spectator.org

ACORN critic Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is mystified that both the Democratic-controlled Congress and the Obama administration aren’t doing much about the tax-subsidized organized crime syndicate ACORN even as evidence of its wrongdoing continues to pile up.

In an exclusive interview, the House Judiciary Committee member describes the ACORN saga as “the largest corruption crisis in the history of America.”

“It’s thousands of times bigger than Watergate because Watergate was only a little break-in by a couple of guys,” said King. “By the time we pull ACORN out by its roots America’s going to understand just how big this is.”

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Do spies still use Minox? Did they ever? I know that the 8 x 11mm Minox film camera was beloved of Hollywood … the hero (in the greatest possible danger) photographs the secret documents by the light of a desk lamp and then enlarges them to flawless, super sharp and legible 8 x 10″ prints. Congratulations, Mr Bond!

While this intro is firmly tongue in cheek – I’ve owned a Minox C for over 30 years – the comany’s web site is even more so. At Photokina 2008,  the company released a digital version of the traditional Minox, called the DSC.

The DSC is, basically, a variant of the technology Minox has been using in its jewel-like, but impractical, miniature replicas of Leica,  Contax, Hasselblad and Rolleiflex cameras.  It uses a 3.6MP chip – Minox claim 5MP interpolated) in a minute package that is truly carry anywhere, although its add-on flash is almost as large as the camera. A Minox trait since the early days.

In addition to the DSC, Minox also list a couple of APS film cameras and two models of the traditional Minox 8 x 11mm push-pull cameras. Along with some fascinating gadgets such as sunglasses that let you see what is going on behind.

All quite straightforward, so far, but purchasers of the DSC are invited to become an Agent on www.licence-to-shot.com, by filling out an Agent ID card.  Has anyone told the British police about this   … it would really feed their paranoia?

Agents are located by clicking on a tab on a map. To be honest there aren’t all that many. Some have galleries of their work on the site and as you would expect the quality is variable. Soome god, some woeful. But there is an energy and spontaneity lacking in most photographs taken with digital p&s cameras these days(which I put down to lack of an optical viewfinder)

Cost is 249 Euros (about $A400) including 19% VAT. About $A325, plus postage, as I guess VAT is not applicable to overseas buyers. Expensive in these days of $88 Nikon Coolpix from Harvey Norman, but not so bad alongside say, a Lubitel 166 from lomography.com at about $A422. The Minox is better made; shoots 640 x 480 video;  costs nothing to run and is truly pocketable.

And it has the cachet, real or imagined, as the camera spies use.

thinkgeek.com
The smokers in your office are up to something… but what? They huddle outside in all sorts of weather, flicking their lighters, puffing on their cigarettes, and discussing what you’re pretty sure is a plan to take over the world. Or at least the office park.
And you have your own plan, an awesome plan to take them down by collecting evidence of their nefarious schemes.

You’ll grab the Spycam Classic Lighter Camera, walk out to their area with a candy cigarette and record their smoke break conversation while trying futilely to light your sugar stick.

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fox2now.com

How To Protect Yourself From Being Secretly Video Taped

CHESTERFIELD, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) – The case against a Chesterfield CEO who police say secretly recorded women in a bathroom is expanding. We first told you about the story Wednesday night. Now, more potential victims are calling Chesterfield police. Jack Eigles, 55, is accused of using a hidden camera to covertly record women in the ladies’ bathroom at Corporate Cash Flow Solutions on Long Road in Chesterfield, Missouri.

Eigles, who lives in Chesterfield, founded the company and is the President and CEO. When we first reported the story Wednesday, Chesterfield police said they had three to five victims. After our story aired, police say they received five to ten new calls. Some of those might be potential new victims. Others were just concerned about contact they had with Eigles.

“We take all of this information and build even more of a case,” explained Chesterfield Police Lieutenant Steven Lewis.

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nbcchicago.com

Modern technology might be making life easier for some, but it flat-out perplexes many people, including one Elgin criminal.

Miguel Bribiescas, 25, admitted to placing a pen-size spy-camera in a unisex employee bathroom at Ridgefield Industries Inc. According to authorities, the camera did record one female employee without her permission before someone discovered the device on July 31 and turned it over to police.

But when police watched the video, the very first recorded scenes were of Bribiescas looking into the lens and trying to figure out his own camera. In fact, most of the recorded footage was of the confused criminal handling the device.

It’s likely that if he was dumb enough to attempt this perverted crime, he probably wasn’t smart enough to read the camera’s manual first.

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ledger-enquirer.com

net-security.org
The recession is creating camaraderie amongst workforces, at the expense of their employers, is the finding of a transatlantic survey. Carried out amongst 600 office workers in Canary Wharf London and Wall Street New York, 41% of workers have already taken sensitive data with them to their new position, whilst a third would pass on company information if it proved useful in getting friends or family a job.

Pilfering data has become endemic in our culture as 85% of people admit they know it’s illegal to download corporate information from their employer but almost half couldn’t stop themselves taking it with them with the majority admitting it could be useful in the future!

However, it would seem employers have only themselves to blame as they appear pretty lackadaisical when it comes to protecting their data from their employees with 57% of respondents stating that it’s become a lot easier to take sensitive information from under their bosses noses this year, up from 29% last year.

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wired.com
Welcome to the tinfoil hat club.

That’s what a federal appeals court is telling Scott Tooley of Kentucky in dismissing his civil rights lawsuit. Tooley believes the government put him under blanket surveillance after he said the word bomb to an airline agent.

Tooley sued the government on allegations of invasion of privacy and for violation of his First Amendment speech rights, claiming he was subjected to “round-the-clock surveillance” following his 2002 B-word utterance.

The alleged spying targeting Tooley ranged from phone taps to RFID chips on his vehicles. He claimed he was placed on an airline travel watchlist, and, in 2005, spotted an undercover agent in a Ford Crown Victoria parked outside his Louisville house for about six hours a day.

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Auch wir haben ja schon mal ganz gerne über die eine oder andere Spycam berichtet, steckt doch in jedem von uns – seine wir mal ehrlich – ein kleiner Voyeur.

Andererseits gibt es ja auch die Leute, deren Privatleben man beobachtet und die dies nicht so recht schätzen. Für sie gibt es den Spy Wifi Signal and Camera Lens Detector.

Während Anbieter Chinavision sich gründlich darüber ausschweigt, wie den der “Camera Detector”-teil des Geräts funktioniert, ist das mit dem Finden des Wifi-Signals schon einleuchtender.

Der Detector sucht die Frequenzen von 1 bis 6.500 MHz ab und schaut nach, ob es ungewöhnliche Aktivitäten gibt, was wiederum bedeutet, dass wohl Bildmaterial verschickt wird, das gerade in unbefugte Hände gelangt. Das bisschen mehr an Privatsphäre soll 60 Dollar kosten. [dieter]

[via Red Ferret]

theamericano.com

When asked what comes to mind when the word “espionage” is mentioned, most people would think of the CIA, the Cold War era KGB, or James Bond. The present reality is that espionage is taking on a new form, evolving into more than just the practice of stealing countries’ security secrets, and into the practice of stealing business secrets. Today’s most dangerous spies might not arrive in a helicopter or know how to disarm a bomb, but could be sitting in the next cubicle and drive a Prius.

Espionage, a topic whose actions are usually hidden in the shadows, has been brought into the light recently by various news stories. The story of the three American hikers being held in Iran on charges of spying has caught the attention of many. Industrial espionage also poses a great risk as companies all around the world strive to protect their competitive advantage. This is increasingly becoming more concerning to nations’ as they assess the potential risk of industrial espionage to national prosperity and growth.

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news.ninemsn.com.au
US police have released new hidden camera video of a woman allegedly attempting to hire a police informant to kill her husband.

Dalia Dippolito was arrested in August on a charge of solicitation to commit first-degree murder after Florida police staged an elaborate ruse to convince the 26-year-old her husband Michael was dead.

The new video allegedly shows Dippolito in a car with the informant, who was posing as the hired hit man.

“I’m a lot tougher than what I look,” she says in the clip.

“I know you came here and were like oh what a cute little girl or whatever — you know but I’m not.”

Dippolito proceeds to show the informant photographs of her husband and discuss a price for the murder.

“You’re extremely beautiful,” the informant says.

“Thank you but I just need to make sure everything is going to be taken care of,” she replies.

Police claim Dippolito gave the informant a down payment of $US1200 ($A1428) so he could buy a handgun.

She also allegedly asked for a time for the hit so that she could get her hair done in Boca Raton to create an alibi.

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wpix.com
NORTH HILLS, N.Y. (WPIX) – A North Hills cardiologist is adamantly denying charges that he spied on female employees with a hidden camera inside his Manhasset office bathroom.

Vincent Pacienza, 54, pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday to one count of second-degree unlawful surveillance, the charge reportedly handed down by a Nassau County grand jury on Oct. 29.

Pacienza was arrested by Nassau County police last June. He was released Wednesday on $2,500 bail.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Pacienza installed a video camera hidden inside an air purifier inside one of the bathrooms at Manhasset Cardiovascular and Wellness Center. Authorities said Pacienza shut down the employees-only bathroom after the camera was installed, which forced everyone that worked there to use the bathroom equipped with the camera.

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wired.com
The Army wants to instantly get eyes in the sky to watch over a potential enemy. But spy drones or satellites or even fighter jets can be too slow to handle the job. The answer: missiles that carry surveillance drones inside.

That’s right. The military wants to shoot off loads of flying, spying robots, using missiles to make for faster surveillance and attack. “ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) platforms delivered from missiles can potentially provide battlefield information that is only seconds old when transmitted from long ranges,” the Army explains in a request for research proposals. “This information is particularly valuable since it is so current. It provides the potential for striking a very mobile enemy before he has time to alter his position.”

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dvice.com

t’s official: you can never be sure someone isn’t watching you at all times. I mean, just take a look at this tissue box. It looks benign enough. But inside is a camera that takes color footage in the daytime and black and white footage at night, all at a resolution of 720×480 with a framerate of 30fps. It uses SD cards to store footage, and can be programmed to activate automatically at a particular time. In fact, there might be one somewhere in your home right now. Probably not, but there might be.

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dvice.com

Are there any objects you can trust these days? With cameras and their associated gadgetry getting smaller and smaller, virtually anything can be spying on you at any time. Just look at this spying Coke can, for example.

These fake Coke cans have a tiny camera and DVR built inside, as well as a fake bottom that can be removed to reveal a USB port and on-off switch. They also have a remote control so they can be started and stopped from afar. If this is a camera, what else is hiding spy equipment? Maybe it’s best not to think about it.

wishtv.com
NDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A Muncie man is in trouble for allegedly installing a hidden camera in a woman’s bedroom.

David Keller, 66, is a Muncie home builder and now, an accused voyeur.

Police said Keller put a hidden camera in the home of a woman for whom he had done some electrical work.

She told police she found the camera on her bedroom door.

Indianapolis private investigator Tim Wilcox showed 24-Hour News 8 a variety of cameras disguised as things like packs of gum and tennis shoes.

He showed 24-Hour News 8 cameras so little, they can fit in just about anywhere.

One is the size of his pinky fingernail. They’re tiny, and they’re affordable.

“The cost on a camera like this would range anywhere from $75 to $300,” Wilcox said. “Depending on the resolution quality and all that.”

And it’s easy to find. Just look on the Internet.

“The capability of perverts and voyeurs to access this technology is unlimited,” said Wilcox.

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nbcmiami.com
Cameras in a police station are nothing new for officers to deal with. But finding one in the internal affairs office interrogation room, where officers often go to rat on each other, may tear the Miami Beach Police Department apart.

A hidden camera was discovered by some Miami Beach officers earlier this month and now the rank and file are demanding an explanation, according to the Miami Herald.

Internal affairs officials said the camera, which could record audio and video, was installed for the “safety of the officer.”

The police union is calling it foul play.

“It’s illegal,” Union president Gene Gibbons told the Herald. “It’s completely unprofessional. It’s unethical.”

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office is investigating “cameragate” to see if anything criminal was behind the video equipment.

The camera has since been removed and a few memos explaining its origin has surfaced. And none of them involve Bob Saget from “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” The camera was requested and installed in 2004 by former Police Chief Donald DeLucca. Still, none of the rank and file knew of the covert camera.

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Controller (nicht die elektronischen, sondern die humanoiden) sind eine Spezies für sich, deren Denken und Fühlen 8so vorhanden) sich ihrer Umwelt nicht immer erschließt.

Schön, dass wir jetzt wenigstens etwas mehr wissen: Offenbar ist dieser Menschentypus so misstrauisch, dass der Einbau einer Videokamera in ihre allgegenwärtigen Taschenrechner wie ein folgerichtiger Schritt aussieht.

Der Spy Calculator aus dem fernen China jedenfalls strotzt in der Produktbeschreibung nur so von Überwachungstalenten: Nicht nur, dass er Ton und Bewegtbild auf 8GB eingebautem Speicher aufzeichnen kann; er will diese Informationen auch noch per Funk übertragen.

Wer sich nicht an ein paar Ungereimtheiten wie einer Seitenüberschrift für ein 4GB-Produkt stört (wo doch ansonsten immer von 8GB die Rede ist) und auch nicht skeptisch wird, wenn PAL-Bilder mit einer Auflösung von 628 × 582 versprochen werden, kann mit einer Investition von 79 Dollar in die Spitzengruppe der Bürospionage vordringen und erhält obendrein auch noch einen funktionsfähigen Taschenrechner.

Ob  der dann allerdings tatsächlich von Casio ist … naja, Schwamm drüber. [dieter]

[via Technabob]

hotelchatter.com

We were just starting to get over the uncomfortable idea that the creepy stalker of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews was actually helped on his perv mission by a hotel staffer when we came across this news last night–a family staying at a TownPlaces Suites Hotel outside Denver were also the victims of a hidden camera placed inside their hotel room.

Robert Reams and his family checked into their hotel room during a vacation in August. But while they were there, they had no idea that someone was watching them. WOWT TV reports:

From a hole nearly invisible to the eye, David Fugate was in the room with the family. The hole caught the attention of a hotel employee after the family checked out. “The maintenance people poked a pin in the hole and it poked back. They went and got a knife and cut it open to look inside,” says Reams. “When they looked inside the wall they found a camera.” Fugate had been observing the Reams family from an adjacent room using a wireless camera.

Can we reiterate–this was just an average family, at an average hotel. Not a famous sportscaster or a pop star going on a bender in a luxury hotel. Making it even worse, the family did not know that a perp has been spying on them until two months after they checked out.

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news.bbc.co.uk

A man has been found guilty of setting up secret cameras to spy on holidaymakers renting his cottage.

David Sturgess, 54, had denied 12 charges of voyeurism and three of taking indecent images of children.

Swansea Crown Court heard Sturgess hid four cameras in fake smoke alarms to film guests undressing, showering and having sex at Llandysul, Ceredigion.

He was told a jail sentence was likely because the offences against the children were so serious.

The case has been adjourned for pre-sentence reports.

He was bailed on condition he does not leave his home county of Ceredigion.

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wwltv.com
BOGALUSA, La. – Slidell Police arrested a man for allegedly spying on a woman while she showered, according to a statement from police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz.

Tuesday, Aaron Morphis, 26, of Slidell, turned himself into police after learning that he had an outstanding warrant, Foltz said.

The warrant was issued after a woman reported that while she was showering at her grandmother’s house, she noticed someone looking at her between the ceiling and shower vent, police said.

After the woman covered up and exited the shower, Morphis was seen coming out of the attic by the victim and her grandmother, police said.

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coolest-gadgets.com
There are all types of spy gadgets out there, the trick is finding the one that blends in the most with your style. After all, if you have top of the line electronics everywhere, a cheap alarm clock is going to stand out. If you have very sparse college room type furniture then a tissue box holder with a camera in it is probably going to raise some eyebrows. Well this tiny clock is just one of the many ways you can spy on people while you’re away.

Some might find it a touch paranoid that you have video surveillance going on, but if it helps you sleep at night, then it’s worth the cash. This tiny camcorder is built into the clock and has a built-in rechargeable Li-Battery. That battery will work for up to 2 hours of continuous use. It has 4GB of built-in memory and then is able to use a USB flash drive. It hooks up to your computer to swap out data and charge through a USB cable. It has a switch on and off button that will kick on a light that only briefly twinkles to let you know it’s working.

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