Sun Dec 29, 2002
Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
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 News
SPECIAL SECTION -- General Spy News
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SPECIAL SECTION -- Information Awareness Office
SPECIAL SECTION -- FutureWatch 2003
SPECIAL SECTION -- 2002 Rim Shots ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News
Want a cell phone that always gets through?
Think you're important enough? Find out!
Wireless Priority Service application form...
(Yes, I know some of you are. Don't write.) http://gets.ncs.gov/Assets1/GETS_WPS_Request_Form.doc
Never leave sensitive data on your laptop again! Fingerprint scanning biometric USB key-fob data storage device: 8mb-1gb. http://www.thumbdrive.com/prd_info.htm
The textile industry has a long history of espionage.
See how they handle it these days... The textiles of tomorrow are still on the drawing board. But one day—maybe not so long from now—they could take humans to outer space, make soldiers invisible, keep people in touch with their friends, and move buildings. ... "You wouldn't believe what we are working on... It'd knock your socks off. Unfortunately, we can't talk about it." (DuPont) The closed mouth syndrome is, at heart, a matter of money. ... Pressed for details, he balked, and invoked a shroud of corporate secrecy. "I would love to tell you more, but our client is absolutely paranoid." (Philips Design) In the next few years, M&S hopes to introduce an "intelligent bra"... "We're not divulging how it works." (Marks & Spencer) In the nudge-nudge-wink-wink, super-secret world of textiles, that's the answer I got whenever I asked, "So, when do I see a sample?" - Cathy Newman & Cary Wolinsky http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0301/feature3/index.html
Quote of the Week... "Companies aren't spending enough, or doing enough, to protect their systems," says Mark Rasch, former head of the Justice Department's computer crimes unit and senior VP and chief security counsel for security vendor Solutionary Inc. "It's still mostly just talk. The bad news is it's going to take a catastrophic event" to get companies to take security seriously, and Rasch believes that such an event "is going to happen."
...from an article about Roger Duronio - former UBS PaineWebber Inc. systems administrator - accused of damaging files at UBS PaineWebber with a logic bomb. http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20021220S0020
SPECIAL SECTION -- General Spy News
"Let's do the Time Warp again..." Some people in Cambridge Bay (Canada) are eavesdropping on private phone conversations. ... Constable Boardman warns if people want to talk privately over the phone, they should use a telephone with a cord attached to it." http://north.cbc.ca/template/servlet/
"Science fiction, double feature..." If it feels like Big Brother is watching you ... you're onto something: Use of surveillance tools is growing, and new technology is making them more powerful all the time. On the other hand, there's a big difference between surveillance in George Orwell's novel "1984" and in the real world of the 21st century. In Orwell's book, the government planted listening devices and two-way televisions called "telescreens" in homes, offices and public places. These days, the government doesn't have a monopoly on ways to watch, listen to or find you. Some such technologies remain in the hands of a few powerful entities and shrouded in mystery. However, today the spy kits of private companies may contain tools that a potential target might not even know exist. By the same token, some supposed surveillance capabilities are less science than fiction. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml
"Frank has built and lost his creature..." The White House is proposing an Internet-wide monitoring center to detect and defend against major cyber-attacks... Some Internet industry executives and lawyers said they would raise serious civil liberties concerns if the U.S. government, not an industry consortium, operated such a powerful monitoring center. Such a proposal would require congressional approval. Under federal wiretap laws, privately operated centers can in some circumstances analyze e-mails and other data flowing across parts of the Internet without approvals from a judge. http://asia.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/12/23/cyber.security.ap/
"Darkness has conquered Brad and Janet..." We have all seen on the TV news, federal agents carrying out computer hardware and storage discs from an office building to be analyzed by the electronic forensic experts. Most of us watch with a confident, cool comfortableness, believing that would never happen to us. What we are finding, however, is that the electronic surveillance and the interception of conversations and e-mails is a growing concern. Even wiretaps by private individuals are popping up in divorces and custody battles. There are several federal statutes that apply to wiretapping, electronic surveillance, and the interception of e-mail, fax communications and voicemail. What I want to do here is simply make you aware of them and give you a brief idea of their scope and remedies... http://www.timesnews.net/article.dna?_StoryID=3146094
"The servants gone to a distant planet..." UK - The head of the Government's electronic eavesdropping agency GCHQ is to be the next Governor of Gibraltar. Sir Francis Richards, who succeeds David Durie, will take up his new role in May. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_730449.html
"At the late night, double feature, picture show..." "Catch Me if You Can" - This film tells the true story of Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio), the youngest man to make the FBI's most-wanted list for forgery. Frank posed at various times as a doctor, a lawyer, a pilot, and even an FBI agent. Throughout his life, he passed millions of dollars in bad checks and later, after finally being captured, escaped from prison. Abagnale eventually became a consultant for the FBI, specializing in the field of white-collar crime. http://movies.go.com/movies/C/catchmeifyoucan_2001/index.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
This is just soooo cool! The AXIS Camera Explorer (ACE) software lets you watch live network video from anywhere. Whether on a PC/workstation or on a PDA running Pocket PC 2002, you can view live images from an unlimited number of Axis cameras and video servers simultaneously. http://www.axis.com/products/cam_ace/index.htm
(opens envelope) "And, the winner for Most Prolific Pervert is..." WA - A Lynnwood man has pleaded guilty to voyeurism and other crimes after being accused of secretly videotaping nearly 100 people in various states of undress. Phillip J. Kraus, 40, had pleaded not guilty last month but entered the guilty plea Monday. Snohomish County prosecutors will recommend that he serve more than 9 1/2 years in prison. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/101602_voyeur26.html
Remember the Kansas Landlords? Calling the $1.28 million in damages awarded to former residents of an apartment where peepholes had been drilled into bedrooms and bathrooms excessive, a judge says there'll be a new trial on the amount they'll get unless they agree to his reduced figure of $270,000. Eight people who lived in the Parkway Terrace Apartments filed suit against owners William J. and Mary E. Lemesany after a tenant told police about peepholes drilled into apartments from a locked maintenance hallway. http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/1846480/detail.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- Information Awareness Office
Been there... For some people, the Defense Department's announced plan to compile and sift databases in search of terrorists' "information signatures" (IAO) conjures alarming images of an all-knowing Big Brother. But private companies already do something similar. ... http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/story1a122002.html
Done that... In the Pentagon research effort to prevent terrorism by electronically monitoring the civilian population (IAO), the most remarkable detail may be this: Most of the pieces of the system are already in place... http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/
SPECIAL SECTION -- FutureWatch 2003
Minority Report or just an LA Story? Tom Langeland cannot hear your car radio. But he purports to be able to figure out what you're listening to — whether rock 'n' roll, sports, talk or news — in the privacy of your speeding automobile. Pursuing a business plan that has a science fiction bent but also some skeptics, Mr. Langeland intends to modify electronic freeway billboard advertisements by remote control to reflect your tastes, and those of thousands of other drivers. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27 http://www.huginonline.no/ALAR/
Quiz - Name the Inventor 1. Dick Tracy's wristwatch
2. Wireless Pager
3. Walkie-Talkie
4. Cordless Phone Extra Credit - Impress us... Add year invented.
Think "Framed and Hung" Great news for film and TV actors: Dying doesn't have to be a fatal career move. Tomaso Poggio and Tony Ezzat, researchers at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., have created a video system that will allow film and television directors to animate images of people—living or dead—and make them appear to say things they've never actually said. The technology could pave the way for historic comebacks for long-gone performers like Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne, among others. http://www.cio.com/archive/111502/et_development_content.html
2003 FutureWatch Topics... - Eavesdropping... Gets easier every day.
- GPS... "No matter where you go, there you are."
- SpyCams... Intelligent, neural networked, etc.
- Privacy... It appears to be religiously morphing.
- Warchalking... An updated "alligators in the sewers?"
- 802.11b (and a, c, d, e, f, g, h and i)... The W-LAN clan grows up.
- RFID... The three Martini bar code.
- Espionage... "They're always after me lucky charms."
- Swarming... Buzzword, Icarus or a new reality?
- Steganography... Jerked Xerxes rug from under him.
- Homeland Security... Bowflex with a flag, or mental band-aid?
- VoIP... Insert a "Security Clause" into your contract.
- Wiretapping... (see above)
- The Data Mining Boom... Think IAO squared.
- Micro Fuel Cells... The Energizer Bunny's pink slip.
- Virtual Spies... "World Travel" shuts doors.
- Nanoanything... Interesting, until they cartel.
- and the usual other nonsense...
SPECIAL SECTION -- 2002 Rim Shots
Rock on Granny!
or... Call it a flaw, but it looks like a face to me! A LifeGem is a certified, high quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique and wonderful life. http://www.lifegem.com/secondary/whatisLG.htm
_ _ . . . . . . _ _
_ . . .
. _ _ _ . . . . . _ _ _ _ _ . . . . . _ . . A hacker once labeled by the federal government as "the most wanted computer criminal in U.S. history" has won a long fight to renew his ham radio license, and next month may resume surfing the Internet. The hacker, Kevin Mitnick, 39, of Thousand Oaks, CA http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/
Why there aren't many shaggy-dog-CIA-eavesdropping jokes. This guy sees a sign in front of a house that reads: ''Talking Dog for Sale.'' He rings the bell and the owner tells him that the dog is in the back yard. The guy goes into the back yard and sees a mutt sitting there.
''You talk?'' he asks.
''Yep,'' the mutt replies.
''So what's your story?''
The mutt looks up and says: ''Well, I discovered this gift pretty young and I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, cause no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running.''
The dog continued: ''The jetting around really tired me out, and I knew that I wasn't getting any younger and I wanted to settle down. So I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security work, mostly wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings there and was awarded a batch of medals. Had a wife, a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.''
The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asked the owner what he wants for the dog. The owner says, ''Ten dollars.''
The guy says he'll buy him, but said to the owner: ''This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him?''
Sun Dec 22, 2002
Subject: Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
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 News
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SPECIAL SECTION -- Scat Chat
SPECIAL SECTION -- Loose Ends... ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News
More Insider Secrets...
Beware of Kevin's friend, Big Dave... One investigator we know states that any building can be entered at any time, simply by posing as the air conditioning man.
His props include: a clipboard with forms and an industrial thermometer. Optional: a 2-way radio and a hard hat. If challenged, he threatens not to come back for three weeks. Busy schedule, you know.
No one wants to be responsible for denying this guy entry.
Take the heat. Protect your turf. Don't fall for it.
On Eavesdropping Statistics... We are regularly asked...
* How many electronic "bugs" are planted per year?
* What percentage of them are illegal?
* What percentage are industrial or business related?
* What percentage are domestic?
* What are the most common types?
* What is the percent of sweeps that are productive?
* What is the most common eavesdropping method?
Here is the truth... http://www.t8000.com/eci/stats.htm
Panasonic PBX Hack Alert... John Laurence, owner of Telephone Systems Consultation and Maintenance, said his company has discovered that hackers are breaking into business voice-mail systems to make long-distance calls and send numerical codes to the Philippines. Company technicians have spent the last few weeks helping businesses repair their voice-mail systems after they were hit. The phone systems being attacked are all a brand made by Panasonic... http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/rock/11292002/news/777.htm
Spyware detection for Macs... MacScan is designed to detect, isolate and remove spyware, keystroke loggers, Trojans, and bring awareness to remote administration type applications which could have been maliciously or inadvertently installed on your Macintosh. http://macscan.securemac.com/
We have grave suspicions that PA State Troopers and
the Texas Rangers had a seance... In a bizarre twist Monday, state police revealed investigators concealed a camera and a microphone near the casket of Trappe murder victim Nickole Lyn Rossman and recorded Smull’s words and actions as he stood alone in the parlor of a Phoenixville funeral home Oct. 19, 2001. http://www.pottsmerc.com/site/news.cfm? q.v. The Smith-Barney Bug... they urn it. http://www.spybusters.com/SS014.html
Spied Kids... Dean Benamy can track his 16-year-old daughter's every move behind the wheel -- her exact location, even her speed. Benamy, a Buckhead entrepreneur and businessman, paid $888 to install an in-vehicle global positioning satellite tracking system in his daughter's car. "It's about peace of mind," he said. ... The system Benamy bought for his daughter's car is called SafetyTrac. It was developed by Atlanta entrepreneur Sara Rothfeder. ... Benamy did not tell Brittany that SafetyTrac was on her car in the beginning. "She thought I had spies all over town," he said. "But now it's gotten to the point that I never get any speeding e-mails." ... Carson Lee of Greenville, S.C., who installed a SafetyTrac on the car of his 16-year-old daughter, predicted the devices will eventually be as common as cellphones. ... His daughter, Christin, has come to terms with the device but some of her peers haven't. "My friends said, 'I can't believe you have that on your car. I feel so bad for you,' " she said. http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/1202/21teendrive.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
A ship called "Junk"... Japan - The North Korean spy ship sunk in a shootout with the Japan Coast Guard a year ago was very likely on a drug-smuggling mission as well, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Friday. http://www.asahi.com/english/politics/K2002120700247.html
"...and if I told you, I would have to kill you." US - As controversy grows over the Defense Department's shadowy Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, the project's virtual presence is steadily decreasing. If fully implemented, TIA would link databases from sources such as credit card companies, medical insurers, and motor vehicle databases for police convenience in hopes of snaring terrorists. ...Google's cache shows the deleted information included four resumes listing past work experience but no addresses or contact information. Then, sometime in the last week, the TIA site shrank still more and some links ceased to work. The logo for the TIA project--a Masonic pyramid eyeballing the globe - vanished, a highly unusual step for a government agency. So did the TIA's Latin "scientia est potentia" slogan, which means "knowledge is power." A spokeswoman for the Information Awareness Office, which runs the TIA project at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), said she had no details on the deletions. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978598.html?tag=fd_top http://www.computerbytesman.com/tia/index.htm (logo & missing bits)
Nuns on the run... US - The Denver police have gathered information on unsuspecting local activists since the 1950's, secretly storing what they learned on simple index cards in a huge cabinet at police headquarters. When the cabinet filled up recently, the police thought they had an easy solution. For $45,000, they bought a powerful computer program from a company called Orion Scientific Systems. Information on 3,400 people and groups was transferred to software that stores, searches and categorizes the data. Then the trouble began... http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/21/technology
SPECIAL SECTION -- Scat Chat
2003 - Telephone Conference Call
"...Okay, who cut the cheese?" ...a company called Electronic Aromas is developing a way to deliver odors over your cell phone. This is a huge breakthrough, because if there's one thing the commuter train experience lacks, it's seeing the guy next to you take huge, expressive snorts off his Nokia... http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/20209.html
"Here's the poop..." A Highland start-up is developing technology that will allow medical applications and perfumes to be delivered via mobile phones and other electronic devices. The man behind Inverness-based Electronic Aromas, which employs five people, is Dr. George Dodd, a perfumer who formed the Olfaction Research Group at Warwick University. http://www.theherald.co.uk/icon/archive/14-10-19102-22-9-43.html
"No problem, Colonel. We're all over this like..."
The U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) is soliciting proposals to determine whether genetically-determined odortypes may be used to identify specific individuals. http://www.biometritech.com/enews/121602c.htm
"Don't 'but' me Senator...
all of our Back-Scatological Radar has been wiped clean!"
The Defense Department, arguing that an increasingly popular form of wireless Internet access could interfere with military radar, is seeking new limits on the technology... (horse feathers) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/technology/
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SpyCamosaurus Rex... Mitchell Wagenberg, known as the "king of the hidden camera" to a tiny elite of news media and law enforcement representatives who regularly employ him, may be a privacy advocate's worst nightmare. He has made a business of turning private moments into very public affairs. ... Over the last 15 years, his Manhattan company, StreeTVision, has provided equipment and services for undercover investigations by CBS's "60 Minutes" and "48 Hours," NBC's "Dateline," ABC's "20/20," and public television's "Frontline" shows, among others. His handiwork can also be seen on HBO's "Taxicab Confessions." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/arts/television
The old biddy who lived at the end of my street in Livingston? What flashes and shouts when it sees something moving, helping to stop crime? No, it is not some kind of high-tech police robot, but a much simpler invention: a modified film camera that is being used in Milwaukee, Los Angeles and other cities to deter graffiti vandalism. ... If the system detects motion in the area, it fires the camera and flash and issues "a pretty darn loud" warning, said Ken Anderson, president of Q-Star Technology, in Chatsworth, Calif., which makes the system. The warning, which can be recorded by the owner of the system, is usually something like: "Stop! This is a restricted area. We have just taken your photograph,'' and can be recorded and played back in any two languages. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/12/technology/
Someone will build a spycam into this...
Micro Racers are the smallest radio controlled cars in the world, and when we say small we really do mean it. In fact, if it wasn't for the antenna you could easily fit a couple of Micro Racers into your mouth - not recommended. How the engineers have managed to cram the necessary electronic parts inside each car is beyond us... we're just glad they did! http://www.youcansave.com/microracer.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- Loose Ends...
Weird Science... Sounding Europa on the Cheap: Eavesdropping on Ice
Forget drilling. A simpler and cheaper way to search for an ocean under Europa's glacial surface is to land a solitary electronic ear on the Jovian moon, and listen to the echoes of cracking ice. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=548
What do astronauts, unborn babies and cows have in common?
All three can have their vital systems monitored by a special "pill transmitter" that can help prevent physical problems later on. http://nasaexplores.com/lessons/01-013/
Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headset...
Microphones in the earcups actively monitor the sounds you hear. The difference between the existing sound and the desired sound is then electronically processed. The driver within the earcup creates a correction signal that is opposite to the effect of the outside noise and combines with passive attenuation to dramatically reduce it. http://www.bose.com/noise_reduction/qc_headset/index.html
Hide it in a Toblerone box...
The latest piece of cool from Japan... a digital recorder with USB download. Oh yeah, it also does: MP3, FM radio, comes with Sennheiser earphones, and runs 20 hours on one AA battery. iFP-190TC by iRiver http://www.iriverjapan.com/newsR.php?article_num=5
The other Pinocchio movie... At the height of his career, game show producer and host Chuck Barris (”The Dating Game / Gong Show”) was recruited and trained as a CIA operative, performing covert missions when he wasn’t introducing hilariously bad acts on stage. Or so he claims. Is Barris’s story true or just an elaborate send-up? You decide after watching “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” a cameo-filled dark comedy, directed by (and co-starring) George Clooney, and featuring Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, and Sam Rockwell. (GONG!) http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/confessionsofadangerousmind.html
Date: Sun Dec 8, 2002
Subject: Security Scrapbook - Espionage & Privacy News of the Week.
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 News
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
SPECIAL SECTION -- FutureWatch
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
SPECIAL SECTION -- Eavesdropping in...
SPECIAL SECTION -- Book of the Month ===================================================
SPECIAL SECTION -- Security Director News
One of our readers is a distinguished spy technology expert. He tells me he is writing another book and... "In the book I’ll talk about the difficulties in finding a trustworthy professional countermeasures specialist around the country." So I offer my two cents...
Pick a person who stays focused on solving your problems and concerns. Verify that they have a successful problem-solving track record. The easy way out... Call a few Fortune 500 security directors at random. Ask them whom they recommend.
Insider Secrets... 1. Never choose a provider based on a phone book or magazine ad.
2. Internet web sites... the more verifiable personal information about the person(s) providing the service, the better. No personal information? Don't waste your time.
3. Red flag words... Worldwide, Global, International. (unless verifiable)
4. Interview prospects. Trust your instincts.
...and
5. Ask the two killer trick questions...
- Can you sell us anything that can help counter eavesdropping?
- Can you do other types of investigations for us?
"Yes" is the wrong answer to both questions. Here's why...
A true professional may recommend - but won't sell - hardware. If they did, how could you tell if their recommendations are solely in your best interest?
Eavesdropping audits are a full-time forensic specialty. A true countermeasures technical investigator may recommend another investigative specialist to assist you with tangential concerns, but they won't play jack-of-all-trades. Conversely, honest non-specialists won't pretend that they can provide this forensic specialty.
Industrial Espionage Getting More Common and More Crucial (in a nutshell) Trade secrets, which are protected by the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 are notoriously difficult to protect. Trade secret protection is basically a tautology — it lasts for as long as the secret is kept confidential. Once a trade secret is made available to the public, trade secret protection ends. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/espionage021204.html
Homeland Security Act criminalizes leaks of business information... Congress, which refused this term to criminalize leaks of classified information, set criminal penalties of fines and imprisonment for persons who disclose critical infrastructure information that businesses want kept secret. http://www.rcfp.org/news/2002/1119hr5710.html
SPECIAL SECTION -- World Spy News
Well, duh. On the second day of the hunt for illicit weapons in Iraq, UN inspectors again found Iraqi officials well-prepared for their "surprise" visits. In response to fears that the inspectors' Baghdad headquarters may be bugged, UN sources said yesterday that the building will be checked with sweeping devices over the weekend. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,850283,00.html
Mission Impossible... A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted two men on criminal charges of stealing trade secrets from Sun Microsystems, Transmeta and other companies in order to make and sell processors based on the technology in China. Fei Ye and Ming Zhong face 10 counts of trade-secret theft and economic espionage related to possessing stolen internal company documents from Sun, Transmeta, NEC Electronics and Trident Microsystems, according to an indictment filed here. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-976149.html
Quick, register detecto.net
...so we can outsource the rest of the bureau! fiducianet, inc., the nation's first service bureau designed to allow telecommunications carriers to outsource the processing of subpoena and court ordered record production and wiretaps, has closed a significant round of financing with a group of senior technology angels. ... fiducianet is headed by Michael Warren, a 29 year veteran of the FBI who was in charge of CALEA implementation for the Bureau before retiring in September 2000. The name fiducianet derives from the Latin word fiducia or "trust" in English. http://www.fiducianet.biz
Sneak-ers... Two Columbia University undergraduates have been charged with carrying out a high-tech plot to cheat on graduate school entrance examinations with the help of laptop computers, wireless microphones and a digital camera. The students, Bryan Laulicht, 21, of Great Neck, N.Y., and Sasha Bakhru, 22, of Loudonville, N.Y., were arrested. ... The scheme called for one man to take the test on a computer in a private room at the Sylvan Learning Center, then attach a transmitter to the computer and send images of test questions to a laptop in a van parked nearby, the police said. In the van, they said, the other student would save the images. He would also look up or calculate answers and radio them to the test taker, who would be wearing a wireless earpiece. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/education/
SPECIAL SECTION -- FutureWatch
FutureWatch - Progress = Problems - Just watch... The wireless technology known as WiFi, which allows users of personal and hand-held computers to connect to the Internet at high speed without cables, got a significant stamp of approval today when AT&T, I.B.M. and Intel announced a new company to create a nationwide network. ... The new company, Cometa Networks, has set ambitious goals for itself: to deploy more than 20,000 wireless access points by the end of 2004, placing a cable-less high-speed Internet connection within either a five-minute walk in urban areas or a five-minute drive in suburban communities. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/06/technology/
FutureWatch - Attention, Wi-Fi users... The Department of Homeland Security sees wireless networking technology as a terrorist threat. That was the message from experts who participated in working groups under federal cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke and shared what they learned at this week's 802.11 Planet conference. Wi-Fi manufacturers, as well as home and office users, face a clear choice, they said: Secure yourselves or be regulated. ... "We know that (an attack) could bring down the network of this country very quickly. Once you're on the network, it doesn't matter where you got in," said Daniel Devasirvatham, who headed the Homeland Security task force for the Wireless Communications Association International trade association. http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,56742,00.html
FutureWatch - Swiss Army Phone... It almost sounds too "Star Trek" to be possible: A multipurpose cell phone that also serves as an FM radio, walkie-talkie, garage door opener and TV remote control. And what if every time you made a call with that handset it increased the performance of other phones already in use — instead of competing for airwaves with them? ... "It is kind of an interesting point in time when it comes to wireless networks," said Dallas Nash, co-founder of Mississippi-based SIGFX LLC, a player in the impending wireless revolution. SIGFX figured out how to transmit cell phone calls in a thin part of the airwave spectrum already used by TV stations. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&
SPECIAL SECTION -- SpyCam News
...thus elevating them from amateur status. A federal judge in Chicago has ordered a group of individuals and video companies to pay more than $500 million to 46 college athletes who were filmed without their knowledge by cameras hidden in locker rooms and showers. ... The 46 plaintiffs were primarily wrestlers and football players, said Cindy Fluxgold, a lawyer who represented them. ... The defendants were ordered to surrender all the videotapes and any images produced from them. They were also ordered to permanently refrain from selling, advertising and distributing the tapes, which were made during the 1990s and sold on the Internet, carrying titles like "Straight Off the Mat" and "Voyeur Time." http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/12/05/MN233893.DTL
Blue Hawaii Man Admits To Secretly Videotaping Stepdaughters
Tapes Found Of Women Undressing
HONOLULU -- A Pearl City man Tuesday admitted secretly videotaping his stepdaughters in one of the state's first felony invasion of privacy cases. Responding to fears about cameras small enough to hide anywhere, Hawaii passed one of the nation's first video-voyeur laws. Gary Kaneshiro, 37, may be the first person the invasion of privacy law sends to prison. He told the judge he is already seeing two counselors. http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/1808713/detail.html
The "But it's art" defense gets quashed... Canada - Other changes in the omnibus crime bill include ... new rules making it easier for children to testify in court and the creation of a new criminal offense for voyeurism - aimed at those who use high tech hidden cameras to snoop on people in public washrooms and other places "where an expectation of privacy exists." http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-12-06-0017.html
The "Peek-a-Boom" case near end...
Police say they expect to turn an almost-year old voyeurism case over to the Sandusky County Prosecutor's Office by the end of the year. Authorities are still investigating the incidents that gave rise to the case involving the late Jim Rogers, a local landlord who was reportedly illegally videotaping his tenants and others secretly while at his properties. While police searched his Madison Street residence Jan. 19 for evidence, Rogers killed himself by putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. Chief Mike Benton said Wednesday that he has one person left to interview. http://www.thenews-messenger.com/news/stories/
The "Naked Burglar" case nears its end too... A man dubbed the "Naked Burglar" by police pleaded innocent Monday to the first of three sets of criminal charges he faces in Collier County Circuit Court. Jack Twardokus, 44, is set for trial Feb. 19 on charges of burglary, resisting arrest with violence and voyeurism, punishable by just over 20 years in prison. ... For the past two years, Collier sheriff's investigators and Naples police had been on a manhunt for the Naked Burglar. http://www.naplesnews.com/02/12/naples/d859351a.htm
The "Upskirt Loophole" gets closed. The Seattle City Council appears ready to seal a loophole in state law and approve a city ordinance banning so-called "upskirt" photography. An ordinance passed yesterday by a City Council committee would make it a gross misdemeanor to record or transmit "an image of another person's intimate areas covered by clothing" when the image is taken in a public place without the person's consent. The full council will vote Monday on the new law, which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. It is expected to pass. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134589768
SPECIAL SECTION -- Eavesdropping in...
Dreams... A dream in which others are eavesdropping is a warning that you are facing a dilemma from which it will be difficult to extricate yourself. But any dream in which you are the eavesdropper is a forerunner of unanticipated good luck. http://www.swoon.com/run/DreamDiary/Dream?dreamID=4426
Cinema... (For us 'extra credit' types only.)
If voyeurism is such a fertile subject for film, to what extent is there an aural equivalent? I propose a possible psychoanalytic basis for considering an erotics of cinematic eavesdropping and suggest that it may be a neglected aspect of the compelling connection between audiences and films. (long excellent article) http://lavender.fortunecity.com/hawkslane/575/eavesdropping.htm
Animals... Eavesdropping among animals influences their behavior, Lee Dugatkin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Louisville, has found. Dugatkin and a colleague, Ryan Earley of Georgia State University, studied eavesdropping among male swordtail fish they placed in an experimental tank. They put two fish on one side of a partition and a lone observer male on the other. In some cases, the partitions were clear and in others, opaque. The fish that could observe their potential adversaries fighting through the clear partition were less likely to defeat the winner of the fight. "We were able to separate winning and losing streaks based on eavesdropping," Dugatkin says. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/09/020919065629.htm
Music... Anne Lindsay, a veteran performer, who has collaborated with the likes of Blue Rodeo, Jim Cuddy Band, Led Zeppelin, Natalie McMaster and many others, finally takes the plunge and goes solo with the release of Eavesdropping. http://store.bluerodeo.com/anne-eavesdropping.html
Song... "Eavesdropping"
Every once in a while
I go to a café
And I eavesdrop
It's a habit
I'm standing in the line
Ordering Late
And I eavesdrop
I can't help it
It started out of bordom
The people never knew
I was tuning in
They told their secrets to each other
And I wrote them down
Brains...
Eavesdropping on the Brain - Terrence Sejnowski - Salk Institute
University of California, San Diego
The brain is a blooming, buzzing bag of electromagnetic and biochemical signals based on an alien technology. Despite great advances in neuroscience, which have allowed us to identify its molecular parts list, the operation of the brain as a system remains mysterious. http://www.ics.uci.edu/~interfac/Sejnowski-abstract.html
Do female great tits (Parus major)
assess males by eavesdropping? Male singing behaviour correlates with extra-pair success in several passerine birds. Singing interactions during territorial contests provide relative information on the males involved. Such information may be important in female extra-pair behaviour and eavesdropping on singing interactions among males may allow females to make such relative assessments. Department of Animal Behaviour, Zoological Institute, University of Copenhagen,Tagensvej 16, DK 2200, Copenhagen N, Denmark http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/pkmcgregor/homepage/pdfs/Otetal99.pdf
SPECIAL SECTION -- Book of the Month
'Prey': Attack of the Nanoswarms (a novel by Michael Crichton) ...a team that has been trying to develop a kind of nanotech spy plane -- a swarm of micro-robots that can fly to remote places and, acting in concert, send back a visual image. Now, molecular-sized entities are bound to be fairly dumb individually. So how do you get a large number of them to act together to accomplish a complex goal? ... use genetically engineered bacteria to fashion the molecular components, to make the nanobots self-powering, to endow them with a learning algorithm so they can collectively innovate to solve problems (of course) ... the nanobots start invading the bodies of the characters, causing them to say malevolently sarcastic things and to pucker their lips to administer fatal kisses... http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/24/books/review/
Eavesdropping Detection Services
United Kingdom Eavesdropping Detection Services
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