Spy News of the Week

Sweden - "Earlier this week the Swedish stasi-government decided -- against the peoples wishes -- to wiretap all internet and telephone traffic in order to protect Sweden against threats. As you all know, being a neutral country makes Sweden a target for all the terrorists of the world, apparently," blogs one of The Pirate Bay's admins, Peter Sunde. "Many people have asked me what we're planning to do -- and the answer is 'A lot!'. This week we're going to add SSL to The Pirate Bay. We're also going to help out making a website about easy encryption -- both for your hard drives and your net traffic." (more)

Germany - German incumbent Deutsche Telekom is going to get yet another scolding. German public television channel ZDF reported the former operator turned self-spying agency wire tapped a few customers. Apparently 120 calls were illegally tapped by the company, without any court order or involvement of the police. (more)

UK - Every council in England will today be instructed to stop using tough laws to spy on people over "trivial matters" such as dog-fouling and litter offences. (more)

New Zealand - A 21-year-old peeping tom has been caught spying on his female neighbour in Dunedin. The Otago University student was nabbed peering through a flat window just before 9pm yesterday. (more)

India - This year the Delhi University saw many of the "spy students" hired by private detective agencies being roped in by parents to keep an eye on their wards. However... a growing number of students are visiting detective agencies and are offering handsome amounts to them to know whether their parents have hired any "spy students", mainly girls, to keep a watch on their activities. (more)

United States - Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, 44, who was raised in China and holds Canadian citizenship, was sentenced on the rare charge of committing economic espionage against the U.S. It's the most serious crime under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 and involves stealing trade secrets to benefit a foreign government. (more)

South Africa - The bugging devices of the former dispensation, which were used in foreign embassies in South Africa and had been planted by an espionage front company, are still being used. (more)

Switzerland - A left-wing campaign group asked Swiss authorities on Friday to investigate Swiss food and drinks giant Nestle SA for allegedly hiring a spy to infiltrate the group. A Swiss chapter of anti-globalization group Attac filed the legal complaint in Vaud canton (state), after learning that an employee of Securitas AG security company took part in its private meetings between late 2003 and June 2004... (more)

United States - US information security company Cyber-Ark surveyed 300 senior IT professionals, and found that one-third admitted to secretly snooping, while 47 per cent said they had accessed information that was not relevant to their role. (more)

Bulgaria - A man applied for a job as an industrial spy. Together with several other applicants, he was given a sealed envelope and told to take it to the fourth floor. As soon as the man was alone, he stepped into an empty hallway and opened the envelope. Inside, a message read: "You're our kind of person. Report to the fifth floor Personnel Office." (source)

Corporate Espionage Detailed in Documents

It is rare to see hard evidence of corporate espionage.

Well-executed corporate espionage goes undetected.

This is unusual...

In the 1990s, a Maryland-based private detective agency composed of former CIA agents and law enforcement officers spied...

The agency, Beckett Brown International, had an operative at meetings of a group in Rockville that accused a nursing home of substandard care. In Louisiana, it kept tabs on environmental activists after a chemical spill. In Washington, it spied on food safety activists who had found taco shells made with genetically modified corn not approved for human consumption.

BBI, which was founded in 1995, disbanded in 2000, and the activists might never have learned they were spied on. But a disgruntled BBI investor began digging through company records two years ago and has been contacting the former targets. He also gave The Washington Post access to the records, which provide an unusually detailed look into the secretive world of corporate spying.

Not all of BBI's work targeted activists: Lysol wanted details of a New Jersey high school student's science fair project about cleaning products. Mary Kay executives sought a secret "psychological assessment" of a fellow executive. A consultant working for Nestlé wanted information about rivals Mars and Whetstone Candy...

An undercover operative not identified in the documents was named to the governing board of CLEAN. "I will be in the 'inner circle' and included in all the planning meetings," he wrote in an e-mail.

The operative reported on meetings held at the law office after business hours and on private conversations about lawsuits, one of which took place in a parking lot because of concern that meeting rooms were bugged. (more)

Now you know why eavesdropping and espionage detection is part of every good corporate security program.

DIY Spy Tip #090 - Free Background Check Aggregator

Snoopstation.com (currently in BETA) is a portal to free web-based public records checking sites in the U.S. - Cool! They are also the entry point to a fee-based investigative service for when public record checks are not enough ...or you don't have the time / patience to DIY.

World Spy News Roundup

The world is a busy place when it comes to spying.
Here is the action over the last few weeks...

Australia
• Government email spying plan under criticism.
• Government report... embrace "illegal", "deceptive" and "underhanded" espionage overseas.

Canada
• Was the bedroom of minister's ex really bugged?

China
• China calls computer spying claim ‘totally groundless’.
• Video surveillance equipment will be installed at Beijing schools.

European Union
• In-flight spycams - one in every seat; software analyzes you.

France
• Privy Privacy in Cannes - Madonna's unpaid $93,000 hotel bill over spying camera.

Germany
• Businesses across Germany spy on their workers.
• German spying scandals reawaken dark memories.
• Deutsche Telekom admits bugging phones of top management; then denies that it listened!
• The spying scandal affecting Deutsche Telecom continues to grow.
• Government gives police greater powers to monitor homes, phones and computers.
• Heinz Geyer, deputy head of former East German spy agency, dies.
• Lufthansa admits spying on journalist.

India
• Debate continues: Should Blackberry allow government security to spy on users.
• India practices unacceptably intrusive electronic surveillance.

Israel
• Israel frees Hezbollah spy for soldiers' remains.

Italy
• Ferrari spying may still be an issue.

The Netherlands
• Netherlands banned electronic voting machines; "eavesdropping risk".

Pakistan
• Dueling wiretaps. Battle of the political phone bugs.

Poland
• Lech Walesa angry with President Kaczynski about spying accusations.
• President Kaczynski denies ordering wiretaps on ex-prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz.

Russia
• Russia to demand Georgia ends spy flights.

Saudi Arabia
• 6 caught selling eavesdropping devices.

Sweden
• Swedish government may soon get power to spy on its citizens.

Taiwan
• National Security Bureau denied wiretapping telephone calls of officials and president.

Turkey
• A possible Turkish Watergate scandal.
• “AK Party is eavesdropping” claims the opposition.
• Turkish opposition claims security forces bugged its headquarters.

Uganda
• MP accuses government of spying on committees.

United Kingdom
• Government refused to investigate BT's covert wiretapping of thousands of customers.
• Councils admit spying on residents.
• Councils admit phone, e-mail spying.
• Bugging epidemic spreads - Vodafone fingered in new spying row.
• Top gadgets for spying on fellow SEO’s.
• Redcar hotel owner set up video camera to spy on couple.
• Government considering interception and data-mining all electronic communications.

United States
• Former S. Korean spy granted asylum. Had divulged illicit wiretapping of mobile phones.
• Court upholds conviction of Cuban spies.
• Study secretly tracked cell phone users outside US.
• Chinese expelled from the US for suspected industrial spying.
• Sheriff's Office disbands tarnished spy squad.
• Gutierrez possible victim of Chinese cyber spying.
• Former police chief accused of illegally bugging his secretary's office has pleaded guilty.
• P.I.'s In HP spying scandal fined.
• Billboards look back. Tiny cameras gather and analyze viewer's faces.
• Woman pleads guilty to aiding Chinese spy.
• Rent-A-Spy - 3/4's of the U.S. intelligence budget now goes to outside contractors.
• Feds encrypt 800,000 laptops; 1.2 million to go.
• Ex-CIA official indicted over agency job for mistress.
• TJX staffer sacked; talked about lax information security.

Venezuela
• Hugo Chavez's move to boost internal spying in Venezuela.
• Chavez spy laws 'creating society of informers'.
• Update! Chavez changes his mind. No new spy law.

Wiretapping PI Pellicano Convicted

A Hollywood private investigator was convicted Thursday of federal racketeering and other charges for digging up dirt for his well-heeled clients to use in lawsuits, divorces and business disputes against the rich and famous.

Anthony Pellicano, 64, was accused of wiretapping stars such as Sylvester Stallone and running the names of others, such as Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon, through law enforcement databases to help clients in legal and other disputes.

Pellicano was found guilty of all but one of the 77 counts against him. He looked at the judge with his arms crossed and didn't react when verdicts were read. (more)

DIY Spy Tip #089 - "...with 'friends' like you..."

If you are still relying on Google to snoop on your friends, you are behind the curve.

Armed with new and established Web sites, people are uncovering surprising details about colleagues, lovers and strangers that often don't turn up in a simple Internet search. Though none of these sites can reveal anything that isn't already available publicly, they can make it much easier to find. And most of them are free.

Zaba Inc.'s ZabaSearch.com turns up public records such as criminal history and birthdates. Spock Networks Inc.'s Spock.com and Wink Technologies Inc.'s Wink.com are "people-search engines" that specialize in digging up personal pages, such as social-networking profiles, buried deep in the Web. Spokeo.com is a search site operated by Spokeo Inc., a startup that lets users see what their friends are doing on other Web sites. Zillow Inc.'s Zillow.com estimates the value of people's homes, while the Huffington Post's Fundrace feature tracks their campaign donations. Jigsaw Data Corp.'s Jigsaw.com, meanwhile, lets people share details with each other from business cards they've collected -- a sort of gray market for Rolodex data. (more)

Hollywood Wiretap - Is The Pellicano Case New?

Two-bit snoops are a dime a dozen, but Hollywood wiretappers rate a four-bit litereary, literally!
Enough with the alliteration.
Blow 50 cents (not literally) and tap into some deja vu by Brad Lewis. Download Hollywood Wiretap– instantly – from Amazon.com, now.

Lessons in Wiretapping Skills

Los Angeles - The wiretapping trial of Anthony Pellicano, the accused sleuth to the stars and irrepressible eavesdropper, has offered much fodder for celebrity watchers over its two-month run... the trial, which went to the jury last week, offered arguably more for people who enjoy talk of encryption software, code-wiping booby traps or the low-tech secrets of phone company networks.

Here, through various witnesses, are a few of the disclosures:

• Wiretapping is really, really easy. And not just for the government. Anyone sitting in on the Pellicano trial (and staying awake during the telecom testimony) could walk away ready to intercept phone calls after a quick stop at Radio Shack for less than $50 in equipment... For all his wiretapping prowess, however, Mr. Pellicano could not tap cellphones.

• Phone “sweeps” offer false security. There are many companies that offer wiretap detection services. But these services are meant to pick up devices on the premises of the target. If the tap is elsewhere, they are useless...

• The person who programmed Mr. Pellicano’s wiretap software was a college dropout named Kevin Kachikian... His software incorporated an encryption algorithm, Serpent, that the government’s code-breakers have not been able to crack. Serpent, can be downloaded free...

• Mr. Pellicano bragged about his wiretapping ability and vowed that no one on earth would ever learn of it — proving that a code of silence is not too useful if you never stop blabbing about it. (more)

PIs and Bug Creators Jailed for Industrial Espionage

An Israeli firm of private investigators has been rapped for using spyware to steal sensitive information.

According to reports, four members of the Israeli Modi'in Ezrahi private investigation company have been sentenced after being found guilty of using a Trojan horse to steal commercial information.

The Trojan, which was designed and marketed by London-based couple Michael and Ruth Haephrati, was said to have been used by a number of different private investigation firms to spy on companies including the HOT cable television group and Rani Rahav PR agency.

Another alleged victim was Champion Motors, which imports Audi and Volkswagen vehicles. (more)

A married couple accused of using computer worms to conduct industrial espionage has received jail terms of four and two years after pleading guilty in an Israeli court.

Ruth Brier-Haephrati, 28, and her husband Michael Haephrati, 44, were also ordered to pay damages of two million shekels (£245,000) to their victims. (more)

"Pick-up in aisle Ten."

Supermarket chain Lidl has apologised to staff after being accused of systematically spying on them.

It took out of series of newspaper adverts in Germany saying: "We regret it profoundly and apologise explicitly if co-workers feel discredited and personally hurt by the described procedures."

Earlier German magazine Stern reported that Lidl had hired detectives who installed surveillance cameras to monitor the staff's work performance, and even to find out how often they used the toilets and whether they had affairs with co-workers. (more)

But wait! There's more!
Germany was shocked to learn that Stasi-like techniques were used to spy on employees of supermarket giant Lidl. Now a report has emerged showing that the chains Plus and Edeka may have done the same... (more)

And, more!
BT has admitted that it secretly monitored customers' internet surfing activities in trials of new software in 2006 and 2007. (more)

"What's in your IT department?"

by Naomi Grossman, bmighty.com
Caught up in the high profile case of Anthony Pellicano -- the detective on trial for racketeering and wiretapping in a case that involves lots of big names in Hollywood -- is the manager of IT security for Conde Nast publications. How exactly did that guy get his job?...

On Gawker, Ryan Tate asks the second most obvious question: "The guy who runs tech security for Condé Nast has admitted lying to the FBI and lending his services to private detective Anthony Pellicano even though he knew Pellicano was tapping people's phones. He's also been accused, in the course of Pellicano's racketeering and wiretap trial, of leaking a pre-publication copy of Vanity Fair that Pellicano mysteriously obtained, and of bragging about bugging the office of his Condé Nast supervisor. So why does he still have a job?"...

...the lessons here go beyond the need to move decisively in hiring and firing. If Reynolds could do that stuff in a huge company like Conde Nast, imagine the damage your IT guy could do in your smaller business -- where there aren't the same resources to weather a disaster. Put the time and effort into checking your IT guys out. Each one could mean the difference between life and death for your company. (more)
Well said!
You've been warned.

Offer of a Murder Surfaces at Wiretap Trial

A hedge fund manager and art collector from New York testified under immunity Tuesday that Anthony Pellicano, the Hollywood private detective accused of wiretapping and racketeering, had once offered to have a movie producer killed for him. (more)

"I said I was a Caloyer, not a Lawyer!"

Portugal - Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat has discovered tracking devices fitted to his cars.

British expat Murat, 33, found the GPS bug when he was fixing a fault on his VW Transporter. He checked girlfriend Michaela Walczuch's motor and found - another stuck to that.

Furious Murat believes Portuguese police bugged his cars in a desperate bid to nail him for the abduction of Madeleine, four, from Praia da Luz in May.

He is also probing whether Kate and Gerry McCann's private detective agency Metodo 3 could have done it on its own initiative.

His lawyer Francisco Pagarete said last night: "I'm not yet sure what kind of crime we're dealing with here." (more)

Private Investigator Brags About His Bugging

Australia - A Melbourne-based veteran investigator, an old-fashioned human bloodhound who formerly ran the security for one of the local airlines, tells The Sunday Age: "If I wanted to bug your office, you could send 10,000 [de-]buggers in there and they'd never find out. Not unless the bug is live (activated). Otherwise you'd have to physically tear an office or boardroom apart to find it. A smart cookie will be listening across the road … and via a 10-cent capacitor can remotely deactivate the bug until there's something worth listening to."

This old-time operator is a $500-a-day man. "Plus expenses." No matter that there may be millions at stake, that's his price.

"I'm cheap," he says. (more) He is also [your thought here].

Hollywood Wiretapping Case - 6-Years Running!

Anthony Pellicano masterminded a lucrative criminal enterprise aimed at discrediting and destroying the enemies of his Hollywood clients, a federal prosecutor charged Thursday in opening arguments in a long-awaited wiretapping trial.

But he bragged about it so much — and recorded himself doing so — that Mr. Pellicano “was the biggest government informant in this case,” the prosecutor, Kevin Lally, said Thursday.

Mr. Pellicano, 63, who is defending himself against wiretapping and racketeering charges, denied nothing in his opening remarks, saying that his business was “problem solving,” and that customers in the entertainment industry paid him well because they knew he would “perform” for them. He stressed only that he never intended their secrets to become public. (more)

Hollywood private eye on trial for mass wiretapping

CA - Anthony Pellicano, the former investigator known as Hollywood's private eye to the stars, goes on trial Thursday in a case of wiretapping and skulduggery that is expected to reveal the dark side of the glitzy world of the movie industry.

Actors Sylvester Stallone, Keith Carradine and Farrah Fawcett, along with movie studio executives Brad Grey and Ron Meyer and former powerhouse talent agent Michael Ovitz, are among the 120 prosecution witnesses called to testify in a case that has kept Hollywood on tenterhooks for almost six years.

Pellicano, 63, is accused of illegally wiretapping the telephones of opponents of his powerful clients and of bribing police officers and telephone company workers to run illegal background checks on the targets of his investigation.

Pellicano is representing himself at his trial and has pleaded not guilty, along with his four co-defendants, to the 111 federal charges they face together. The trial in Los Angeles federal court is expected to last up to 10 weeks. (more)

Survey - More Women Hiring Private Investigators

Women are increasingly employing private investigators to check on their cheating husbands, a new survey of divorce lawyers shows today.

With extra-marital affairs the main reason for the break-up of marriage, more than two in three lawyers surveyed last year had at least one client who had used a private investigator to find out if their spouse was being unfaithful.

In two thirds of the cases it was women who were checking on husbands, the survey of 100 lawyers by Grant Thornton’s forensic and investigation services shows. (more)

Private investigators: no longer in the shadows
Once it was the murky world of dirty raincoats and skulking in shadows. But the private investigator is now fast becoming a standard aid to divorce.

Paul Hawkes, 49, has run his own firm, Research Associates, in West London, for 31 years. “Last year I had probably 100 to 200 cases involving checking on extra-marital affairs,” he said. “Ten years ago it would have been fewer 50.”

One reason for the change was that women in particular, who were the bulk of the clients, were now far more “pragmatic” and “not prepared to suffer in silence or sweep things under the bed. Now they want to know what is going on.” (more)

Choo Shoe Gumshoe Tapper Story

UK - A private detective who helped to spy on the Jimmy Choo shoe boss Tamara Mellon was jailed for 21 months today.

David Carroll, 60, from Highgate, north London, played a leading role in a City-based agency operation, Active Investigation Services (AIS), which specialised in computer hacking and telephone tapping. ...

Engineers later found that hundreds of made-to-order tapping kits had been installed across the country by a former engineer on the AIS payroll.

The court heard that Carroll's tenure at AIS saw him involved in efforts to spy on a waste management company's critics, tap the phones of a client's wife suspected of having an affair, and target Mrs Mellon.

The company charged £3,000 for phone tapping, itemised line billing was priced at £750 a month, while personal banking information could be bought for £2,000 and confidential medical records for £500. Hacking into a computer was available for £5,000. (more)

Private eye in spying row held on fraud and forgery charge

South Africa - Private investigator Niel van Heerden, who now owns the Mossel Bay franchise of George Fivaz and Associates, was arrested earlier this week on charges of fraud and forgery.

Van Heerden, 55, was arrested at his Mossel Bay home on Monday for allegedly making a false statement under oath. Police also seized three computers from his home.

Van Heerden recently made headlines when his firm was involved in the political spying accusations leveled against the DA in Cape Town. (more)

Corp rivalry spells big bucks for spying biz

While this news article was written from an Indian perspective, corporate spying is a global phenomenon.

India - The intensifying competition and unprecedented number of business deals in the India Inc. has led to private detectives playing a bigger role in the corporate alley.

The detective agencies call it "corporate intelligence" and say it has become a necessity in the business world where companies routinely track their rivals’ products and services, keep an eye on their employees and even prospective alliance partners or takeover targets.

While select few cases of under-cover spying like for seeking details of a yet-to-be launched product and salaries of the top management people have been around for quite some time, the idea of corporate intelligence for not so discreet details is no more a secret and is being talked about openly. (more)

The continuing saga of Anthony Pellicano...

CA - Lawyers for defendants in the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping case argued in federal court here on Monday that evidence seized from the Hollywood private detective’s offices had been improperly obtained and should be tossed out.

Facing a trial date of Feb. 27, lawyers for Mr. Pellicano and his five co-defendants attacked the search warrants used to raid the detective’s offices in November 2002 and to unearth a trove of digital audio recordings in the ensuing months. They also argued that the case should be dismissed because of what they assert was rampant misconduct by government investigators.

But United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer appeared to be having none of it. (more)

SpyCam Story #414 - The PI PP

CA - A bumbling private eye was caught with his pants down - literally - when he broke into Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell's Beverly Hills pad and used his bathroom.

The gumshoe had been hired by Cornell's bitter ex-wife, Susan Silver, to serve the rocker with papers stating that she was suing her ex over the ownership of 15 guitars. But when P.I. Matthew Turner showed up at the house, Cornell wasn't home and he let himself in. Too bad it was all caught on camera.

Now Turner, who works for the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based investigative firm Thomas Dale and Associates, is being charged with aggravated trespassing by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office and faces a pre-trial hearing on Dec. 12.

"He broke into their home. He even used the Cornells' bathroom," a source told Page Six. "Chris and his wife, Vicky, had gotten death threats in the past, so they have a state-of-the-art surveillance system which captured all of this on tape." (more)

Private eyes indicted in ID-theft case

State and federal agents have broken up a nationwide "pretext" identity-theft scheme involving private detectives who obtained personal information about their targets — from financial and medical records to tax returns — through deceit and lies, according to a federal grand-jury indictment unsealed Thursday. (more)

Three 'Personal Reasons' Resignations - Just Coincidence?

Canada - Three directors of the Energy and Utilities Board are leaving the agency rocked by a spying scandal for "personal reasons."

John Nichol, Ian Douglas and Graham Lock sat on an EUB panel considering an application for a power line between Calgary and Edmonton. The agency later admitted to hiring private investigators to eavesdrop on landowners opposed to the project. (more)

Alert - Email Wiretap Scare Spreads Malware

Miscreants are trying to convince email users that their telephone conversations are being recorded in a ruse designed to scare prospective marks into buying bogus security software. Emails promoting the campaign are laced with a new Trojan horse malware.

The Dorf-AH Trojan horse appears as an attachment in emails claiming that the sender is a private detective listening into a recipient's phone calls. This "detective" claims he's prepared to switch sides and reveal who has paid for the surveillance at a later date.

In the meantime, prospective marks are asked to listen to the supposed recording of one of their recent phone calls that comes attached to the email in the form of a password-protected RAR-archived MP3 file. In reality, however, the MP3 file is not an audio file of a telephone conversation or anything else but a malicious executable program that installs malware onto victim's computer. (more)

SpyCam Story #406 - Kid Rock Rooked?

Kid Rock gave props to the head of his security team, Little Bear, for "finding a hidden camera in the dressing room at the show at the Myth Nightclub" in Minneapolis on Thursday night.

"Little Bear, who runs SpyOps.net, discovered the device before the show and alerted the authorities, who are now investigating," Rock wrote.

TMZ obtained photos of the alleged spycam from Little Bear that appears to indicate it was set up to broadcast on the Internet,
but in a statement from the club released to the Star Tribune, the management explained, "The green-room camera in question is part of the venue's security aspect, available for viewing by head of security only ... Rock's allegation that there was some kind of Internet broadcast in progress is simply not true and without foundation." (more) (more)

The club's cameras appear networked; common practice these days. Having a 'green room' camera - probably common practice as well. Venue owners need to make sure their guests are safe, and have evidence if guests bust up the place.

Was the camera was viewable by unauthorized parties via the Internet? Instant answers (or accusations) are not possible. This will take a little investigation.

Did your security team check the software settings before making these pronouncements to the press, Kid? And, why isn't a confidentiality clause part of your security contract? Press statements like these make clients look silly. Call us next time ...please.

Cape Town PI Spy Investigation

South Africa - Premier Ebrahim Rasool announced an investigation after being briefed by Western Cape Police Commissioner Mzwandile Petros.

This came as police confirmed that they were investigating whether the country's bugging laws had been broken during the city's private-eye investigation.

At the centre of the saga is whether the private investigator contracted to probe controversial councillor Badih Chaaban, or any politicians involved, may have bugged or illegally intercepted communications. Recordings and transcripts were found at the home of a private eye. (more)

...and you thought O.J. was bugged.

O.J. Simpson apparently doesn't have enough to worry about with two co-defendants in his Vegas robbery case ready to testify against him. Now a private eye who worked for Simpson is alleging that the disgraced gridiron star once hired notorious Hollywood P.I. Anthony Pellicano to bug and harass Nicole Brown Simpson.

Bill Pavelic, the lead investigator for Simpson's defense team during his criminal trial for the murders of Nicole and Ron Goldman, says: "I know for a fact that Nicole Brown Simpson was a victim of stalking and that her cars and residence had been wiretapped."

Pavelic, a 19-year veteran of the LAPD, believes Simpson hired Pellicano to do eavesdropping based, in part, on similarities to the bugging devices he says Pellicano planted at Michael Jackson 's Neverland Ranch.

Pellicano is currently in prison for illegal wiretapping.

"Cops knew about Pellicano's wiretapping of Nicole," alleges Pavelic, who will tell more in his book, "Guilty of Incompetence." "Had Nicole not been murdered, his wiretapping would have been exposed long ago." (more)

Spying - Personally Appalling vs. Business Reasonable

First, Progressive Insurance spied on its own customers during a private church confessional.

Then, the CEO admitted the actions on the company's Web page, took full responsibility, described them as "appalling" and apologized. Now, in legal documents Progressive's denying any wrongdoing, saying its actions were "reasonable."

It's all enough to make a cynic out of even the lawyer suing Progressive over the spying incident.

Lawyer Wayne Grant, who represents the couple that sued Progressive, now contends the public apology was just a ruse.

"There is no way you can say appalling can be reasonable," Grant said. "Now they are trying to act as if the CEO never made the statements." (more)