Appeals Court to Weigh NSA Dragnet Surveillance

wired.com



Whether the federal government and the nation’s telecommunication companies can be held accountable for allegedly funneling every American’s electronic communication to the National Security Agency without warrants is the subject of oral arguments scheduled for a federal appeals court Wednesday.

At issue is a Jan. 31, 2006 lawsuit, and others that followed, alleging violations of the Fourth Amendment right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures. The cases, about three dozen which will be consolidated into two oral arguments, have been thrown out of court on a variety of grounds, chiefly the government’s claim that the lawsuits would expose state secrets, and a 2008 law that immunized the nation’s telcos from such lawsuits.

Nearly six years later, the merits of the lawsuits have never been addressed. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which brought the leading cases, appealed, and contends that the litigation should never have been dismissed.

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The Last Bugs of the Nixon White House

wired.com

One morning in early March 1971, Army counterintelligence agent Dave Mann was going through the overnight files when his eyes landed on something unexpected: a report that a routine, nighttime sweep for bugs along the Pentagon’s power-packed E-Ring had found unexplained – and unencrypted — signals emanating from offices in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Someone, it seemed, was eavesdropping on the top brass.

Mann was no stranger to bugs. It was a busy time for eavesdroppers and bug-finders, starting with the constant Spy vs. Spy games with Russian spies. But the Nixon years, he and everyone else would soon discover, had extended such clandestine ops into new territory: bugging not just the Democrats, but people within its own ranks. Eventually, most of the Watergate-era eavesdropping schemes were revealed to the public, including the bombshell that Nixon was bugging himself. But the bugs Dave Mann discovered in the E-Ring in March 1971 — and another batch like it — have remained buried all these years. Until now.

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Chinese government installs spying devices on Hong Kong cars

tgdaily.com

Beijing is allegedly using audio spying devices on dual-plate Chinese-Hong Kong vehicles to gather information.

Apple Daily reports the eavesdropping devices were originally installed under the name "inspection and quarantine cards” back in July 2007. The Shenzhen Inspection and Quarantine Bureau installed the devices free of charge to thousands of vehicles across Hong Kong. The devices are about the size of a PDA, screwed into the car’s front window.

People in Hong Kong, in particular criminals, began to notice something was awry when the authorities were able to pick out cars carrying illegal goods across borders without problem or hesitation.

"For every ten cars we ran we only had [smuggled goods] in three or four to reduce the risk, but the border agents caught all of them. The accuracy was unreal!" one smuggler told Apple Daily.

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10 Most Notorious Acts of Corporate Espionage

businesspundit.com
There’s no end to the skullduggery that businesses will get involved in with the aim of making a quick buck, or trying to keep up with their competitors. Of course, their fellow companies aren’t beyond their schemes, either. There’s a war going on out there, folks, and spying is part of the game – criminal or not. Corporate espionage was a normal way of doing business back in days gone by, before copyright and patent protection brought the long arm of the law into play, but some companies still engage in the practice of acquiring trade secrets and business information by any means necessary. Here are 10 infamous cases of industrial espionage.

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Lawsuit Filed Over Listening Devices

wytv.com
A lawsuit involving two dozen plaintiffs and 18 defendants has been filed over alleged illegal wiretapping at the Newton Falls Police Department.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court by an attorney with the Fraternal Order of Police on behalf of employees, mostly police officers, and citizens of Newton Falls. Defendants include current and former city officials who "have approved the expenditures for the installation and upkeep of the illegal wiretapping system."

The lawsuit claims oral communications were illicitly recorded by hidden microphones placed in public and private areas of the police department. The suit alleges that former Police Chief Robert Carlson had the devices installed and intercepted conversations during contract talks to negotiate less beneficial contracts.

The new chief, John Kuivila, has said he found the devices in May of 2009.

Carlson, who is now retired, said he never intercepted any conversations and said he has done nothing wrong.

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Many Bosses Spying On Employees As New Security Tactic

miami.cbslocal.com

DAVIE (CBS4) – Some business owners in South Florida are going to new lengths to protect their assets: they are spying on their own employees.

Fort Lauderdale Police say it’s a good idea. Recently, a federal postal employee was busted for skimming cash from stamp sales while on the job. The woman allegedly voided the transaction after selling the stamps to customers, then pocketed the cash.

Don Flipse owns “Field of Flowers” in Davie. Surveillance cameras allow him to keep a close eye on what’s going on at his store. He pays close attention to the cash register area. “This is a good opportunity for me to see what’s going on in the entire store,” said Flipse. “Once the money changes hands, I would make sure that there was nothing odd going on, dropped bills or hands going in pockets or anything of that nature.”

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2 UI employees disciplined in baby monitor bugging case

necn.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A University of Iowa hospital supervisor abruptly left employment Thursday as the school announced it had disciplined two employees over a plan to use a baby monitor to listen to subordinates' conversations.

Pamela Snider, an office coordinator in the Department of Urology, no longer works for the university, UI Vice President for Strategic Communication Tysen Kendig said. He would not say whether she was one of the two employees disciplined in the case, saying those were confidential personnel matters.

AFSCME Local 12 President John Stellmach had filed complaints with UI Department of Public Safety and human resources officials alleging that Snider told department employees she hid a baby monitor in a secretarial work area to determine whether they were talking too much. Stellmach's complaints alleged department administrator Glenn Kell approved the device's use.

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UI investigates use of baby monitor on employees

chicagotribune.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa

The University of Iowa launched an investigation Tuesday after employees at a medical clinic complained their supervisors used a hidden baby monitor to eavesdrop and determine whether they were talking too much.

Department of Urology workers discovered the monitor hidden on a shelf in a secretarial work area Monday, and one complained to the university's ombudsperson and her union that they considered the monitoring without their knowledge a privacy violation, said AFSCME Local 12 President John Stellmach. An employee took photos showing the monitor turned on sitting next to a package of cotton balls.

The monitor picked up chatter by several secretaries and clerical workers, and the receiver was placed in a supervisor's office, said Stellmach, whose union represents 5,000 university employees. After it was discovered, a supervisor first played it off as a joke and then explained it was set up after another worker complained they were chatting too much and would be in place for a week, Stellmach said. But after employees complained, the monitor was removed later Monday. It was not clear how long it was in place.

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Watch Where You Put That Thing: Wiretapped Teddy Brings $120K Fine

discovermagazine.com
Tap that teddy bear and pay the price: $120,000. Or at least, that’s what Dianna Divingnzzo and her father, Sam Divingnzzo, are due to pay out after being slapped with federal wiretapping charges.

The fines arose from a custody case over Divingnzzo’s daughter with ex-husband William “Duke” Lewton. After Lewton was awarded unsupervised visitation, Divingnzzo put a recorder inside her daughter’s teddy bear (cutely, if not creatively, named “Little Bear”) to document suspected physical and verbal abuse by Lewton. The recorder taped continuously, while Divingnzzo occasionally copied the files and sent them to her father for transcription.

The Little Bear plan got hairy when Divingnzzo tried to use the material to win back sole custody..

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The Video Surveillance Clock Sees All

coolest-gadgets.com
In this day and age, we have the ability to know everything that’s going on in our lives, even when you’re not there. With the advent of the surveillance camera, we have become privy to whats happening in our streets and shops, or even what our kids are up to while they’re at pre-school. Parking lots, airports, the grocery store, somebody is always watching us. It got me to wondering, whats going on in my house when I’m not home.
This small (2 3/4″ Diam. x 3/4″ D ) analog clock has a built-in, motion-activated video surveillance camera that records both audio and video and takes photographs too, it’s just perfect for checking out the action in a room or office.

The image sensor captures 720 x 480 resolution video in a 62º angle from nine feet away while its sensitive microphone picks up sound from 16′ away. It can also take photographs at 1,280 x 960 resolution.

Included is a 4 GB microSD card that will store up to six hours of AVI video or 52,000 JPG images, it also supports up to an 8 GB microSD card. You can download all the heartwarming content you want to your computer and its rechargeable lithium battery is recharged via USB port and included cable. Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, and Mac.

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The spying game: Firms losing billions

bbc.co.uk

Networks of foreign spies are regularly uncovered and Wikileaks continues to release embarrassing documents.


(Listening devices are so small, they are easy to conceal in a room)

Bugging a room is the stuff of legend in old black-and-white movies, although in reality, it is still the most popular way of surreptitiously obtaining information.

There is no law in the UK which says a room cannot be bugged, but there are stringent laws relating to what can and cannot be used. "In the UK, we cannot have CS spray because we cannot harm attackers," she notes, "Whereas in many US states, you can walk in and buy a gun, yet cannot buy a bug or a camera with audio."Anything using a frequency such as UHF or VHF needs a license according to the Wireless and Telegraphy Act.

"Our UHF listening devices are strictly for customers who live outside the EU and they have to sign a declaration," Mrs King explains.

The most common form of listening devices utilises a Sim card and GSM frequencies, as used in ordinary mobile telephones.

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French warn of Chinese industrial espionage

theage.com.au

CHINA is using honey traps and spying interns in industrial espionage, according to leaked French intelligence files.

One report claimed a top French researcher was wined and dined by a Chinese woman and ended up in bed with her.

''When he was shown the recorded film of the previous night in his hotel room … he proved highly co-operative,'' an intelligence official said.

In another case, an unnamed French company realised that a sample of its patented liquid had left the building after a visitor from a Chinese delegation dipped his tie into the liquid to take home a sample.

Companies should do more to protect themselves from prying eyes among the 30,000 Chinese students on internships in France, experts warned.

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Your Boss is Likely Spying on You

nbcchicago.com

For many, it's become second nature to head straight to Facebook or Twitter to complain or gloat about daily life or current events. But with more employers using software to keep tabs on employees, your harmless rant or online search could cost you your job.

"I don't post anything stupid. I'm always aware," said Chicagoan Glen Busch.

He never thought any of his random thoughts on the Internet would cause him any trouble. But that's exactly what he got when he took to Facebook and commented on the shooting in Tucson:

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NY judge questions husband-wife calls on wiretaps

kgw.com

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge demanded the government explain itself Wednesday for eavesdropping on phone calls between an insider trading defendant and his wife in a case that was celebrated for its use of wiretaps.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan ruled in favor of the government's right to wiretap insider trading suspects, but drew the line at the private chats between a husband and wife, saying it was the only area where he believed some suppression of the evidence might be warranted. He was the second judge to rule in favor of wiretap evidence in insider trading cases.

Sullivan ordered the government to respond in writing to claims by a lawyer for defendant Craig Drimal that 13 percent of his time on phones involved chats with his wife, including "deeply personal conversations about private marital matters." Drimal has pleaded not guilty.

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Now Hear This!

parade.com
For 51 years or so, I’ve been listening to conversations that are none of my business.

And may I just say: You people are fascinating.

My habit started when I was about 2. We lived in a house with a party line, a shared phone connection with several neighbors, not a reference to our nightly conga dances. We never had those. My parents jitterbugged. As for the party line, I’m told my mother would regularly gasp as if she’d just swallowed a wasp and then dive for the phone whenever she spotted wide-eyed me cradling the receiver. My goodness, the things people say when they think little ears aren’t listening. Made me quite the star at the coffee klatch. I’d interrupt my mother’s gossip extravaganza with a well-timed insight gleaned from my burgeoning career as a CIA mole, and she’d yank me into the kitchen for a lecture that started with “Young lady” and segued into, “Now, tell me exactly what she said.” By the time I was 6, I couldn’t help wondering why Mom didn’t just invite me to grab a cup of Maxwell House and pull up a chair. Clearly, I was in the loop.

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Who would want to bug Charlotte's town offices?

“Everyone around here was scratching their heads. Some of us were amused; some of us were disturbed,” Bloch said. “There was no way to track it down. It was a little titillating at the time, but at this point, it’s a dead end.”

Amused? Really? It's hard to tell HOW LONG these "Officials" were collected against... What damage was done? How many confidential meetings were compromised?

Don't wait until you need my services. "Counterespionage Assurance" is only a phone call away! Contact me, I can help. JDL


burlingtonfreepress.com

Patrolman Chris Morrell of the Shelburne Police Dept. holds a listening device that was discovered in the ceiling panels of the clerks office at Charlotte Town Hall during a recent renovation project.


CHARLOTTE — Two wireless listening devices hidden in Charlotte Town Hall allowed eavesdropping on town clerk business and private selectboard sessions, town officials said Tuesday.

Neither device was functioning when workers found the bugs in October, nor have authorities determined when, why or by whom they were installed, Town Planner and Selectboard Assistant Dean Bloch said.

The bugs were discovered during an energy retrofit of a dropped ceiling. Selectboard members were briefed on the matter, but did not discuss it during regular meetings, Bloch said.

“Everyone around here was scratching their heads. Some of us were amused; some of us were disturbed,” Bloch said. “There was no way to track it down. It was a little titillating at the time, but at this point, it’s a dead end.”

The Shelburne Police Department, which serves Charlotte, confirmed it has a cold case on its hands. The lack of timely evidence and a plausible motive, coupled with a likely statute of limitations on invasion-of-privacy laws, frustrates further investigation, Officer Chris Morrell said.

“Whoever did this is probably never going to own up to it,” he continued.

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Ex-wife in bugging claims waits for cash

expressandstar.com

A wife owed a five-figure sum after her husband was said to have recorded her private conversations for six months, fears she won’t see a penny after he declared himself bankrupt.

Georgina Bansal’s life with husband Harvinder Singh Gora, was, by her own admission, “like any normal marriage”.

But her world fell apart when he told her he had been recording her conversations with friends and relatives to try to track her every move.

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Five tips for protecting mobile devices

techrepublic.com
Attacks against information assets — government, corporate, and personal — have been going on for some time. Yet many users and organizations have blatantly ignored recommendations for protecting mobile devices, exposing themselves, their businesses, their customers, and often employees to harm. These devices in the hands of mobile workers are exposed to a variety of threats:

• Hotel wired networks are often wide open to eavesdropping by cybercriminals or other guests. Jacking into a network frequently equates to sending and receiving information over a single collision domain. This means all packets for a set of rooms, a floor, several floors, or even the entire hotel/motel are seen by all other systems on the network. Unprotected packets are prime targets for capture, analysis, and data extraction.
• Connecting to unencrypted hotel or other public wireless networks, sending sensitive information out into the ether, is a well-known problem. I won’t beat it to death.
• Improper configuration of firewalls or the total lack of an end-user device security perimeter, allows anyone, anytime, and anywhere to use public networks to peruse private information on laptops, smartphones, or PDAs.
• Some unencrypted stolen or lost devices are a treasure chest of information, including passwords, customer and employee information, and user identity data. In large, chaotic venues, it isn’t difficult to lose a laptop or PDA.

This is not a complete list of potential attack vectors, but proper attention to those four issues reduces risk to a reasonable and appropriate level. The following steps are a good start in preventing information or system compromise.

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Mobile phones can be turned into mobile bugging devices

securitypark.co.uk
According to MWR InfoSecurity, at least two mobile phones that are being sold around the world are capable of being turned into Mobile bugging devices. The company says that most mobile phones are open to immediate cyber attack and network providers are doing little to help.

Recently MWR InfoSecurity alerted users worldwide that the Palm Pre mobile phone could be used as a bugging device without the user’s knowledge, and that phones using the Google Android system could be easily interrogated for passwords. They have now discovered that a HTC phone can be also be compromised and used as a remote bugging device.

“Mobile phone users globally are open to exactly the same risks as a user of a poorly secured desktop computer” said Nils (Principal Information Security Researcher at MWR InfoSecurity). The more we test these phones the more security flaws we are finding. It’s not just the manufacturers that are to blame it is also the mobile network providers who are not doing enough to protect their customers”

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Santiago’s latest scandal: spy microphones found in the Mayor’s office

dominicantoday.com

SANTIAGO.- The Santiago City Council dismantled an espionage system of several high tech miniature microphones which had been secretly installed in the office of mayor Gilberto Serrulle and other areas.

The Mayor confirmed the finding, but downplayed the case, affirming that he has nothing to hide or fear.

A source quoted y diariolibre.com affirms that it was an enemy of Serrulle, who wasn’t identified, who sought to obtain confidential information which could jeopardize the municipal executive.

The scandal is the latest episode in the Santiago City Council, where the previous Mayor, Jose Enrique Sued was charged with misappropriating more than RD$100 million.