Reference list

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Khandelwal, S. (2016, November 04). Wi-Fi can be turned into IMSI Catcher to Track Cell Phone Users Everywhere. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from http://thehackernews.com/2016/11/imsi-track-cellphone.html

Kishore, A. (2014, August 26). How to Detect Computer & Email Monitoring or Spying Software. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-detect-computer-email-monitoring- or-spying-software/

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Ionescu, D. (2010, July 22). 12 Top Spy Gadgets. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/201703 /Spy_Gear_for_Your_Inner_Evelyn_Salt_and_James_Bond.html

Smith, M. (2010, July 27). The Next Big Privacy Concern: RFID. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from http://www.networkworld.com/article/2231436/microsoft-subnet/the-next-big-privacy-concern--rfid--spychips-.html

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Steinberg, J. (2014, July 08). These Devices May Be Spying On You (Even In Your Own Home). Retrieved March 15, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2014/01/27/these-devices-may-be-spying-on-you-even-in-your-own-home/#7fcc0a3b859c

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The Disadvantages Of Public surveillance

Last I have discussed about the advantages of public surveillance. Like I have promised, in this entry I will discuss about the disadvantages of public surveillance. What does the government take away from its citizens to reach goals to increase safety? It could costs us our privacy or freedom. Due to reduce the rate of crime, the government should increase the control of its citizens. With the development of technology, the government may obtain too much power, so sometimes it may ignore something which are also important rights for people.

 Disadvantages of government surveillance : 

1) It invades privacy - Most people are paranoid of the fact that they are being watched and that they might have lose their freedom of privacy of life.

2) government may have too much power to control its citizens’ lives - The government will have a great facility to do surveillance on their people. Even when the leader are using it with good intention, what happens when there are changes of leaders and their cabinet and the new leader decided to use the convenience of surveillance for his bad intentions.

3) Using our images for the wrong reason - People might use some of the images obtained from surveillance cameras for blackmailing or for their own personal gain in some way instead of using the surveillance cameras for catching people committing crimes

4) Mistakes - Technologies like Cameras and computers can also make mistakes for example speed cameras on occasions are known to exaggerate the speed a car is going and give it a ticket when it was actually driving the regular speed.

In a nutshell, it is actually depends on the government and its people to decide which is the best. I can understand that we have the potential to establish a safer with government surveillance. However, governments should try not to reduce citizens’ rights of freedom and privacy. The government should respect these but not ignore them to achieve the goals.

 

The Advantages Of Public surveillance

This topic is absolutely very controversial, there are always debates between conservatives who prefer public surveillance and liberals who oppose it. In this entry, i will discuss about the advantages of public surveillance and then disadvantages for the next entry. According to surveys, deterrence is still the primary objective of public surveillance.

Advantages of public surveillance :

1) Preventing crimes

Those who plan conduct a heist will always considers the risk of being detected through surveillance effort. Even more, they would be scared to execute their crime scheme.

Would-be criminals perceive a greater risk of being caught if they know they are being watched. Like an old saying, prevention is better than cure.

2) Law-abiding citizens perceive an enhanced sense of safety where surveillance systems exist. 

People will feel more confident to go out for work on daily basis rather that keep thinking of being bombarded while drinking coffee in Starbucks. 

3) Surveillance systems are thought to enhance the efficiency of criminal justice jurisdictions 

    that implement them.

With surveillance technologies, more and more evidence can be collected thus reducing the 

possibility of charging the wrong person as guilty. Recorded footage documenting criminal activity

increasing police and prosecutorial efficiency to the benefit of crime victims.

4)  Cost On Police Force :

Budget can also being cut  when these surveillance technology is doing the job that really replace the old method that may csots more. For expmple, authorities do not need to spend large amounts of money on police with surveillance cameras.

5)  Environmental Monitoring 

During seasons when weather patterns are unpredictable, people with different kind of jobs can plan ahead to make sure that thay wont be affected by natural disaster. 

So these are some of the most-interesting discussion regarding advantages of surveillance . The fact is, the advantages of surveillance technology can be applied in an unlimited number of ways. Stay tuned for my next entry that will be discussing about disadvantages of public surveillance.

Home Devices That Can Be Turned To Watch Over You (Shocking Discovery)

Hi i am back with more topic to be discussed for my entry. This entry i will give you a shocking facts that might blow your mind. It is about how your devices at home can be used to spy on you. You must be wondering how is that even possible? In this era of technology, this kind of thing is not very hard to execute at all.

Here are the devices  That Can Be Turned To Watch Over You :

1)  Your Television

 It has been reported that a particular TV brand company were found to spy on not only what channels were being watched, but even transmitted back to LG the names of files on USB drives connected to the television. It is alos for hackers nowadays to hack some models of Samsung TVs and use them as vehicles to capture data from networks to which they are attached, and even watch whatever the cameras built in to the televisions see.

2) Your Kitchen Appliances

Modern kitchen nowadays are starting to be equipped with connectivity that allows for great convenience. However, this convenience makes it vulnerable to the potential of spying and security risks. Information about when you wake up in the morning (as extrapolated from data on your Internet-connected coffee maker) and your shopping habits (as determined by information garnered from your smart fridge) can help robbers target your home.

3) Your Modem (and Internet Service Provider)

 Like i said before, If government agencies can dedicate money, people and effort to hack into something, they can do it. In this case, your ISP could easily compile a list of Internet sites with which you have communicated if the government demanded them to do so. Even without the help of the ISP, they could even hacked in themselves. Worse yet, since people often subscribe to Internet service from the same providers as they do television service, a single party may know a lot more about you then you might think.

4)  Your Webcam or Home Security Cameras

 An ex-intelligence officer who himself a networking expert, told the public that even the webcam in your PCs and laptop can be turned on by third parties. A malware is installed on your computer to take control of the webcam and record you by taking photos or video unaware.

5)  YourEntertainment Devices other than phones

As an example, an iPod are often Wi-Fi enabled and pose similar to risks to smartphones as discussed above. Of course if you are reading books or magazines, watching videos, or listening to audio supplied by an online provider, your choices and preferences are likely being tracked.

6)  Last but not least! Your Smartphone

Your ISP have your info, Google have some of your info for android users and Apple also can have your info if you use an iPhone. Some apps sync your contacts list to the providers’ servers by default, and others have been found to ignore privacy settings. Phones may even be capturing pictures or video of you when you do not realize and sending the photos or video to criminals!

This just proves that even when you are at home thinking that you are in your own castle. But today, it is no more. A phones is a mans castle and when it can be hacked, then you live in a vulnerable world. Here is one very interesting videos entitled A state of surveillance in YouTube. Be sure to watch it. Clink the link below!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucRWyGKBVzo

Wildlife surveillance

Hey guys. How are you? Today i am pretty exited to tell you guys that in this entry, it is going to be my favorite topics which is Wildlife surveillance. Why did i say favorite? It is because i love animals and i believe that wild species especially endangered species should receive help from us in order to conserve their population. So as i have explained before in my entry about RFID where i said that researcher tagging the animal with some sort of tracking devices that allows them to track the location, the movement pattern and behavior pattern of the animal. 

Why did they do that? Why wildlife surveillance important? It is because in conserving endangered animals, surveillance is crucial. we need to know about their location to study about their behavior, and to provide security to them. This will make conservation effort easier thus able to increase total population of that particular animal. Instead of animal surveillance, it is commonly called animal tracking. Like i said before, the data from animal tracking helps us understand how individuals and populations move within local areas, migrate across oceans and continents, and evolve through millennia. 

So these are some methods applicable for animal tracking

1) Good old fashioned  wildlife Tracking

It uses traditional Ecological Knowledge basis of most cultures around the world, interpreting the indirect evidence (tracks and signs) left behind by wildlife continues to be a fundamental field skill in the modern fields of wildlife research and management, hunting, and environmental education.

An animal footprints (possibly a feline)

2)  Global positioning system (GPS)

Usually a collar is used with GPS system embedded with it.  The function is to calculate the location of an animal at specific time intervals using positions estimated by a network of satellites. These locations can be stored on-board the tag or transmitted to the user through a communication network. These tags can provide pretty accurate locations of the animals. However, these tags are relatively expensive and heavy, and so are usually limited to use on larger animals and require a large research budget if many animals will be tagged.

A jaguar strapped with GPS collar in its neck

3)  Remote Camera Traps

The third one is relatively common which is always used by conservationist, wildlife photographer or even poachers.  When the animals are spotted, this confirms that the animal still inhabiting in the ecosystem. The main concept of this is called wildlife trapping, which is to detect and study wildlife without directly interacting with or harming wildlife. Remote camera traps are designed to capture images or video footage of wildlife using either naturally occurring or strategically placed attractants or predicated travel corridors. Camera trap design depends on the target species, landscape, time frame, and often a number of other management considerations.

This camera, attached to the tree was set to monitor a game trail on the edge of a wetland. It focused on a scent marking scrape of a mountain lion. We need to be careful of setting up the camera to prevent damage to the camera.

In just one month, a mountain lion returned to this location and marked at the same location. Scent marking locations are an example of a natural attractant that can be used to successfully locate a camera trap.

4) Genetic Sample Collection (Biometrics)

This is the concept of biometric surveillance as i have explained to you in my previous entry. It uses DNA analysis. Researchers collects biological samples like scats and fur and then conduct genetic analysis to answer research questions including species identification, home range size, and population dynamics. Samples are collected from naturally deposited material such as scats and fur found in beds and tracks, or through artificial collection methods, mainly as hair snagging devises. 

So these are all of the very informative Wildlife surveillance that i explained for your digest. In my honest opinion, wildlife surveillance is important to help the effort of maintaining the population of wildlife population.

Spying Devices

My my. Don't we had a wonderful topic that have been discussed in last entry. Alright powderhead, have you ever wonder does James Bond equipment and devices really exist? This is because when we think of spying devices, what comes first in our mind will probably about James Bond kind of devices. Well, this is your lucky day because i am about to give some brief information about real-life spying devices.

 The cool thing is, the real life gadgets can be bought online in such an easy way. A lot of spying gadgets for sale can be found in the Internet.

Here are some examples of real-life spying devices/gadgets :

Remote Monitoring

What does these three items share in common? well they are basically equipped with spying capabilities.

# The Small Black and white wall clock camera has a black-and-white camera hidden inside, 

# the Air Freshener has a color camera inside plus a SIM card that lets you watch the live video feed on a 3G phone

# Power Strip Hidden Audio Monitoring Device (above) which is also have a SIM card and a microphone.This enables you to dial in and listen to conversations. 

Keyloggers

It functioned as a cracking tools for any encryption code in a computer file. After that we need to find the users password and that's when this device perform that is when the user want to key in their password, this device will record every keystroke that a user enters on a specific computer thus gives you the precious password.

Document Scanners

Well, this device is pretty awesome. It can actually scan any documents on paper by moving the pen through every line of the documents. It comes with 64MB of internal memory, takes Micro SD cards for expansion, and can perform Bluetooth transfers as well. Well usually people will hardly noticed what youre doing because the think you must be writing something.

Night Vision Scope

This item must be a familiar one especially when you have played counter strike or watching special force kind of movies. This tools is very suitable at night which is suitable for
camping, boating or wildlife observation, as well as for espionage. It comes with monocular and binocular version. you can also attach to a tripod, a built-in LCD screen, and a rubberized body.

Aerial Snooping

This one type of small drones that have the capabilities such as
carries microphones, shoots photos and video, and comes equipped with sensors for detecting poisonous gases and radiation. It is only 6 inches wide, it also lets you snap photos from heights of up to 80 feet and download them to your PC via USB.

Keychain Voice Recorder

  

This key-chain is one of a kind. It has a voice high quality recording capabilities with 10 Hour Battery Life.  With one button operation you will be able to quickly and easily activate the recorder with a simple twist of the end cap. CD quality files are created in MP3 format as soon as you activate the recorder. Running an outstanding 10 hours per charge, this keychain voice recorder will always be there for you.  And with 4GB of memory you’ll be able to save your important files and carry them with you.

In my view, this just show that how easy it is for ordinary people to buy these spying device which is quite worrying. This is because with such capabilities, people will tend to use it in a bad way such as stealing information that does not belong to them.

Global Positioning System (gps) tracking unit

Hey ho! The last post was fun and it filled with a lot of great information. So can you guess what am i going to explain in this entry? Thats right, it is time for the GPS tracking unit. As usual i will explain what exactly is the GPS.

Simply put, Global Positioning System (gps) is a global navigation satellite system that provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. GPS system is owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Air Force. Similar navigation system are known as  GLONASS (Russia), BeiDou-2 (Chinese), or Galileo (European) . GPS system use satellites to perform.

On the other hand, a GPS tracking unit is a device, normally carried by a moving vehicle or person, that uses the Global Positioning System to determine and track its precise location, and hence that of its carrier, at intervals. The recorded location data can be stored within the tracking unit, or it may be transmitted to a central location database, or Internet-connected computer, using a cellular (GPRS or SMS), radio, or satellite modem embedded in the unit. Nearly all today's smartphones are equipped with GPS capability.

GPS satellite trackers are an ideal way to 
1) obtain accurate, real-time location-based information about a child, an adult, a vehicle or even.
     some other type of asset that you may have.
2) Let you know exactly where something is (like a vehicle) with just a few quick clicks of a button 
    (great for theft prevention)

Function of GPS trackers

  # Used for law enforment. For example a bailed ex-prisoner may have to wear a GPS tracker, 
     usually an ankle monitor, as a bail condition.  

  # Espionage. A tracker on a person or vehicle allows movements to be tracked.

  # Race control. in some sport, participants are required to carry a tracker allows race officials to
     know if the participants are cheating, taking unexpected shortcuts, and how far apart they are.
 
  # Aircraft trackers. Aircraft can be tracked either by ADS-B (primarily airliners), or by FLARM
     data packets picked up by a network of ground stations (primarily used by General Aviation
     aircraft, gliders and UAVs), both of which are data pushers. 

  # Parents to tracking their children.
 
  # Adventure sports: in case of accident, this allows rescue personnel to locate the unfortunates.


To me GPS system is very crucial in our daily life especially in terms of missing phones and individuals. And it could locate the located of the missing thing. Plus it is also convenience in showing the best route if we are not familiar to the road of a particular city. For example Google map navigation system.

The concept GPS system

 

GPS Logic

 

Radio-frequency identification (RFD)

Last entry, I talked about satellite imagery surveillance where i give some brief insights of what is satellites, the types and its specific purpose. In this entry however, i will move to the next surveillance technology which is Radio-frequency identification (RFID). So what is RFID?

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a piece of technology that usually comes in a form of little tags/microchips. It can holds information and to read it, a RFID reader is needed which uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track chips attached to objects. 

There are two types of tags which is passive and active tags. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader's interrogating radio waves while active tags have a local power source such as a battery and may operate at hundreds of meters from the RFID reader. It can also can be read when the tags is embedded in the tracked object. 

RFID can be used in a variety of applications, such as:

• Access management
• Tracking of goods
• Tracking of persons and animals
• Toll collection and contactless payment
• Machine readable travel documents
• Smartdust (for massively distributed sensor networks)
• Tracking sports memorabilia to verify authenticity
• Airport baggage tracking logistics
• Timing sporting events

In surveillance however, there can be several situation and motives. These list below are the function of surveillance that can be applied in RFID

1) Employees tag.

    Some companies prefer to tag their workers by incorporating RFID tags in employee ID badges. 

2) Baby tagging

    RFID tags also used in newborn baby in the form of ID bracelets to prevent kidnappings.

3) Human embedded micro tags

    Recently there has been a tags called Verichip which is a variation of RFID device with the size of

    slightly larger than a grain of rice, and is injected under the skin. There has been reports that the 

    injection is as painful as being shot. The chip is encased in glass, and stores a "VeriChip Subscriber

    Number" which the scanner uses to access their personal information, via the Internet, from  

    Verichip Inc.'s database, the "Global VeriChip Subscriber Registry". It is used for identity   

    verification, location traking.

  

4) Wildlife animal tags

     Usually when we watch wildlife documentary, we usually see the the researcher tagging the

     animal with some sort of tracking devices that allows them to track the location and the

     movement pattern and behavior pattern of the animal. It comes in the form of external 

     devices and embedded devices.      

However, in my opinion, this technology may cause harmful effects. Among them are

1) Cancer 

2) Security risks such as vulnerable to being read by third-party scanners (scanning secretly, someone

    could steal the information on a chip and clone the signal, enabling that person to impersonate a  

    chipped individual)

 

Smart Tag from Touch N Go is an example of RFID system and it allows the driver to tag without stopping and open the window.

A Verichip twice the size of a grain of rice (left)

Surveillance through satellite

Have you ever wonder how our television service provider can transmit the television program right in our television. This is because the transmission process occurs with the help of satellite technology. So what is satellite then? Heres some unique approach on defining satellite.

According to NASA "a satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. For example, Earth is a satellite because it orbits the sun. Likewise, the moon is a satellite because it orbits Earth. Usually, the word "satellite" refers to a machine that is launched into space and moves around Earth or another body in space."

So basically, there are thousands of man-made satellites that is being used according to its specific functions. Among them are :

1) Take pictures of the planet that help meteorologists predict weather and track hurricanes. 

2) Take pictures of other planets, the sun, black holes, dark matter or faraway galaxies thus helping scientists to understand the solar system and universe in a better way. 

3) Communications, such as beaming TV signals and phone calls around the world. 

Much to your surprise, these satellites can also be used as a surveillance device. It can also being called as reconnaissance satellite which is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications.

Military intelligence Reconnaissance satellites and Reconnaissance aircraft sensors are now being used to observe the activities of some citizens. The satellites and aircraft sensors will be able to penetrate cloud cover, detect chemical traces, and identify objects in buildings and "underground bunkers", and will provide real-time video at much higher resolutions than the still-images produced by programs such as Google Earth.

Types of reconnaissance satellites :

 

Missile Early warning

Used to warn any impending attack by detecting ballistic missile launches. One of the latest known missile early warning satellite that has been launched is the Americas' Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellite (SBIRS Geo-3) built by Lockheed Martin.

Nuclear explosion detection 

This type of satellites is used to identify and characterizes nuclear explosions in space. Known example is Vela satellite.

Photo surveillance 

Capturing the images of the earth from space. These Images can be a survey or close-look telephoto. Corona (satellite) is the earliest known. Spectral imaging is commonplace.

Electronic-reconnaissance 

The function of this satellites is gathering intelligence by intercepting stray radio waves. Samos-F is one of the example.

Radar imaging 

This satellites use synthetic aperture radar which can be used at night or through cloud cover. For example, the US-A series.

 

Among the mission that are using reconnaissance satellites are

• High resolution photography 
• Measurement and Signature Intelligence
• Communications eavesdropping 
• Covert communications
• Monitoring of nuclear test ban compliance 
• Detection of missile launches 

A propaganda poster about illegal spying on the people

A joint operation in inventing space surveillance

 

Surveillance Drones

Hey again. Last episode i covered about aerial surveillance. It must have been a newfound knowledge for you guys. In this entry, i will do some sort of sequels of the last entry which will be focusing on Surveillance drones. So what in the world is surveillance drones? First you will need to know about drone technology.

 Generally, we call the drones but their real name according to military terms are UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems). Drones can be in the form of big plane to micro drones at the size of a small bird.

• Micro air vehicle (MAV) – the smallest UAVs that can weight less than 1g.
• Miniature UAV (also called SUAS) – approximately less than 25 kg.
• Heavier UAVs. 

 They are used in situations where manned flight is considered too risky or difficult. Their function can be in the form of reconnaissance, logistics, surveillance, dogfights, supplier and even casual use such as camera for photography and recording.  In surveillance, surveying through manned

notable surveillance capabilities

*  advanced surveillance such as live-feed video cameras, infrared cameras, heat sensors, and radar.

*  stay in air the hours for hours or days at a time

*  high-tech cameras capable of scanning entire cities, if they zoom in and read a milk carton from

   60,000 feet (military version)

*  wifi crackers and fake cell phone towers that can determine your location or intercept your texts

    and phone calls.

Despite the advancement of this surveillance technology, public and privacy law has constantly condemning the drone technology which have a disturbing tendency that move the function of surveillance of warfront to the surveillance of homefront. It is also reported that in some countries police may believed to be using drones to spy on citizens with no warrant or legal process whatsoever. Our freedom and privacy can easily being put at risk. 

A military heavy surveillance drone

helicopter micro drones being used by military in afghanistan

Small lightweight police drones that is used for surveillance

Aerial Surveillance

Last post I talked about the bio metrics surveillance which is a pretty awesome surveillance method. In this posts, i would like to tell you about one the best method of surveillance which is aerial surveillance. So what exactly is aerial surveillance?

Aerial surveillance is the gathering of surveillance, usually visual imagery or video, from an airborne vehicle such as an unmanned aerial vehicle, helicopter, or spy plane. It have been used widely among the military , government agencies in roles such as intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, airspace surveillance, observation (e.g. artillery spotting), border patrol and fishery protection. In uncommon cases, individuals also use aerial surveillance. Typically, surveillance aircraft is not armed with deadly weapon, or no weapon at all. There are surveillance aircraft that is stealthy, some of them are just a modified civilian aircraft, balloon typed aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

I will categorize 3 of the most common roles  of aerial surveillance.

1) Maritime patrol

Acted as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft. Usually, they use a long duration    aircraft like the  fixed-wing aircraft which is very suitable for patrol roles to find submarines, ships and search and rescue mission.

  

    #equipment : *Radar to detect surface shipping movements, submarine,snorkel and periscope

                          *Magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) to detect the iron in a submarine's hull.

                          *Sonobuoys (self-contained sonar transmitter/receivers dropped into the water                                       to transmit data back to the aircraft for analysis.

                          *ELINT sensors to monitor communications and radar emissions

                          *Infrared cameras  for detecting exhaust streams and other sources of heat and are

                            useful in monitoring shipping movements and fishing activity.

                       

                    

2) Law enforcement

Government and international agencies use aerial surveillance for the purpose of border patrol, "transit monitoring", and general surveillance of the country's population. Nowadays most of the aircraft use for this role is the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or simply called drones.

   

    #equipment : * IMSI-Catcher

 
3) Battlefield and airspace surveillance

The most common roles that have always been  associated with aerial surveillance in movies is the battlefield and airspace surveillance. Usually there are 2 major function for this role which is Airborne early warning and control which is used to detect aircraft, ships and vehicles at long ranges and perform command and control of the battlespace and Airborne ground surveillance (AGS) used for detecting and tracking ground targets, such as vehicles and slow moving helicopters and their role is detecting and tracking aircraft in flight.

  

     #equipment : Advanced radar that can track 20 targets simultaneously, detecting aircraft up to

                          150 km (90 mi) away, and surface warships up to 200 km (120 mi) distant.

                         

Personally, i think that surveillance through aircraft is absolutely crucial as well as convenience as it can really give an intelligence advantage especially in modern warfare where it caould save hundreds of soldiers' lives.

A military surveillance aircraft

A fixed-wing aircraft equipped with surveillance cameras

Biometric surveillance

Hello again folks! another day in sunshine?  Have you guys seen any movie about heist? then, I suppose that you must have seen the stealer trying to gain access to the target money through bypassing their fingerprint security. Those are one of the examples of biometric surveillance. So what is biometric surveillance?

"Biometric" itself means metrics related to human characteristics. Biometric surveillance is a technology that measures and analyzes human physical and/or behavioral characteristics for authentication, identification, or screening purposes. Biometric identifiers are often categorized as physiological versus behavioral characteristics.

Examples of biometric identification

 physiological :

 1) fingerprints

 

2) DNA

3) facial patterns, facial recognition

 

4) palm veins

 5) palm print,  hand geometry

6) iris recognition, retina

7) odour/scent.

 

behavioral characteristics:

1) gait (a person's manner of walking)

2) voice.

3) Typing rythm

Biometrics surveillance is a strong type of detection . Biometric surveillance may make air travel and any large event (like the Olympics) a little bit safer because terrorists, rioters, pickpockets and purse-snatchers will be aware that they could be identified and apprehended even before they act.  Nowadays almost everyone can be identified through physiological characteristics. For examples, our fingerprints may contain all of our personal and classified information such as bank password and many more.

IMSI Catcher

Alright folks I know you are all heated up in this post. After reading the last post, you must be asking "hey wait a minute that is an old wiretapping technology". Well, I am completely aware of that and i did not explain it in the last blog because i don't want to put everything in one post. So there you go, this post is all about "Modern Wiretapping".

Recently, a presidential candidate in a particular country claimed that the current president had ordered a wiretap of his premises before his election. This suggests that the president is stuck is a cold-war time warp, with spies still using the kind of techniques found in old James bond movies rather than 21st-century surveillance. So what are the game changer that have replaced the old wiretapping method?

1) Modern wiretapping is done through getting via the phone service provider (in theory, something only the government can do)

2) If that method is unsuccessful, there are an intercepting device that is commonly called IMSI-catcher, a controversial cellular phone surveillance device. Initially developed for the military and intelligence community, now the usage of this device is widespread by local and state law enforcement agencies in a particukar country or even among individuals.

A laptop with an IMSI-Catcher device

3) So what is IMSI-Catcher?  

IMSI-Catcher can intercept your phones metadata remotely. Every phone have what its called an IMSI which is actually for the sim card which contains the subscriber (phone users) information such as your name, your phone number. All of our devices as they travel throughout the day are constantly broadcasting in some sort of radio orchestra. IMSI catcher acts as the legitimate cell phone tower. For instance, when you're saying hey cell-phone tower, can you hear me? instead a man in the middle, somebody with an IMSI-Catcher in their trunk of their car, in their briefcase in their office has it send a louder signal back to you than the cell phone tower then say "im the cellphone tower". 

The concept of an IMSI-Catcher

4) Recently the use of IMSI-Catcher are said to used by some law enforcement agencies to monitor and spying on the people. One of the way they use the IMSI-Catcher is by mounting the device on airplane and fly it around the city.

In my opinion this device is very crucial especially in an attempt to locate possible terrorists or to aim missiles. But it has gone from warfront to homefront where it involves the citizens and public. To me this is wrong and it is agains the rights as a human which need privacy in their life.

Wiretapping (Phone Surveillance)

     Last week i watched a video published by VICE in youtube called " A state of surveillance" where it features a controversial figure Edward Snowden who leaks many classified U.S. government information about public surveillance. In the video he did talk about how our phones can actually hacked and being turned against us. This post will be about just this case. Phone surveillance.

     Phone surveillance is the spying on phone conversations, tracking possible locations and monitoring the data of a phone. Before this, the surveillance of phones is called wiretapping which is the act of monitoring telephones and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. 

     Wiretapping is commonly seen in espionage and crime movies. Agents like Jason Bourne could tell when the enemy is listening, so they speak in code over the phone and become watchful. In the real world, we assume our phone lines are secure. And in most cases, they are, but only because nobody cares enough to listen in. People who knew about wiretapping can easily eavesdrop your telephone conversation easily if they want to

     Some government agency legalized wiretapping (lawful interception). Wiretapping can be categorized as passive wiretapping which monitors or records the traffic, and active wiretapping which alters or otherwise affects it

     Telephone and telegraph communications took place over copper wires (the wire part) and the intercept was referred to as “tapping”. During that time around the 80s, all telephone interception were conducted by connecting directly into the copper wire over which the instrument was connected to the network. One of the easiest way is to connect a handset to the target line and listen. However it is easy to be detected because it generates noise on the target line and causes a voltage drop. Specialized devices were then invented intercept a line while still allowing the call content and data to pass.

   Simply put, tapping a wire is as simple as plugging an appliance into the electrical circuit running through your house. The appliance works by drawing power from electrical power from the electrical current flowing in this circuit. The power also carries information (a pattern of current fluctuations that represents the air-pressure fluctuations of sound waves). A devices that are made for wiretapping can interpret these patterns as sound. One closest example, in our house, if we have two house telephone which line are connected together, If however we talk by using one the telephone, we can hear the exact same thing from the other telephone.


Reference: 
1) http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/wiretapping
2) http://people.howstuffworks.com/wiretapping3.htm
3) http://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/computers-and-electrical-engineering/computers-and-computing/wiretapping