It features an internal sound amplifier, a 3.5mm jack for headphones and a USB port for recharging. Nice, but if you really want to take this whole scumbaggy espionage thing to another level, you go with the SIM card spy ear. [Chinagrabber via 7Gadgets via OhGizmo]

The technique, called variance-based radio tomographic imaging, processes signals from a 34-node IEEE 802.15.4 wireless network. It's the protocol for personal area networks used by home automation systems such as ZigBee.

The basic idea is straightforward. The signal strength at any point in a network is the sum of all the paths the radio waves can take to get to the receiver. Any change in the volume of space through which the signals pass, for example caused by the movement of a person, makes the signal strength vary. So by "interrogating" this volume of space with many signals, picked up by multiple receivers, it is possible to build up a picture of the movement within it.

They were able to detect movement in a room to within a meter or so, which is pretty good. They won't be able to see what you look like in the shower, however, so I'm going to call this a good advancement. But be careful, researchers. Don't try anything sketchy. [Technology Review via Slashdot]

The $170 system consists of two parts: a rechargeable wireless camera about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and a 2.75-inch wireless receiver/display. Mount the camera, plug-in the monitor up to 30 feet away, and watch the live stream.

Apparently, the camera also has nightvision capabilities (or at the very least works in low-light situations), and can record video to an SD card, which can you then copy over to your computer. [Brick House Security via Gearfuse]

Specifically, it's the IBM Social Network Analysis for Telecom Business Intelligence data mining tool, or SNAzzy for short, and it knows all about who called who and for how long on the network of "one of the largest mobile operators in the world."

The purpose of this snazzy snooping, as explained by Big Blue researchers, is to spot "churners" on a cell network who might influence their circle of friends with "profit-threatening behavior." The reasoning goes that when one person ditches a cell network for greener pastures, they can inspire their friends to do the same. Enter SNAzzy, which can apparently recognize this behavior, alert the carrier, and allow them to swoop in with retention materials and keep their remaining customers happy. It does this by mapping out call behavior, time, and a bunch of other heavy metrics that seem to be copy/pasted right out of the NSA.

Better still (I say sarcastically), IBM is already eying larger deployments beyond telecoms into areas like social networks. Personally, I can't wait to see what my Facebook picture stalking looks like when presented to me in graph form. [IBM va Slashdot]

I'll let Brando's stream-of-consciousness pitch speak for itself:

It's not ONLY a Normal Power Extension Bar, Slot your Sim Card and works as a Spy Ear! Slot the Sim Card inside this Power Extension Socket place it under the table and start your spy work! It is a Real Power Extension Bar support with 8 sockets. Also, the device can be recharged, it can still work for spy ear even not attach to the power outlet. You can place it ANYWHERE without notice by others!!

$66. [Brando vie Redferret]

Just slip your SIM card into the device, hide it out of sight, and dial your phone number from another phone. It's that easy—you will hear what's going on in the room from the headset. Sure, there are probably legitimate uses for a device like this—but I'll bet that most of you are not considering them. [Brando via Crunchgear]

The Joint Strike Fighter, also known as the F-35 Lightning II Fighter, is the most costly project in Pentagon history, so it's a little bit problematic that some spies scampered in and nicked an unknown, but undoubtedly large, quantity of data without getting anywhere near caught. The cyber-spies encrypted the data on its way out, so nobody's really sure where they came from or where the data went, but some IP addresses have been tracked to China, prompting a little bit of back-and-forth between the DoD and the Chinese government.

A Pentagon report issued last month said that the Chinese military has made "steady progress" in developing online-warfare techniques. China hopes its computer skills can help it compensate for an underdeveloped military, the report said.

The Chinese Embassy said in a statement that China "opposes and forbids all forms of cyber crimes." It called the Pentagon's report "a product of the Cold War mentality" and said the allegations of cyber espionage are "intentionally fabricated to fan up China threat sensations."

Though the most valuable information, including data on the F-35's flight control and sensors, is inaccessible (stored on non-networked computers), nobody's really sure exactly what happened, and nobody, from the manufacturers to the researchers to the Pentagon's press team, wants to talk about it. It's a pretty alarming read, check it out. Wall Street Journal, image also via WSJ

One of our editors tried it out, and was able to track members of his family without them knowing (UPDATE: Text messages were sent to the tracked phones, but notably not a single person who received them understood what they meant and ignored them)—and without his knowing the master password to the AT&T account. You just create a separate login for the service and voila. AT&T says in that case, the master account will be notified—by SMS, email and snail mail, with information on how to revoke the other person's permission to track numbers.

When Boy Genius tried it, they tracked phones totally silently, that is, without the phones receiving any indication of being observed. AT&T's policy states they'll be sent a notification once a month. Also, BGR mentioned that the service was able to access GPS position data on phones that had GPS—it wasn't just triangulating the phones using cell towers.

In consideration of privacy and healthy communication among family members, I think maybe AT&T should make sure the people being tracked know it very, very clearly, and I think that only the account holder(s) should be able to decide who gets tracked, like with other family tracking plans we've seen from Verizon and Sprint. And just remember this, sometimes not knowing is better. [AT&T via Boy Genius; AT&T's FAQ with Privacy Policy]

More seriously, the New York Times reports that this gigantic spy system has targeted and exploited computers in governments agencies around the world. Even the Dalai Lama, famed Tibetan exile, has had files corrupted in some way. In fact, the spy system was discovered when the esteemed Dalai Lama asked Canadian firm Munk Center for International Studies to do a little anti-virus work on his computer network.

Which leads us to the source of the ring. Evidence all but proves that China (infamous for its anti-Lama rhetoric) is the country of origin, as pretty much all the controlling computers resided within its borders. Gasp!

More than 1,295 computers in 103 countries were affected in some way by the spynet, and the researchers say it's the largest such ring ever discovered, in terms of the number of countries involved. The Chinese government has not been *officially* fingered as the originator, but I wouldn't fault you a bit if you were a little suspicious:

The electronic spy game has had at least some real-world impact, they said. For example, they said, after an e-mail invitation was sent by the Dalai Lama's office to a foreign diplomat, the Chinese government made a call to the diplomat discouraging a visit. And a woman working for a group making Internet contacts between Tibetan exiles and Chinese citizens was stopped by Chinese intelligence officers on her way back to Tibet, shown transcripts of her online conversations and warned to stop her political activities.

For their part, the Chinese have denounced the ring publicly, and researchers did caution that this could be the work of a private firm of "patriotic hackers."

Other GhostNet highlights include the ability to turn on webcams and microphones remotely, and a browser-based "dashboard" that the spies use to control their network of 1,295 computers. And yes, I mean a dashboard as in what you use to post those American Idol rants to your Wordpress blog. Researchers discovered the spynet using, of all things, a Google search.

The network continues to operate, by the way, which leads me to... Hey Frucci, you haven't been cavorting with the Dalai Lama lately, have you? [New York Times]

prism 200 is a handheld through-wall radar, which has been designed to be used by police, special forces or the emergency services.

It provides quick and covert intelligence on the movement and location of people in a room or building - without the need for invasive sensors. prism 200 has been designed for situations where a high degree of insight is essential for success.

This compact, portable and durable product uses advanced signal processing to highlight moving people and objects in cluttered environments, through doors or brick, block and concrete walls. prism 200 is easy to use and with the press of a button, operators can switch between front, plan or profile views for a complete picture. The user can also observe the scenario in a 3D view, where the perspective can be rotated to look at a room or building from various vantage points.

To extend the flexible operation of Prism 200 a Laptop Application has been developed that allows the user to remotely monitor and record the intelligence gathered. This permits Special Forces or Police Special Operation teams to deploy the Prism 200 Through Wall Radar and monitor the intelligence from a safe distance.

[Product Page via The Raw Feed]

We should note that the Pentagon admonition is only the first time the agency has publicly commented on satellite-on-satellite spying. It's probably been done, and done a lot, for a while now.

The satellites in question for this story, called MiTEx micro-satellites, are the direct result of work done at the DARPA project, whose internet-, gadget- and weapon-creating ways need no introduction here.

And they weren't checking out foreign satellites, at least not yet. In this case, two MiTEx micro-satellites were evaluating the failed U.S. 5,000lb. DSP 23 missile tracking satellite, which had launched successfully in November 2007, but failed soon after reaching a geostationary orbit. Its orbit has slowly degraded since then, endangering other geostationary satellites that share the space.

The controversy arrives when you start thinking about what's happening up there, right now. If a satellite can maneuver to within striking distance of another satellite, and can dance around it without crashing, what's stopping it from actually striking it some day?

Nothing really, which is why the UN is raising a stink. "I am positive other nations, particularly China, will find this development suspicious," said Theresa Hitchens, the incoming director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva. "And the US behavior regarding the program is hypocritical, given that Washington is always chastising Beijing for its lack of transparency regarding its space programs and intentions."

Regardless, the fact remains that the U.S. has a class of micro-satellite in orbit today that can spy on, track, maneuver around and eventually destroy other satellites. Just leave the Sirius XM ones alone, ok? I'm sorry, honestly, but I'm one of the few people who actually enjoys having the pricing plans changed on a whim while channels disappear and reappear at random.

UPDATE: We have spoken with Theresa Hitchens regarding an inaccurate quote attributed to her in this post. The quote attributed to her was incorrectly applied, and has been redacted due to its inaccuracy (above). The quote was given to Wired BEFORE she assumed the attributed role at the UN, and did not in any way mean she was speaking for the UN, or even for the UNIDIR, a think tank where Hitchens worked before arriving at the UN. We apologize to Ms. Hitchens for the error. — J.L.

[New Scientist]

The LightSpeed system exploits free-space optics—the ability to pass data between two points via an optical beam. The method usually involves lasers, but this system uses eye-safe infrared LEDs, similar to those used in TV remotes, says Leo Volfson, president of Torrey Pines Logic, which created LightSpeed. “The binocular has an attachment that fits over the ocular side,” Volfson says. “It produces a beam that comes out of the right eye of the binocular. On the left side is a receiver. If you look at me and I look at you, we’ll be able to talk or send information.” Range is determined by the strength of the optics. Unlike radio-wave transmissions, data transfer through the LED beam is undetectable.

There is no word on how much these things might cost, but the Volfson believes that his product has potential outside of the defense industry. That's right—bird watcher's worlds are about to get rocked by technology. [Popular Mechanics]

The drone, which will fly from the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, will begin its patrols in January. Ostensibly, it's on the lookout for terrorists who are trying to sneak into the States, but we all know who the real criminals are: Canadians who are sick of free healthcare and are looking to pay for hospital care in the US. We're on to you, you slimy Canucks! And we won't stand for it! [Breitbart]

And yes, it says "this is a surveillance camera" on the side, but it's still damn cute. Record my every move all you want, Daruma-san! [Japan Probe via Crunch Gear]

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, the Justice Department has sent back evidence that law enforcement officials can use Triggerfish pretty much whenever they want, without consulting the phone companies. This looks like the use of was could most charitably be called a giant goddamn loophole: secret Triggerfish deployment is OK because it only provides its users with rough location data by pairing serial numbers, phone numbers and other identifiers to a particular tower, rather than the actual content of conversations. The moral problems here are multifaceted, but the practical ones for, you know, fugitives, are easily solved: turn off your phone. You're welcome! [Ars]

While the laundry was indeed being washed, pressed and dry cleaned, it had one additional cycle — every garment, sheet, glove, pair of pants, was first sent through an analyzer, located in the basement, that checked for bomb-making residue. The analyzer was disguised as just another piece of the laundry equipment; good OPSEC [operational security]. Within a few weeks, multiple positives had shown up, indicating the ingredients of bomb residue, and intelligence had determined which areas of the city were involved. To narrow their target list, [the laundry] simply sent out more specific coupons [numbered] to all houses in the area, and before long they had good addresses. After confirming addresses, authorities with the SAS teams swooped down on the multiple homes and arrested multiple personnel and confiscated numerous assembled bombs, weapons and ingredients. During the entire operation, no one was injured or killed.

What an amazing operation. On the one hand, the privacy-minded part of me wants to object to tricking normal people into having their clothes inspected my the feds. On the other hand, this operation arrested bomb-makers who were planning to kill people without ending a single human life.

In any case, this is an amazing example of thinking outside of the box and a real-life operation that rivals any Hollywood movie. [Washington Post via Kottke]

This Orwellian nightmare center would obviously take a while to get put together, and it's not clear exactly what it'll consist of or how it'll be put together. The folks behind it have, however, figured out a way to push it through without requiring approval by parliament.

Sources said secret briefings revealed the cost of the database would run to nine figures and has already been factored into government spending plans. The IMP budget was part of the intelligence agencies' undisclosed allocation in the Comprehensive Spending Review last year. In an answer to a parliamentary question on 8 July, the Home Office refused to provide any budgetary details, citing national security concerns.

A Communications Data Bill mandating the database was expected to be proposed before the summer parliamentary recess, but did not appear. It had been planned that the database would be bundled with the EU Data Retention Directive (EUDRD), which must be enshrined in UK law by March 2009.

However, last week the government released a consultation paper on transposing the Directive as a standalone statutory instrument. Laws made by statutory instrument do not require a vote in Parliament.

Well, I guess the silver lining here is that all this garbage going on in the UK is making the US seem like a shining beacon of freedom and privacy. Which is not a good sign for you poor Brits. [The Register]