SpyCam Story #460 - Proudly Viewed

New Zealand - A 25-year-old man has been charged with covertly filming unsuspecting Starbucks' customers with their pants down.

Two weeks ago a staff member of Rotorua's Starbucks cafe discovered an elaborate hidden camera operation in a toilet brush holder in a unisex toilet.

Detective Warwick Webber of Rotorua police said a 25-year-old Rotorua man had been arrested on Friday. He was facing five charges of making inappropriate visual recordings.

Police also seized the man's computer and storage devices during a search of his home on Friday. They did not believe any other toilets were involved.

Webber emphasised Starbucks was the victim and hoped people would not boycott the cafe franchise giant. (more)

Privacy Breacher's Privacy Breached

Britain's most senior police officer of Asian origin was illegally bugged and put under surveillance on the orders of the Metropolitan police chief, leaked Scotland Yard documents have revealed.

According to the papers, over 300 telephone calls of Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur were tapped in an elaborate operation overseen directly by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair. (more)

Tapped Out Friends Tap Friendship

IL - Two friends of former police officer Drew Peterson told a newspaper he made incriminating statements during secretly taped conversations following the disappearance of his fourth wife — claims that Peterson denies... Peterson said the couple had asked him for money and became angry when he would not lend it to them. (more)

Whatta fun couple! "It's party time!" (fabadabaZap)

Lisa Cohen, 28, garnered media attention when she released tapes in March of her former fiance, Lee County Sheriff's Cpl. Michael DeTar, using a Taser on party guests.

Cohen pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges lessened from two felony charges against DeTar — eavesdropping and disrupting computer services for an authorized user. She pleaded guilty to stalking, making a false report and criminal mischief above $200.

Today...
...the Cape Coral woman who allegedly brought a gun into the Lee County Justice Center in March, pleaded no contest today to a misdemeanor charge of possession of a firearm in a restricted area. (more)
Extra Credit...
Tired of Tupperware?
Taser Parties - A Shocking Success (more)

"Bad artists copy. Good artists steal." ~ P.P.

Brazil - Police have arrested a suspect in the heist of two Pablo Picasso prints from a museum in Sao Paulo and recovered one of the works, police and a museum official said Saturday.

Inspector Cesar Carlos Dias said information obtained through wiretaps of gang members involved in unrelated robberies led police to Ueslei Barros, the suspect in the July robbery. (more)
Want your own Picasso?
Make it yourself.
Click here.

The Bugs of Margaritaville

Another employee vs. boss illegal bugging story.
But the case gets weirder...
Key West, FL - ...suspended Key West police officer Thomas Neary was fired Wednesday for telling people he was an undercover federal agent investigating corruption in the Police Department and looking into possible terrorist attacks...

The Neary investigation even involved bugging Lt. Kathleen Ream's office to record conversations she had with him. Transcripts from the bugging show some statements that indicate Neary told Ream he and his wife are federal agents...

In a casual conversation before the investigation began, "Officer Neary told [detective Bradley Lariz] that he had [City Commissioner Mark Rossi's] plane and house bugged and that they were watching him. He also told Lariz that he was watching and doing an investigation on Sgt. Robert Allen."

It's not clear what he was inferring with Rossi, but with Allen, he allegedly accused the sergeant of transporting drugs to Cuba in a police boat. (more)

Smart Spy Cameras

UK - Intelligent CCTV cameras are being developed in Britain that not only see trouble but are able to hear it, scientists said.

The technology allows the sounds of breaking glass, someone shouting, or the noise of a crowd gathering to be 'learned' by artificial intelligence software in the cameras.

The technology could slash the speed with which crimes are caught on camera and responded to by police but will again raise a debate about the extent of "surveillance Britain" and the use of such technology.

The three-year project by the University of Portsmouth aims to adapt artificial intelligence software already being developed to identify visual patterns. (more)

Car mechanic at center of probe into bugging

Ireland - GARDAI (Irish national police) are to review all contracts given to garages which service its fleet after a mechanic, who was returning from a trip to the UK, was found with bugging equipment.

A number of cars, including unmarked vehicles used by detectives, were checked for bugging devices last week after a mechanic who services Garda vehicles was found with the specialist equipment during a routine search at Dublin Port.

A high-level investigation is now under way amid fears that cars used by senior gardai, including Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, could have been bugged and sensitive information leaked to criminals or terrorist organisations.

It is understood that a man employed by a company which won a contract to service garda cars was stopped with the equipment during a search at Dublin Port. (more)

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.

FutureWatch - Video Vigilantes

New Zealand - A Christchurch cul-de-sac has thwarted its boy-racer problem with secret video surveillance.

Business owners and the only resident of Dalziel Place in Woolston were fed up with weekly crowds of boy racers converging on their street, doing burnouts, defacing properties and throwing bottles.

Cameras set up by a surveillance company that has its headquarters on the street captured footage of six cars and their drivers breaking the law.

The footage was passed on to police and all six drivers last week had their cars impounded for 28 days. (more)

SpyCam Story #445 - More Workplace Voyeurism

Australia - Federal police (AFP) are investigating how women at SBS' headquarters in Sydney were filmed in a changing room two years ago.

The AFP told SBS management about two weeks ago they had found photos of three women on the home computer of a man who works there. It is alleged the photos were taken by a camera installed in the room in 2006.

SBS managing director Shaun Brown says the suspect has been suspended from his job.

"Clearly the AFP had in their possessions the photograph," he said.

"They obviously had the identity of the suspect, they knew where the suspect worked and they appeared to put two and two together and concluded that the offence took place on these premises." (more)
So, why did it take 2-years for the staff to be informed?

Court-Approved Wiretapping Rose 14% in '07

Last year might have been a rough year for U.S. home prices, but growth in government wiretaps remained healthy, with the eavesdropping sector posting a 14% increase in court orders compared to 2006.

In 2007, judges approved 4,578 state and federal wiretaps, as compared to 4,015 in 2006, according to two new reports on criminal and intelligence wiretaps.

State investigators are increasingly turning to wiretaps, according to newly released statistics. State police applied for 27% more wiretaps in 2007 than in 2006, with 94% of them targeting cell phones, according to figures released by the U.S. Courts' administrator.

In 2007, state judges approved 1,751 criminal wiretap applications, without turning any of them down, according to the report (.pdf). That's a near-three fold increase in state wiretaps since 1997. (more)

Answer: "Mission Creep"

Question: What happens when tiny towns are given big £'s to watch for terrorists who never come?

UK - Campaigners have called for a "root and branch review" of spy laws after it emerged local councils were using them to track dog-foulers and litter bugs.

The Press Association contacted 97 councils to find out how they were using the powers, originally designed to combat crime and terrorism. It followed the controversy surrounding the case of a family in Poole, Dorset, who were tracked covertly for nearly three weeks to check they lived in a school catchment area...

...the research found the law was also used to find out about people who let their dog foul, a breach of planning law, an animal welfare case and an instance of littering.

Surveillance was also used to investigate alleged misuse of a disabled parking badge. (more)
Once surveillance is part of the civil infrastructure justifying usage moves from difficult to easy.

Well... sometimes crime pays.

PA - A Pennsylvania state police trooper who claimed a phone conversation with a supervisor was illegally recorded without his permission has been awarded more than $500,000 in damages by a federal jury.

Mario J. Diana was awarded $262,126 in compensatory damages for invasion of privacy and unlawful seizure, and $238,878 in punitive damages against Carmen Altavilla, former commander of Troop P in Wyoming, and Lt. Willard Oliphant. The jury rendered the verdict late Thursday afternoon following a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo in Wilkes-Barre.

Diana filed suit in 2005, alleging Altavilla ordered Oliphant to tape a phone conversation in which Oliphant advised Diana, who was off on a workers’ compensation claim, that he was being ordered to return to work. (more)

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

Trinidad & Tobago - Sweeping legislative changes, including a proposal to regulate the practice of wiretapping in the entire region, are among a series of recommendations agreed to by Caricom Heads of States, Bharrat Jagdeo, the Guyanese president, revealed yesterday.

Speaking to reporters outside of the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Trinidad where a special security meeting of the Caricom Heads of Government was concluded. Jagdeo disclosed that he had personal knowledge that wiretapping is done throughout the region and revealed that it was agreed by heads of government that the practice should be regulated by legislation.

“People wiretap now,” he said, “but they can’t use it for evidence because it’s done illegally.” (more)

Bet you never heard of CARICOM.
Guess how many countries we are talking about here...
Full Members
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Jamaica
Montserrat
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Associate Members
Anguilla
Bermuda
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
Observers
Aruba
Colombia
Dominican Republic
Mexico
Netherlands Antilles
Puerto Rico (U.S.)
Venezuela

That's a lot of wiretappers who will soon be able to present their evidence in court!
It may also change some old saws...
"Sunny places attract shady characters."
may now become...
"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

"Whatever satisfies the soul is truth." W.W.

NJ/PA - The man who led police on a chase that eventually forced the closure of the Walt Whitman Bridge last Thursday was convinced that someone was bugging his phone and that his family was in danger, according to authorities. (more)

More fascinating than fiction, Seduced by Secrets takes the reader inside the real world of one of the most effective and feared spy agencies in history. The book reveals, for the first time, the secret technical methods and sources of the Stasi (East German Ministry for State Security) as it stole secrets from abroad and developed gadgets at home, employing universal, highly guarded techniques often used by other spy and security agencies.

Seduced by Secrets draws on secret files from the Stasi archives, including CIA-acquired material, interviews and friendships, court documents, and unusual visits to spy sites, including "breaking into" a prison, to demonstrate that the Stasi overestimated the power of secrets to solve problems and created an insular spy culture more intent on securing its power than protecting national security.

It recreates the Stasi's secret world of technology through biographies of agents, defectors, and officers and by visualizing James Bond–like techniques and gadgets.

In this highly original book, Kristie Macrakis adds a new dimension to our understanding of the East German Ministry for State Security by bringing the topic into the realm of espionage history and exiting the political domain. (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)

FOP Bug By Cop?

TN - A former Nashville police officer/union organizer has been indicted on federal charges in connection with the break-in and illegal surveillance of a Fraternal Order of Police youth camp.

Calvin Edward Hullett was indicted on bribery, misappropriation of union funds and other charges.

Investigators have alleged the hidden cameras were placed at the Wilson County camp in an effort to discredit the FOP by catching officers engaged in some type of misconduct.

Hullett, a national organizer for the Teamsters, is accused of using union funds to purchase the surveillance and recording equipment. (more with video)

"Slime him, Danno!"

UK - Police in Nuneaton yesterday unveiled their latest technological weapon - a remote-controlled helicopter, the size of a dustbin lid.

The microdrone can film from more than 350ft away and beams back live video footage to operators on the ground.

If needed, the little helicopter can even swoop down and squirt offenders with a security marking solution called SmartWater which can be identified by police. (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)

Quote of the Week - Espionage in Grenada

"In the world of espionage and counter espionage, spying does not occur as an isolated and independent event. It is usually part of a series of increasingly aggressive measures that normally escalates into planting of evident against innocent persons, acts of sabotage and even to physical harm to innocent peoples," - Allie Gill, Senior Executive Member

Commenting on...
ST. GEORGE`S, Grenada, The main opposition political party in Grenada is demanding an independent investigation by Scotland Yard into the circumstances surrounding the alleged secret recording of an executive meeting by a member of the Royal Grenada Police Force.

Party officials apprehended Officer No# 77 Kellon Noel on Tuesday evening around 7 p.m. as he allegedly video and audio taped the meeting, which was being held at the party’s headquarters in St George’s.

Dressed in plain clothes, the officer who is attached to the Special Branch Unit, was apparently in an abandoned building adjacent to the NDC headquarters when party members say they noticed a flashing red light next to a window and rushed to investigate. They claim they found Noel with the recording equipment hastily exiting from the building. They surrounded, questioned and searched him, they said, and during the probe his police identification card was among the documents found in his pocket. (more) (more)

Tap Copped

NY - Prosecutors announced Friday they will use wiretapped conversations against the estranged wife of slain dentist Daniel Malakov - but the Daily News learned that a tape is missing and a cop is accused of taking it. (more)

Electronic eyes and ears keep tabs on workers

Canada - The sudden resignation of a South Shore police chief over allegations of e-spying on the local police union is the latest controversy over electronic eavesdropping in the workplace in the greater Montreal area.

Here and elsewhere, advances in electronic technologies have given employers new tools to keep an around-the-clock eye on employees. Unions are crying foul and fighting back. (more)

In December 2005, the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) was commissioned by the Australian High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC) to conduct research into issues relating to key criminal justice issues concerning technology-enabled crime.

The report provides an instant eduction on technology enhanced crimes, and new crimes which have come into being because of advancements in technology.

Observations...
- It still takes the legal system about 10 years to catch up with technology changes.
- Technology has further cemented the need for international law enforcement cooperation.
- Technology is forcing some of the age-old crimes – that we rarely used to hear about – out of the darkness.
Very interesting document. Sign of the times.
(this report) (more reports)

"An ye, leave nae stone unturned..."

Isle of Arran, Scotland - Local police are on the look-out for a large quantity of rock that has gone missing from Hawthorn Quarry near Whiting Bay. The Forestry Commission alerted the police to the quarry theft last Friday, and are now being forced to install covert video surveillance at the quarry... (more)