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GPS Tracking; Legal?

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Lina Maini

gps

Recently a judge in New Jersey ruled that use of a GPS device to track a cheating spouse is not an invasion of privacy.  The premise for the ruling is that both parties shared the family vehicle and therefore, either could place the monitoring device on said vehicle. In an attempt to clarify the states’ position on GPS tracking, we held an informal study amongst our peers and researched existing legislation (including that also connected to wiretapping and privacy laws).

As best we can ascertain, there appears to be no definitive list of  state by state rulings on GPS devices and their placement on personal vehicles. Many states require the consent of the vehicle’s registered owner. Although the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that law enforcement agencies’ use of a GPS monitoring device constitutes an “illegal search” and that the potential surveillance subject is therefore protected against this type of monitoring under the Fourth Amendment, that clarity of use as of GPS tracking has not yet been legally defined for private sector use.

According to our knowledgeable friends at Brick House Security (NYC), it is  generally considered to be fair and legal usage of a GPS tracking device if:

  • You or your company own the vehicle.
  • You or your company do not own the vehicle, but you place the GPS device on the outside of the car — (e.g., under the rear bumper).
  • The vehicle is visible to the public — (e.g., in a parking lot or on a public street).
  • You could obtain the same information by physically trailing the vehicle.
  • The vehicle is not situated on someone else’s private property.

It’s generally illegal to use a GPS tracking device if:

  • You need to break into the vehicle to situate the device.
  • You need to physically hardwire the device inside the vehicle.
  • The vehicle is in a place where its owner has a reasonable expectation of privacy — in a private garage.

My suggestion for those wishing to engage in GPS surveillance of a subject, is to contact local police in the desired area of surveillance and ask within.

For additional GPS tracking related information, please read one of our  earlier articles on the subject, below linked.

Our Operatives: Street smart: info savvy.

As always, stay safe.

Related articles


http://beaconbulletin.com/2011/06/26/how-to-tell-if-your-car-phone-or-home-is-bugged/

EFF Urges Court To Stop Warrantless GPS Tracking (libertycrier.com)

Filed under: gps, ground tracking, Spying Equipment, surveillance | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Situations and Professions at High Risk for Covert Surveillance. Part I/II

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Lina Maini

Those of us in the investigative and intelligence gathering fields refer to October as Clean Up Month.  It’s this time of year when telecom, software and security related technology firms release new editions of their products.

(In our two-part series this week, we explore a) the situations and people  most likely to be covertly surveilled (at the end of this article, we list the FBI‘s top professions most likely to encounter bugging situations) and b) next week, we provide you with 25 tip-offs to potential bugging in your home, vehicle or office.)

Given the proliferation and ease of use now of “bugging” devices, the probability of being secretly recorded is higher than ever. So who is most likely to get bugged?

In Business

- Companies that have publicly traded stock (even more at risk, those about to IPO)

- Corporate entities experiencing labor problems, union activities or are in negotiation situations.

- Companies involved in any type of litigation or lawsuit.

- Businesses anticipating layoffs

- Companies involved in the fashion, automotive, advertising or marketing industries.

While anyone can be the target of covert eavesdropping, some people are at a higher risk thank other because of financial status, occupation, legal or domestic situation.  These targets may include:

- Spouses tend to secretly monitor each other (especially if involved in a divorce, child custody case or other serious financial position).

- Parents bugging kids

- Students bugging professors

- Business people bug each other

- Insurance companies but accident victims and other claimants

- Salespeople bug their clients

This list goes on ad infinitum, so when should you be seriously concerned?

You (and or someone close to you) is or have been:

- Involved in any type of litigation or lawsuit

- Been questioned or arrested by the police

- In the process of getting married, divorced, separated or recently widowed

- Running for ay type of elected public office

- Recently filed an insurance claim

- Are an executive or scientist at any large company

- Engaged in political demonstrations or activism

- Are in the upper income bracket

- Private investigators have been digging into your information

Extreme High Risk Businesses  (citing the FBI):

Materials:

  • Materials synthesis and processing
  • Electronic and photonic materials
  • Ceramics
  • Composites
  • High-performance metals and alloys

Manufacturing:

  • Flexible computer-integrated manufacturing
  • Intelligence processing equipment
  • Micro- and nano-fabrication
  • Systems management technologies

Information and Communications:

  • Software
  • Micro and optoelectronics
  • High-performance computing and networking
  • High-definition imaging and displays
  • Sensors and signal processing
  • Data storage and peripherals
  • Computer simulation and modeling

Biotechnology and Life Sciences:

  • Applied molecular biology
  • Computational Chemistry
  • Medical technology

Transportation:

  • Aeronautics
  • Surface transportation technologies

Energy and enviroment:

  • Energy technologies
  • Pollution minimization, remediation and waste management

Finally, we look at those professions that are particularly target for covert surveillance.

High Threat Occupations (again, according to the FBI):

- Attorney

- Doctor

- Chiropractor

- Dentist

- Architect

- Police Officer

- Court Clerk

- Judge

- Elected official

- Mayor

- Selectman

- School Principal

- Professor

- Product Engineer

- Software Developer

- Executive/Scientist at a large development company

- Employees at defense contracting companies

- Ministers and other religious leaders

- Corporate Buyer or Purchasing Agent

- Labor or Union Official

- Fashion employees

- Advertising personnel

- Personnel managers

Next week, in Part II of this series, we will define 25 “tip-off” clues that you or your business may be bugged.

Paranoia is unnecessary; vigilance required.

Our Operatives: Street smart, tech savvy.

As always, stay safe.

Filed under: cyber crime, data, security, Spying Equipment, surveillance, taped recordings, tapped | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Latest Top Five Spy Gadgets

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Lina Maini

We’ve had a lot of fun lately (Oh, come on. It’s not all sturm und drang out there for investigators), employing some of the coolest new/upgraded spy equipment ever invented for the public.

1. Digital Voice and Telephone Recorder. This compact and chic tool starts recording only by pushing one button. In case you suspect your spouse/mate of cheating, or want to listen to what back stabbers at work are  saying about you when you are out, this recorder gets the job done.

2.  Spy Watch Set  with Bluetooth Transmitter. This spy gadget looks and functions like standard watch, but with an  embedded Bluetooth transmitter and a wireless earpiece that enables covert communication between you and your partner.  You  can hear each other, while everyone remains oblivious to the secret transmissions.

3. Spy Glasses Set With Bluetooth Transmitter.   A completely new device out on the spy market that was created by teaming up  fashion designers with  technical engineers.  The  Spy Glasses set is compatible with any mobile phone featuring Bluetooth and comes with an ear bud to allow for covert communication with your partner.

4. Pocket-Sized Printer and Scanner.  A pocket-sized printer and scanner tool that will never fail you or have you facing the tangled wires and bulky size of previous “portable” printer/scanners.  When the situation is urgent, you need a reliable, small and effective device.  For printing and copying, this is it.

5. Spy Pen Set  We recently had to equip a client for a meeting with a would-be  extortionist.  This little audio and video pen recorder really came through.  The audio was clear and ungarbled; excessive external noise canceled.  The video is in HD and even with the pen in motion, remains focused on the subject.  This has become our favorite spy device of choice of late.

Word to the wise:  Before purchasing and using the above spy tools, take the time to consult with a covert equipment specialist.  If the situation is important enough to buy the device, get the expert’s advice.

MPI Operatives: Street smart, tech savvy.

As always, stay safe.

Related articles

Filed under: Spying Equipment, surveillance, taped recordings, Tech Tips, technologies, tracking device, video recording | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Your Tattletale License Plates

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Lina Maini

The Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) scanning systems are one of the newest law enforcement technologies. The system consists of cameras mounted on police cars, hooked up to a computer inside the vehicle.  License plates images are scanned and matched to a real-time centralized database. This database flags vehicles that have been identified as

  • Stolen Vehicles
  • Wanted for an Amber Alerts
  • Expired Registration
  • Expired Insurance
  • Wanted as “Persons of Interest” for any investigation
  • Suspended Driver’s License
  • Outstanding Criminal Warrant
  • Outstanding Municipal Taxes or other Fines and Fees
  • Are Wanted for any other government purpose

The system is matched to the vehicle’s owner via a DMV database. So, you can just be driving along and find yourself pulled over by the police, not having committed any traffic violation.

How Many License Tags Can Be Scanned?

Short answer: thousands of tags per hour.  One police car parked on the side of a road can scan just about every car in sight, including one driving in the opposite direction at 70 miles an hour.  (No, the answer is not to drive 80 mph +.)

What Happens To The Scanned Images?

Every image is time, date and location saved.  Permanently.  So now reports of your driving locations (whether you were stopped or not) have become records and collected into various databases: those of state and local law enforcement, DMVs and the FBI‘s National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

The Problem, You Ask?

As more systems go online and interconnected across local, state and federal jurisdictions,  police can easily identify the touch points of any scanned tag’s vehicle location.

You can easily imagine the knock on your door if you (probably unknowingly… I allot the benefit of the doubt), stopped in front of  a known drug dealing location, parked by a wanted person’s vehicle or passed a toll directly after a person suspected of a crime.  BTW, how many times have you attended political events.  Call the cops, they’ll let you know.

The truth is that the use this placement data can be used as circumstantial evidence against you and we’ll soon find many innocent people in court, defending their drive down Main Street.

Aren’t These License Tag Scanners Violating My Rights??

No.  According to the law, you have no expectation of privacy while out in public.  This has already been through the courts which have upheld that police officers are allowed to randomly run license tags as they pass by.

In the case of United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Charles N. Matthews, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a “license plate was in plain view on the outside of the car” and hence, is “subject to seizure” because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

In the case of United States of America, Plaintiff v. Curtis Ellison, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held:

Thus, so long as the officer had a right to be in a position to observe the defendant’s license plate, any such observation and corresponding use of the information on the plate does not violate the Fourth Amendment.

These new ALRP scanning systems simply allow the scanning to be more comprehensive in the number of tags scanned and permanent. 

Bottom line.

Someone should be asking if any restrictions exist on the use of this data to check up on ordinary Joes and Janes, going about their regular business. 

BNI Operatives: A step ahead.

As always, stay safe.

 

Filed under: scanner, speed, Spying Equipment, summonses, surveillance, technologies | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

How To Tell If Your Car, Phone or Home Is Bugged

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Lina Maini
Magellan Blazer12 GPS Receiver.

Image via Wikipedia

How To Tell If Your Car is Bugged

(We’ll presume you’ve conducted a physical search of the vehicle and as all GPS must have eyes-to-skies to receive and transmit info, have checked the wheel wells, near the middle pillar, and the bumpers.  A location monitoring device will not be secretly embedded in the engine or under piles of soft seat cushion.)

A GPS device  is now standard in vehicles,  whether embedded in its original design or as an add-on that can be attached to an electrical port.  Great tool to have if you are experiencing car problems or are simply lost.

There many come a time and circumstance, however, that one feels s/he is being tracked, via their active vehicular GPS.  The “why” is fairly irrelevant in that it usually generates from  several categories; s 1. your spouse may be cheating (thereby wanting to know YOUR location), 2. you are /are not cheating and your spouse suspects it , 3. you’ve managed to red flag the government, 4. business mistrust and or 5, some nut is stalking you and or your family.  There really are few other reasons wherein which one would find him/herself in this situation unless we trip into fiction.

Your vehicle’s GPS can easily be hacked into  and the info transmitted to a third-party with a receiver.  The easiest immediate  solution is to use your smart phone’s GPS.   (Vehicle and phone GPS systems use different frequencies.)  The turn on/off switch may be three or so menus down but the factory default is set on “Enabled”.  Better yet, if you have reason to keep your movements to yourself, use a paper map.

How To Tell If Your Cell Phone Is Tapped

(Notice: Most models manufactured after 2007 have built-in GPS so your location is easily broadcast.)

1. Check your bluetooth settings.  If an extra unknown name is listed, someone with access to your cell, has added themselves in as a passive third part listener (and potentially, recorder).

2. You may hear static from your cell, even if not is use.

3. You hear static noises when your phone is brought near to an electronic device (e.g. radio)

4. Look at the usage and note if it is constant or there are unaccountable time and data usage spikes.

Bottom line, the only way to make sure you aren’t giving out info via your cell is to remove the battery.  That does render the phone rather useless though.

How to Tell If Your Home Is Bugged

1.  Note any strange noises emitted from your phone, tv, computer or radio.

2. Check the locks and determine if they feel as secure.  If the key sticks, the lock may have been manipulated.

3. Check new objects in the home (all clocks, desktop fixtures, even pens) for physical bugs.

The easiest method of  identifying  unwanted spying equipment is a small bug detector. They retail now for extremely reasonable prices, are highly effective and relatively easy to operate.  Our favorite NY store is Brickhouse Security.  They carry a wide variety of bug detectors that range from heavy-duty to hand-held and most can monitor wireless and wired objects.  The price range is just as varied (from under $100 to over $1,000 – based on need.

BNI Operatives – A step ahead.

As always, stay safe.

Related Articles

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WordPress is experiencing tech issues. We will be up shortly.

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Lina Maini

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