Archive for the ‘Covert Listening Devices’ Category

Covert Listening Devices

Surveillance devices, or "bugs", are not really a communications medium, but they are a device that requires a communications channel. A "bug" usually involves a radio transmitter, but there are many other options for carrying a signal; you can send radio frequencies through the main wiring of a building and pick them up outside, you can pick up the transmissions from a cordless phones, and you can pick up the data from poorly configured wireless computer networks or tune in to the radio emissions of a computer monitor.

Bugs come in all shapes and sizes. The original purpose of bugs was to relay sound. Today the miniaturization of electronics has progressed so far that even TV pictures can be broadcast via bugs that incorporate miniature video cameras (something made popular recently during TV coverage sports events, etc.). The cost of these devices has dramatically fallen.

A recent trend has been the development of surveillance devices or bugs concurrently with that of popular electronic devices. For example, a new surveillance gadget system involves the insertion of recording devices and cameras and communication devices into MP3 players and laptops; the surveillance agents pretending to be listening to music with MP3 players (such as Walkmans) or using laptops then sit near their targets to record their conversation. The control center gives commands to the surveillance agents through the laptops. The popularity of such items as MP3/MP4 players and laptops helps mask the widespread surveillance conducted in society after 9/11. The system is employed by the Department of Homeland Security among others.

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