia.biz.yahoo.com/news/asian_markets/
They're everywhere! They're everywhere...
Russia's air force detects up to 15 spy planes on its vast territory
every week, particularly from the United States, other NATO countries
and Japan, Air Force Commander Anatoly Kornukov said. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/story_11086.asp
Close the airspace, they pop up the sewer pipes...
Mysterious sea vehicle points to Korean spy. ... Police said Friday that
they found a torpedo-shaped sea vehicle in late March at the mouth of a
river here, suggesting the possible entry of a North Korean agent into Japan. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010407a8.htm
No Plane? No Ski-do? No problem...
Chinese arrest two more on spy charges.
#1. ...reportedly on suspicion that he was spying for the British
intelligence agency MI6.
#2. ...on suspicion that he worked for a Taiwanese intelligence agency. http://www.hk-imail.com/inews/public/article_v.cfm?articleid=19722&intcatid=1
News That Hasn't Happened... Yet.
Just after China took 24 American flyers prisoner, and stripped their
EP-3 super secret filled spy plane, Chinese reconnaissance satellites
began mysteriously disappearing at the rate of one per month. http://www.chinaonline.com/industry/aviation/NewsArchive/Secure/
SPECIAL SECTION -- Competitor College -- Laser Beam Eavesdropping?
Maybe. Probably not.
Laser beam eavesdropping is not high on most people's vulnerability
list... but we check for it. In the past, if a laser beam was directed at
a window it meant trouble. Now, it may simply be an Internet connection.
The optical signal travels through window glass, so the connection
occurs within the user's office space. Seattle is zapped now. Denver is
next. We expect to "see" these beams of light spidering many cities by
year's end... and hearing Chicken Little stories from uninformed sweepers. http://www.terabeam.com
SPECIAL SECTION -- The Arts & Self Cleaning Windows (really)
Shakes-peare kick in the rear...
New play blows the lid off the secret services. A controversial new play
about the workings of the British secret service has been premiered by
the Royal Shakespeare Company. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_265643.html?menu=
Best idea since microscopes...
Amsterdam police launched a high-tech offensive against mobile phone
theft, bombarding stolen telephones with text messages... “THIS DEVICE
IS PINCHED. Purchase or sale is an offense — the police,” begins
flashing up on the display of stolen phones every three minutes as soon
as the theft is reported. http://www.msnbc.com/news/551135.asp
SEALAND: Man-made nation touts privacy. As countries go, Sealand isn't much. What Sealand does have, however, is
the world's most secure Web server. http://chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/
'Das Bot'...
American scientists have developed an electronic robo-lobster 18in long
and modelled on a real crustacean to help the military in frontline
warfare. Robo-lobster is just one member of a bizarre menagerie of
high-tech devices modelled on insects, crustaceans and marine wildlife
being developed at universities and institutes across America. Other
machines on the drawing board include robo-tuna, robo-scorpion and robo-fly. http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/04/01/stifgnusa03008.html
Spring Cleaning News...
Pilkington announces the world's first self-cleaning glass. The product
incorporates a proprietary dual action coating, using hydrophilic and
photocatalytic properties to eliminate water and organic and inorganic
deposits from the surface of the glass. The effects are continuous and
will last the lifetime of the product. http://www.pilkington.com/
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Sun, 01 Apr 2001
To: Clients, colleagues and friends.
Subject: Espionage & Privacy news of the week.
Any April Fool's Day pranks here?
No... it just seems that way.
=====================================================
Kevin's Security Scrapbook® is published on an irregular
basis for a select audience. HTML versions are archived at http://www.spybusters.com/Security_Scrapbook.html
===================================================== SPECIAL SECTION -- Russian Spy vs. Spy Show (continued)
SPECIAL SECTION -- Chinese Spy vs. Spy Show (continued)
SPECIAL SECTION -- Kevin's Cheap Methbuster
SPECIAL SECTION -- Personal Snooping
SPECIAL SECTION -- Video Vigilantes =====================================================
News you NEED to know...
April 1, 2001
"... dziewiec, dziewiec, dziewiec and jeden bottles of beer on the wall..."
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been arrested and taken
to prison. ... Mr Milosevic was thought to have been holed up in the
villa with ... about 20 well-armed and possibly drunken bodyguards. ...
Earlier during the stand-off, Mr Milosevic had boasted that he would
"not go to jail alive". http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?j17160523
Counterespionage Tip # 541
Pentagon bans wireless from sensitive areas. The Pentagon has begun
prohibiting workers in classified meeting areas from using wireless
devices unless they disable their transmission capabilities. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0326/web-pent-03-26-01.asp
Digging Through Old E-Mails Not Wiretap Violation, Federal Judge Rules An employer's decision to dig through an employee's e-mails in computer
storage does not violate any federal or state wiretap laws -- not even
the "Stored Communications Act" -- since all of the laws are triggered
only when the interception occurs "in the course of transmission," a
federal judge has ruled. Fraser v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. http://www.law.com
Security Director Cautionary Tale #645 Corporate espionage is spreading rapidly in India, adversely affecting
or threatening to affect businesses. As many as 72 per cent of the
respondents covered in India Fraud Survey Report 2001 of global
consultancy firm KPMG said corporate espionage has already affected or
could affect their businesses. The survey covered 120 corporates. http://www.financialexpress.com/fe/daily/20010324/fec24047.html
Re: Last Week's Spy-Throwing Contest
President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to downplay
the damage yesterday caused by a tit-for-tat spy scandal that will send
50 diplomats from each country packing. http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-03-24/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/
"... like... uh... you know...some areas."
President George W. Bush has justified the expulsions of 50 Russian
diplomats but ruled out any major disruption in US-Russia relations.
"I'm confident that we can have good relations with the Russians," Bush told
newsmen on Thursday. "There are some areas where we can work together." http://www.timesofindia.com/240301/24amrc1.htm
And, on our coffee cups for years...
... Slivers of metal and fiber optics, embedded in window seals and
furniture, serve as supersensitive listening equipment. Now, these
surveillance techniques, among the best practiced by U.S.
counterintelligence, may be lost. ... suspected Russian spy Robert
Hanssen was in a position to reveal the techniques, called tradecraft,
to his Russian and Soviet handlers.
(See Murray Associates Spy Trick #409, click center picture... http://www.spybusters.com/Spybuster_Coffee_Cups.html) http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/spy_thomas.html
"Tell us everything, Boris."
Russia's RTR state television aired brief footage on Tuesday of what it
said was a spy from the U.S. embassy, secretly filmed attempting to
recruit a Russian agent. http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=322225
"Tell us everything, bore us."
In Washington, U.S. defense officials told CNN the video portion of the
tape appears to be authentic but claimed that the audio track has been
altered by the Russian government to make the naval attaché appear to be
involved in espionage. http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/03/27/russia.spy.video.02/index.html
Delay in Trial of Russian Scientist Accused of Spying.
Sutyagin is accused of having passed state secrets to the U.S.
authorities when he worked for the USA-Canada research institute. http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=322155
Squeeze here, and they pop up there... Russia has increased the number spies operating out of its diplomatic
missions in Germany, according to a report released by the German
internal security agency on Thursday. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010329/wl/hrussia_spies_dc_1.html
---
SPECIAL SECTION -- Chinese Spy vs. Spy Show (continued)
Please, no 'cheep' / 'bird in the hand' jokes...
Armed with information from a high-ranking defector, President Bush is
reported to be on the verge of shutting down Chinese military espionage
in America. The defector, identified by the BBC as Lt. Col. Xu Junping,
is said to be singing like a bird about Chinese army intelligence
operations inside the United States. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/3/26/195051.html
Your move...
China accused a detained U.S.-based Chinese scholar of acting as a paid
spy for overseas intelligence agencies, adding a serious new dimension
to a case that has already irritated ties with Washington. http://uk.fc.yahoo.com/010327/80/bfrnb.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- Kevin's Cheap Methbuster (A simple alarm to protect remote storage tanks.)
Background...
Farmers use anhydrous ammonia. It is an efficient and widely used source
of nitrogen fertilizer. Methamphetamine makers also use anhydrous
ammonia; they steal it from the farmers. (Photos of tanks at...
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/DC2326.html )
Problem...
How do you catch the meth makers?
Solution...
A simple 3-piece reporting alarm system.
$888. total. Add $99 for each additional IR sensor.
Cheap, and easy to install.
3. OMA-AVDS-4 industrial automatic dialer. Record emergency messages
using your own voice. When an alarm occurs, it automatically calls up to
eight phone numbers and delivers your message, or sends a digital
message to a numeric pager. ($630.) http://www.omega.com/ppt/ppt.asp?ref=OMA-AVDS-4
No, we don't sell this.
In fact, we don't sell anything we recommend.
Why? Because you need to trust our judgment.
Just something we cooked up for a client this week. What problems can we solve for you?
Snooping on Napsterites...
The recording industry is watching you. ... As the Napster wars keep
escalating, the recording industry is redoubling its efforts in the hunt
for new and improved ways to keep its music out of your shared
databases. The newest tactic is surveillance. http://salon.com/tech/feature/2001/03/27/media_tracker/index.html
Eh, what's up Doc?...
A London doctor who was arrested after allegedly putting a spy camera in
a shampoo bottle to video nurses showering will not face criminal
charges. Dr. Michael Shiew, 27, formally resigned as a junior doctor at
St George's hospital, Tooting, this month after police found what they
said was a spy camera set up to beam pictures to a video recorder in a
bedroom at Brighton General Hospital, where he was on a training course. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=373297
Can we dock after dark?... Excerpts from a U.S. Navy transcript of radio messages exchanged by the
USS Greeneville and Pacific Submarine Command (COMSUBPAC) in Pearl
Harbor on Feb. 9, immediately after the Greeneville struck and sunk a
Japanese trawler, killing nine people. http://wnd.com/
Spy Museum...
Once a week in the late 1960s, after each installment of the TV spy
adventure series, "Mission: Impossible," the phones would start ringing
around Central Intelligence Agency headquarters. "You'd see a guy peel
off his face on the show and people all over the CIA community would
call Monday morning and say, 'Can we do that?' " recalls Jonna Hiestand
Mendez, who was building espionage gadgetry in the CIA's Office of
Technical Service at the time. http://www.sunspot.net/
... who then pealed off his face.
Supersecret NSA said to be falling behind in tech advances
The U.S. National Security Agency, which uses satellites and electronic
listening posts to gather intelligence globally, is falling behind in
technology, causing deep concern in the spy community, the chairman of
the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday. http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/050194.htm
Visit the 'Official' FBI Souvenir Shop! Download...
-- The official spy capture press release.
-- 8 x 10 glossies of accused spy Hanssen.
-- 8 x 10 glossies of drop sites, signal sites, and...
-- See the spy payoff $$$mola$$$.
-- Get a copy of the famous affidavit. Whattaread!
-- and.. A Freeh statement! http://www.fbi.gov/pressrm/pressrel/pressrel01/hanssen.htm
Most Dangerous Places...
Lightning -- Florida
Hurricanes -- Florida
Floods -- Pennsylvania
Tornadoes -- Texas
The EXTREME WEATHER SOURCEBOOK 2000
Economic and Other Societal Impacts Related to Hurricanes, Floods,
Tornadoes, Lightning, and Other U.S. Weather Phenomena http://www.esig.ucar.edu/sourcebook/
CIA wives lament the 007 life...
"I learnt to drink and found that vodka and tonics go a long way in
easing boredom and loneliness," said one wife, who was posted with her
husband to Bangkok. "Our husbands were off playing 007 and all sorts of
exciting things..." The women spoke anonymously to the authors of a new
book, Spies' Wives, by Karen Chiao and Mariellen O'Brien, who are
themselves the wives of former agents. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-104327,00.html
Cuban spy wife drinks champagne from slipper instead...
A woman who sued Cuba after she unknowingly married an alleged Cuban spy
was awarded $20 million in punitive damages Friday. http://www.nandotimes.com/
What's this thingy?...
Within a few years, unobtrusive tags on retail products will send radio
signals to their manufacturers, collecting a wealth of information about
consumer habits and also raising privacy concerns. http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/mar01/schmidt.asp
...thus putting off his new hearing aid purchase.
A man who hid behind a cathedral organ for over a day so he could
secretly film the christening of Madonna's baby son Rocco has been fined
1,000 pounds. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/story_5650.asp
90 Years Ago Today...
Frank Chambers of Philadelphia eavesdrops on the overhead telegraph wires using an induction coil hidden in a silk top hat. A wire down his pants leg grounds him to a manhole or fire plug. (photo) Popular Mechanics, April 2001. (Cover story... "How Our Government Spies On You.")
51 Years Ago Today...
The first personal computer. A build-it-yourself digital desktop using 129 electromechanical switches, called "Simon" (Berkeley Associates, Newton, MA) 500 copies of the plans were sold. It cost $300-$600 to build ($2000-$4000 today). Computer graphics pioneer Ivan Sutherland wrote his first program on a Simon. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/
Eavesdropping Detection Services
United Kingdom Eavesdropping Detection Services
1. America.
90 Years Ago Today...