Big Brother’s Watching You, But Who’s Watching Big Brother?

Shopping centres in major cities have triggered a ‘Big Brother’ style row after they installed spy equipment which allows them to track customers by using their mobile phone signals.

This amazing technology has now raised privacy concerns after it emerged last week that the major shopping centre owner, Land Securities, have installed the spy equipment at ten of Britain’s biggest shopping malls, including Cabot Circus, Bristol; Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth; Princesshay, Exeter; Buchanan Galleries, Glasgow; Bon Accord & St Nicholas, Aberdeen; One New Change and New Street Square in Central London; Cardinal Place, Victoria; The Galleria, Hatfield; and The Centre, Livingston.

All that is in evidence of this new surveillance is a tiny yellow sign which can be found in Exeter’s Princesshay shopping centre which informs customers that their mobile phone signal is being ‘tracked’ by Footpath’s scanners.  There is no way in which to opt out, except by refusing to enter the shopping centre or turning off your mobile phone.

The company responsible for devloping the software, Path Intelligence, states that it does include safeguards in order to prevent spying on specific individuals, and confirms that no personal information on individuals is ever collected.  The purpose of this spy equipment is to track consumer’s movements throughout the mall and to better understand what shops and services they may find the most interesting or the most useful.

Nick Pickles of ‘Big Brother Watch’ says that the law needs to be tightened to for it to cope with new mobile phone tracking systems that are in place.  He states: “People are right to be worried that their mobile phones can be turned into tracking devices very easily, without their permission or knowledge.  While we have been given assurances that the FootPath technology is not capable of capturing personal information or sending communications to people’s phones, other technologies which would allow this are available.  Such tracking and communications would be a significant intrusion on privacy.”

OnlineSpyShop have been in control of superb and exclusive covert mobile phone tracking for the past few years and is ideally aimed for Law Enforcement and which is already in operation.

Voice Recorders – The Vote-Off

There are some great voice recorders available at OnlineSpyShop.co.uk at the moment.  Covert voice recorders can be very useful gadgets and there are a whole host of reasons and situations that you might need to make use of one.

It may be that you are suspicious of a partner’s behaviour – are they taking phone calls in a different room and not letting you know who they’re speaking to?  Do you have suspicions that a friend or work colleague may be talking about you when you leave the room?  Voice recorders can help to set your mind at rest about these and many other niggling suspicions.

We have two favourite voice recorders at OnlineSpyShop so let us know which one gets your vote:

The Digital memory stick voice recorder with new swivel design

This Data-Stick Voice Recorder has a brand new ‘swivel’ design with increased audio recording times and the option to upgrade to include earphone use.  The data-stick is cleverly disguised to appear and operate as a fully functional memory stick for storing important files, pictures or any other relevant material whilst the second mechanism acts as a dedicated voice recorder to discreetly and silently capture crystal clear audio over a 10 feet radius.  You can carry the data-stick on your set of keys just like an ordinary storage device or casually leave behind on a table / shelf to capture those important meetings, interviews, dictation or verbal slander within seconds.

The Mobile Voice Recorder

Ready to purchase as a fully licensed software application for your handset.  You can discreetly choose to record both sides of your individual telephone calls or record all of your calls automatically.  Call recording is instant and discreet providing crystal clear audio which is stored to either the phones memory or choose to save the recorded content to a Micro SD card.  Additionally, you may enter a room and discreetly record the environment or leave the handset behind to record in your absence.  With amazingly long recording times up to 99 hours, recording your important telephone conversations or the room environment means you can confidently capture unbelievably clear audio as evidential proof.

To find out more about either of these recorders or to browse all of the other covert voice recorders available, then visit the Online Spy Shop today.

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Spy Equipment In Tehran

Soviet spy Gevork Vartanian, who once helped to foil a Nazi plot to kill Allied leaders in Tehran during World War II, died last week in Moscow at the age of 87.

Vartanian operated in Tehran during World War II, where he tracked German commandos who were attempting to attack a summit attended by leaders including Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill.  He also is responsible for infiltrating British intelligence and exposing a network of secret agents in the USSR – which he was able to do by getting himself accepted on a British training course for spies based in Tehran.

Vartanian’s wife was also a Soviet spy and they worked as a spying duo for over thirty years in total.  He originally became an agent in 1940, aged just sixteen, and worked under the codename ‘Amir’.  He was tasked with uncovering both British and German spies.

Regarding the summit operation, Vartanian was able to use spy equipment in Tehran to track down German agents, including the field station chief Franz Meyer.  Franz then went missing and was later found, bizarrely, working as a grave-digger at an Armenian cemetery.

It is reported that in the two years between 1940 and 1941, Vartanian and his fellow agents exposed up to 400 people who were linked to German intelligence.  In a radio interview some years ago, Vartanian reflected on his 45 years in the espionage business and said: “We were lucky – we never met a single traitor.  For us, underground agents, betrayal is the worst evil.  If an agent observes all the security rules and behaves properly in society, no counter-intelligence will spot him or her. Like sappers, underground agents err only once.”