SpyCam Story #386 - Gunsmoke

CA - Sheriff Pat Hedges may have had good intentions, but his decision to secretly videotape his subordinates was woefully misguided at best and illegal at worst.

By his own admission, Hedges eavesdropped on sheriff’s employees on two occasions: once as part of a criminal investigation that he declined to elaborate on, and again in connection with a personnel matter last year. (more)

SpyCam Story #385 - The Accountable Accountant

Australia - Tax accountant Ross Sargent waited until the office was deserted before walking down the corridor with a tiny pinhole spy camera clutched in his hand. Sargent made his way to the women's toilets and carefully installed the camera in the roof of one of the cubicles. He set it to record when it sensed motion.

The camera stayed hidden there for the next 20 months before a maintenance worker found it in October last year.

Sargent, 46, is expected to be jailed this week after recording and storing 1308 video images on his laptop taken from the spy camera. (more)

Update...
Outrage as toilet spy's term cut to two months

A PEEPING Tom accountant who installed a spy camera in a female lavatory and stored more than 1300 images of women and children has had his jail sentence slashed from a maximum of 14 months' jail to just two months. (more)

Bill Bellichick (aka Bill O. Check to some)

NJ - A disgusted Jets season ticket-holder went on the offensive against the New England Patriots over the infamous Videogate scandal.

Princeton lawyer Carl Mayer filed a class-action suit in Newark Federal Court against the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick because a video assistant filmed Jets coaches giving defensive signals last month. (more)

SpyCam Story #384 - Lawrence County (update)

AL - Casting new light on a rural spy mystery, Lawrence County commissioners placed two employees on leave amid allegations they were responsible for a hidden camera that was found inside a courthouse meeting room.

Commissioner Alma Whitlow said county administrators Linda Harville and Karen Harrison didn't deny placing a hidden monitoring system in the commission office without members' knowledge.

The motive behind the bugging was unclear. No charges have been filed.

FBI agents interviewed Harville, Harrison, and four commissioners earlier this month. Aside from the hidden camera, agents seized items including video cassettes, cables and a receiver. (more)

SpyCam Story #383 - HAL Makes House Calls

The ConnectR “Virtual Visiting Robot” is simultaneously an interesting and creepy device. Designed to enable real-time “virtual visits” over the Internet, the robot combines a nanny cam, an internet phone and an RC car. Users set up the robot in their home, and via the internet, control the audio/video camera-equipped robot, moving it around the home, using the video camera to look around, and the speakers to talk to people or pets within the home. (more)(more)

Bugby! or, Tapped By That Tough Guy

UK - A security consultant has come forward to admit he performed surveillance at Newcastle United.

The News of the World says Brian Tough was ordered to TAP PHONES of unhappy managers and players and even take SECRET FILM of England legend Alan Shearer that could be used against him if he tried to leave the club.

Tough revealed how he bugged:
- Kevin Keegan's calls to his wife to see if he was planning to quit as manager
- Sunderland's chairman Bob Murray - to find out secret plans for their new stadium
- The Editor of a local newspaper because he'd run knocking stories on the club, and even
- The butler of 74-year-old Newcastle president Sir John Hall.

In a shattering confession, Tough says: "At times I felt really bad about it, especially when I spied on our own players and senior staff. The players and fans would have gone mad if they had found out what I was up to." ...

Former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd said: "Tough did make me aware of what he had done but I did not condone it. I couldn't control what he did. He didn't work for me. I had nothing to do with bugging anybody." (more)

USB BUG

Another good reason not to allow laptops into proprietary meetings and conferences...

"This is the smallest, high-sensitivity, high gain USB microphone available, and is our most popular choice for court reporters, students, business people, voice recognition purposes, Skype communication, VOIP and Podcasting - anyone that needs to get high quality audio into a computer!

This mic our 'stealthiest' USB microphone!" Windows & MAC
(more)(sample audio)

McLaren/Ferrari - Zero to Fiasco in Seconds

"With seemingly no end to the espionage saga, it now emerges that F1's governing body earlier this week contributed to the widespread distribution of dozens more McLaren and Ferrari secrets.

A day before releasing the nearly 200 pages of World Motor Sport Council transcripts to the public on Wednesday, the FIA had sent the documents to both teams so that confidential technical and financial information could be redacted.

But when the PDF documents were initially made available on the Internet, it soon became clear that the blackened sections could easily be revealed if copy-pasted into another text editor.

The offending copies were quickly removed from the FIA website and replaced."
(via Ben Moore - Risks Digest 24.83)

Eavesdropping on Co-workers at Airport

NY - A man has been charged with felony eavesdropping and possession of an eavesdropping device after secretly recording his co-workers conversations at Albany International Airport, Albany County sheriff's deputies said.

Karl A. Schroeder, 38, of Old Route 66, works for AvPorts, a private company contracted to run the airport. Deputies said he covertly placed a digital recorder in a staff lounge at the airport and recorded conversations between other employees and management on several occasions this month.

He also recorded conversations in person with a concealed recorder, according to deputies, who said the content of the recordings did not pose a security threat and that Schroeder said he recorded the conversations for personal reasons. (more)

Don't puck with "Mr. Hockey" (update)

Gordie Howe has reached a compromise in his lawsuit against a spying neighbour who has been conducting surveillance on the hockey legend's home.

After three hours of closed-door negotiating, Howe told Oakland County Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick he would drop his lawsuit if Lionel and Karen Dorfman stop snooping on him. (more)

Cupid Pleads Guilty to Eavesdropping!

Most Cupids stick to stealing hearts, but New York City resident Malik Cupid stole his ex-girlfriend's identity, money and e-mail, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office says.

Cupid, 31, pleaded guilty yesterday in Westchester County Court to one felony count of eavesdropping and one misdemeanor count of attempted eavesdropping.

From May 22 to Oct. 17, 2006, Cupid assumed his ex-girlfriend's identity while she was on active duty with the U.S. Army in Iraq. (more)

"¡Mira. Mira. Consiga sus boletos del cráter y píldoras del yoduro del potasio aquí!"

According to the Russian daily, Pravda, what landed in Puno, Peru on Saturday August 15 was a North American spy satellite targeting Iran.

According to the Russian daily, Russian Military Intelligence Analysts reported that the U.S. spy satellite KH-13 was destroyed in its orbit with its main power generator surviving re-entry and crashing in Peru.

In addition, it was reported that the sicknesses caused in Puno were due to the radiation in the generator.

According to the daily, it would have been impossible for a meteorite to hit the ground, cause a 30 meter-crater and not have been recorded by seismic stations around the world.

[The kicker...] Yesterday, Puno, Peru's Regional Tourism Directorate announced that the area around the crater would be roofed and turned into a tourist attraction for all those that wanted to see the large crater. (more) (video)

Spy King - What are the odds?

The former king of Bulgaria (Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha), who returned to the country after half a century of Communist-imposed exile, was a KGB spy, it has been alleged.

The accusation comes as the country delves through its Communist-era files to discover the identity of former collaborators and informants.

Yane Yanev, the ORLJ leader, alleged that the Saxe-Coburg, who returned to Bulgaria in 1996 amidst scenes of public adulation, was recruited after KGB agents preyed on his weakness for gambling.

The accusations have been rejected by the ex-king... He suggested that the latest allegations were intended to smear him in the run up to local elections. (more)

SpyCam Story #382 - Lawrence County (update)

Hidden camera found in Lawrence County meeting room

AL - A spy gadget that sounds like something out of a James Bond movie [groan] is raising questions in a rural Alabama county.

A crowd of residents filled the Lawrence County Commission's meeting room Monday to learn more about an FBI probe that uncovered surveillance equipment that reportedly was used to record what went on inside a private office in a courthouse annex.

The FBI confiscated the bug on Sept. 13, and commissioners said they became aware of the investigation only when agents arrived. They did not reveal how agents learned of the equipment.

County attorney Cecil Caine said the bugging system apparently was installed by a previous administration, and county records showed the clock radio was purchased at the Alabama Spy Shop in Madison in 2004.

Lawrence County Commission Chairman Bradley Cross said Monday the assistant county administrator, Karen Harrison, might have installed the hidden camera to prove she and possibly others weren't viewing pornography on computers. [roll eyes]

"I think that was the reason why it was bugged. That's my thinking," Cross said. "I can't be sure, but that's my opinion. I don't know what was on it." (more)

SpyCam Story #381 - SpyCams Go Hollywood

'Look' spy-cam footage looks real, but isn't...

We may not realize it, but we're all movie stars thanks to the roughly 30 million surveillance cameras throughout the U.S. that capture each of us on film about 200 times daily.

That's the premise of writer-director Adam Rifkin's "Look," a fascinating feature that appears to be actual spy-cam footage strung together, but is really a fiction film spring-boarding off the idea that our comings and goings these days are anything but private.

After an early look at "Look," which I've been telling friends not to miss, I was happy to focus on the making of the film with Rifkin.

"We all, I think, are aware of it, but I don't think we think about it enough," Rifkin said about the cameras that record so much of what we do in public today. "I don't think most people are aware of it to the extent that it really permeates the culture. When I started thinking about the idea to make the movie, I started looking around everywhere I went and there were just cameras everywhere. Most of the time (when) you're sitting in a restaurant, you're shopping at a grocery store, you're changing in a changing room, you're in a public bathroom, you're just not thinking about it -- but they're everywhere. And interestingly the number of cameras is growing exponentially." (more)(trailer)

SpyCam Story #380 - Pentagon's See-d

Lockheed Martin Corp., the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by contract value, is working on a keychain-sized, remote-controlled aerial vehicle designed to collect and transmit data with military and homeland security uses.

Resembling the seed of a silver maple tree, the single-winged device would pack a tiny two-stage rocket thruster along with telemetry, communications, navigation, imaging sensors and a power source.

The nano air vehicle, or NAV, is designed to carry interchangeable payload modules -- the size of an aspirin tablet. It could be used for chemical and biological detection or finding a "needle in a haystack," according to Ned Allen, chief scientist at Lockheed's fabled Skunk Works research arm. (more)(more)

SpyCam Story #379 - World's Smallest Camcorder

from the seller's web site...
The Micro-Camcorder is the smallest high resolution, real time digital camcorder ever produced. Easy to use "one touch record" button lets you discretely record any evidence instantly. For the most discrete application, the Micro Camcorder can even fit into a standard pack of chewing gum!

This Micro Camcorder records Hi-Resolution (3gp) real time (15fps) video via its internal pin hole camera at the touch of a button. Recordings are stored on a tiny removable Micro SD card. Up to 33 hours of video can be recorded on a 1Gb Micro SD card [2 hours at a time between recharging] Internal rechargeable battery is recharged via USB connection. (more & sample video)

Hollywood Movie Director Sentenced To Jail

CA - Film director John McTiernan has been sentenced to four months in prison on charges relating to the FBI and a private investigator. McTiernan is best known for films such as “The Thomas Crown Affair,” “Die Hard” and “The Hunt for Red October.” McTiernan hired private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap producer Charles Roven. (more)

Wiretapping for Dollars!

Companies like Google scan their e-mail users’ in-boxes to deliver ads related to those messages. Will people be as willing to let a company listen in on their phone conversations to do the same?

Pudding Media, a start-up based in San Jose, Calif., is introducing an Internet phone service today that will be supported by advertising related to what people are talking about in their calls. The Web-based phone service is similar to Skype’s online service — consumers plug a headset and a microphone into their computers, dial any phone number and chat away. But unlike Internet phone services that charge by the length of the calls, Pudding Media offers calling without any toll charges.

The trade-off is that Pudding Media is eavesdropping on phone calls in order to display ads on the screen that are related to the conversation. Voice recognition software monitors the calls, selects ads based on what it hears and pushes the ads to the subscriber’s computer screen while he or she is still talking. (more)

Think about this...
• NSA level technology is now a free advertising gimmick.
• Your secrets are more vulnerably now than at any other time in history.
• The cost per-conversation-eavesdropped-on is at its lowest.
• The likelihood that your business will be wiretapped is at its highest.

Today's Wall Street Journal discusses government's obligation to protect its assets, "proactive electronic surveillance operations are essential." Businesses must also protect their assets.

Solution...
• Proactive Counter-surveillance Inspections (PCI).
Top corporate security programs already include PCI as an essential element. Other businesses (and government agencies) are adding it at a record pace.
Need to know more?
Check here.

SpyCam Story #378 - Out of the Water Closet

The following came from a announcement posted on the Internet. The event is over, but the message is clear. SpyCamers are no longer haunting just bathrooms. Keep alert.

Super Secret Spy Cam Party - San Francisco
Event Details
Shhh… shut the door, close your blinds, and listen close. For a long time now, our super secret spycams have been on the streets filming (shhhh…) Real Live PickUp in Action! Yes, that’s right real women in the real world being picked up and all caught on tape with our hidden cameras. And now you, and a select group of our best fans, have been invited to take a sneak peak inside our hidden cam archives. And that’s not all…

You may have seen some short samples on youtube or on our website, but we’ve actually been holding onto literally hours and hours of footage that no one outside my inner circle has ever seen. You see, for years I’ve been filming my instructors and students out in the field, not only to help us with training, but to gather undeniable proof of what we already know – that this stuff works! And, it works like magic!

And now, for the first time ever, we’re planning to release this top secret footage to the world. Because it’s not just about watching cool videos of all our PickUp 101 techniques in action... it’s also an unbelievable learning tool. (more)

Two-Way Mirror, Cameras - Spying Accusations

China - An accusation of spying has stirred intrigue at the Women’s World Cup.

The day before their match with China, Denmark team officials found two men with video cameras sitting behind a two-way mirror in the hotel conference room where the team was about to hold a strategy meeting.

“It’s like a spy movie,” the Danish team press officer Pia Schou Nielsen said. She said the men were Chinese, although Denmark Coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller told reporters he did not know what nationality the men were. ...

It was not clear who the men with the video cameras were, but they were taken away by the police, Danish officials said. FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, said in a statement Thursday that it and the Danish team decided not to pursue the case. (more)

Is Your Boss Spying on You?

More stealthy and prevalent than ever before, corporate security software is monitoring your every move inside and out of the office, whether it’s with your corporate computer, e-mail, phone or BlackBerry. As PM’s senior technology editor reports in his biweekly trends column, your employer has more powerful tools to watch over you than the cops—and there’s nothing you can do about it. ...

Much of the technology used in business investigation is similar to, if not better than, the more talked-about tools used by police or sometimes even by the FBI and NSA. “Most local and state law enforcement agencies have no money to afford the sort of forensic software and hardware that big companies use,” Sensei’s Nelson says. “So the tools available to corporations are far more sophisticated.”

Plus, private corporations generally don’t have pesky warrants to deal with before they can access the digital evidence, as the law is still catching up to much of this new technology. Many corporate phone systems are now utilizing “unified messaging,” wherein voice messages are turned into audio files and integrated into e-mail programs. That makes them subject to the same security technology that combs through every one of your e-mails. And many industries are subject to regulations regarding the retention of data, so even if you want to get rid of a correspondence, your company is legally obligated to keep it. (more)

"All in all it's just another brick in the wall"

NY - Riverhead teachers demonstrated against camera surveillance at their high school Friday, fresh complaints surfaced in other Long Island districts that electronic monitoring also is being used there to track teachers' conduct, not simply to provide security.

In the Connetquot district, the teachers' union is protesting district plans to install cameras later this fall in the high school gym and auditorium. A teacher's representative there told Newsday that staffers grew worried about the potential misuse of cameras when a high school teacher was reprimanded last spring for behavior recorded by an electronic hallway monitor. (more)

SpyCam Story #377 - Old Fashioned Spying

A Romulus woman told police her neighbor has been spying on her through a peep hole in her apartment.

"I was furious. I was just straight furious. That's the only word that comes to mind," said Paula Campbell.

Campbell told police she was taking a shower when she noticed a hole in her bathroom ceiling. "I looked up. I got soap in my eyes or something and I looked up and I saw those eyes or something," Campbell said. "I looked up and there was a hole (in the ceiling)."

Campbell contacted police who found evidence in her neighbor's apartment. "We found some information in his apartment where he'd ordered some surveillance equipment, some spy cams and mini-cams," said Romulus Police Detective Dwayne Decaires. (more +video)

Hidden keystroke-logging devices

Keystroke loggers are a particularly dangerous security threat because users typically don’t realize they’re even there. Learn about the different versions of keystroke loggers, and get tips for protecting your organization and your users from this threat. (more)

Asher Meir, on spying

I've written quite a few columns on the topic of spying. Some were on spying on your competitors (bottom line: you are allowed to use only publicly available information; if you are the target you can engage in limited subterfuge to keep the competition guessing); spying on your workers (only when there is a compelling reason to suspect serious wrong-doing, and only when the information will be used in a focused and equitable way). I even wrote about doing Google searches on potential dates (best to have someone else do these for you and give you a thumbs up or thumbs down; knowing too much may take the romance out of your meeting.)

The latest topic I have encountered is spying on your spouse. This is a very active area, and quite sophisticated means are available to suspicious wives and husbands. I plan to write about this very delicate ethical topic soon.

Instead, looking at the impressive arsenal of gadgets and subterfuges used in this particular battleground of the war of the sexes inspired me to a different thought, very relevant to this season: How would we look if we spied on ourselves? (more)

Don't puck with "Mr. Hockey"

Gordie Howe has won a temporary restraining order barring a neighbour from conducting surveillance on the hockey legend's home.

Howe, 79, who has been the subject of a residential association dispute for more than a year, says he's tired of being spied on.

The former Detroit Red Wings star and his wife, Colleen, on Tuesday filed an eight-count stalking lawsuit in Oakland County. The Howes claim Lionel and Karen Dorfman, a retired couple in their 70s, have engaged in unlawful eavesdropping and invasion of privacy for more than a year.

The Howes allege the Dorfmans have had a camera snapping photos of their house every five seconds - more than 17,000 photos a day. (more)

UPDATE
Hockey great Gordie Howe won a temporary restraining order barring a neighbour from conducting surveillance on his home. (more)

FlySpies - Coming to a Window Near You

(more videos)

Wiretapping added to abuse charges

NH - Nashua police Wednesday arrested Theresa A. Bergeron, 36, of 13 Salem St., and charged her with one count of misdemeanor wiretapping and eavesdropping for allegedly secretly recording audio from a meeting with an official from the state Division of Children, Youth and Families. (more)

Why Is Sports Crime Different?

Professional sports are not just 'sports'. Sports are businesses, big businesses. Each team is a corporation. Their profits rise and fall on their successes and failures - just like any other business.

When a team executive spies for competitive advantage that team is stealing money from the losing opponent. This is a crime.

How much money are we talking about here?

Take the Super Bowl for example. Heck, take three Super Bowls. Winning via fraud can add up. Denny Hatch estimated three Super Bowl wins adds up to about $1.7 million!

Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots football coach, coincidentally 'led' his team to three Super Bowl victories. He was caught spying on his opponents. He was fined $500,000 (tax deductible) - approximately 12% of his yearly salary. He wasn't fired from his job. He wasn't suspended from even one game.

Is Belichick appealing the decision? No. Just a cost of doing business, I guess.

The McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team was fined $100 million this month for their little espionage caper against Ferrari. Are they appealing the decision? No. Cost of doing business?

Compare 'Sports' business to conventional business...
• A federal judge ignored a former Coca-Cola secretary’s tearful plea for mercy and sentenced her to eight years in prison for conspiring to steal trade secrets from the world’s largest beverage maker. U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester told Joya Williams, 42, that he was giving her a longer sentence than recommended by federal prosecutors and sentencing guidelines because, “This is the kind of offense that cannot be tolerated in our society.”
• Kenneth Lay, former Chairman of Enron, lost his job, faced a decades-long prison term for his fraud and died of a heart attack. Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's former CEO, is currently serving a 24-year, 4-month prison sentence.
• Hewlett-Packard's spy scandal: Carly Fiorina, former CEO, fired.
• Wal-Mart's spy scandal: Bruce Gabbard, security employee,