Israel’s omniscient ears
Israel’s Urim base in the Negev desert is among the most important and powerful intelligence gathering sites in the world. Yet, until now, its eavesdropping has gone entirely unmentioned
Author: Nicky Hager
Spies target animal rights campaigners
An Auckland private investigation firm has been caught out after it attached a sophisticated tracking device to a political campaigner’s car – but left the device visible from outside the vehicle. It is the third time in three years the Sunday Star-Times has caught Thompson & Clark Investigations doing covert surveillance on political groups for corporate clients.
Statement at PEN/Society of Authors event on freedom of speech in Iran, Bats Theatre, Wellington
I am grateful to PEN and the Society of Authors for inviting me to be part of protesting the suppression of freedom of speech in Iran. We are joining people around the world who are saddened and appalled by the news of repression in that country…. In doing this, and doing it wholeheartedly, I do not want to be a hypocrit or to be naive…
Spies on the ground beat ears in the sky
INQUISITIVE MARLBOROUGH locals have outsmarted government attempts to keep the targets of the Waihopai spy station secret – and have discovered that it is eavesdropping on Asian satellites carrying the communications of New Zealand’s friends and trading partners in that region.
Google case highlights risks in NZ law change
The US Internet company Google threatened to close its Chinese operations last week after discovering Chinese hackers had broken into its Gmail email system, apparently gaining access via specialised interception equipment installed by Google to assist US law enforcement agencies.
FBI role in Big Brother’s sharper eyes, ears
GO TO the heart of one of Telecom or Vodafone’s mobile phone exchanges and you’ll find the whole system – covering a quarter of the country – is run by a single computer, no bigger than a small freezer.
Cables lead off to all the company’s cellphone towers and other parts of the network. A main cable, connecting all those phone users to the world, comes out the top of the computer and passes directly into a unit in the rack above. One cable goes into the unit but two come out: one continuing out to the world, the other coiling off to secret equipment marked “LI” on the system diagrams. “LI” stands for “lawful interception”.
NZ’s cyber spies win new powers
New cyber-monitoring measures have been quietly introduced giving police and Security Intelligence Service officers the power to monitor all aspects of someone’s online life. The measures are the largest expansion of police and SIS surveillance capabilities for decades, and mean that all mobile calls and texts, email, internet surfing and online shopping, chatting and social networking can be monitored anywhere in New Zealand.
Speech to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Conference, Rotorua, 16 October 2009
I would like to set the scene for today’s discussion of pharmaceutical company sponsorship by looking at the whole range of tactics used by corporations and industry lobby groups to gain political and commercial advantage. I hope that examples from other spheres will illuminate the issues that you face.
Postal blunder – are your tax records safe?
TREASURY HAS lost a computer disk containing millions of New Zealanders’ confidential tax records, after ignoring procedures and sending the CD through the mail.
Dying for an invitation to Washington
John Key and his colleagues are going to send the Special Air Service to Afghanistan. The current talk about whether National should do so is, unfortunately, academic. The decision is already made.