spying

Score one for old-school aircraft against the upstart drones.

Perhaps it's just a brief respite from the seemingly inevitable winds of change propelling unmanned aircraft ever higher in the Pentagon's airpower depth charts, but the venerable U-2 spy plane has won a key vote of confidence over the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk. That victory came not in a head-to-head aerial dogfight, but in a more bureaucratic conveyance: the draft of the federal budget for the U.S. government's fiscal 2013.

"The Administration proposes to end production of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle," says … Read more

OneShar.es can make anyone feel like a spy.

Using the Web site, you can send-self destructing messages to friends, colleagues, or anyone else you may be sending personal information to. The messages are only accessible through a unique URL, and as soon as the URL is viewed once, it is no longer valid.

Using a service like this may seem a bit gimmicky at first, and it is to an extent, but it can come in extremely handy when you want to send personal information and don't like the thought of that information sitting in some e-mail account … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Being fond of movies in which people aren't what they seem, I was moved to hear that there are spies at CES 2012.

I had already been suspicious, as--being one who stares at people's names and companies on their badges--I saw more than one person yesterday whose employer was "U.S. Government."

However, there is allegedly a whole troop of spies out here, sniffing around everything: employees of Apple.

Paid Content, for example, bumped into Apple's Head of iOS marketing Greg Joswiak yesterday. He allegedly sported a "sheepish grin."

I have never … Read more

LAS VEGAS --Being fond of movies in which people aren't what they seem, I was moved to hear that there are spies at CES 2012.

I had already been suspicious, as--being one who stares at people's names and companies on their badges--I saw more than one person yesterday whose employer was "U.S. Government."

However, there is allegedly a whole troop of spies out here, sniffing around everything: employees of Apple.

Paid Content, for example, bumped into Apple's Head of iOS marketing Greg Joswiak yesterday. He allegedly sported a "sheepish grin."

I have … Read more

Most IT professionals are fine human beings, especially as they often hold the workings of modern capitalists gently within their hands.

However, as in any profession, there are rogues who wish to use their skills for nefarious ends.

A story has reached me of one such gentleman. I won't betray his place of employment, save to say that it is in a large corporation in New York.

I will, though, betray his simple method of, well, amusing himself. He takes pictures of the ladies in his office with his watch. His gentlemanliness is such that he takes these pictures … Read more

Patricia Dunn, the former chairman of Hewlett-Packard who resigned five years ago after acknowledging she approved a plan to spy on board members and journalists, has died, according to a published report.

William Jahnke, Dunn's husband, confirmed her death in an interview with The Wall Street Journal today and later said that Dunn died Sunday of ovarian cancer. She was 58.

HP provided a statement: "Pattie Dunn worked tirelessly for the good of HP. We are saddened by the news of her passing, and our thoughts go out to her family on their loss."

Dunn is likely … Read more

You probably know that keyloggers are programs that capture a computer user's keystrokes, most often surreptitiously. As the name suggests, IwantSoft's Free Keylogger is a freeware keylogging app. It can track and record keystrokes, clipboard activity, and Net surfing on individual PCs or networks (with administrative access) without users being able to see it or disable it. Of course, you need access to a user's PC to install Free Keylogger, and there are ethical and potential legal issues involved when you monitor someone else's computer use. But for parents who need to know what their kids … Read more

It seems that the Cleveland mall operator who last week declared it was tracking mall shoppers in California and Virginia via their cell phones has had a change of, perhaps, heart.

CNN reports that Forest City Commercial Management might have been encouraged to change its mind, heart, and attitude by a phone call from the office of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).

The phone call might have directly relayed the substance of a press conference the senator gave on Sunday.

In it, he suggested that perhaps a more polite way to go about these things was to ask shoppers if they'… Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--More than four and a half years after a California judge effectively dismissed criminal charges against the major players in Hewlett-Packard's spying scandal, federal prosecutors are bringing the case back to life.

A father-and-son team of private investigators went before a judge today in the U.S. District Court in San Jose intending to plead guilty on charges relating to HP's controversial probe of boardroom leaks to journalists, which took place in late 2005 and early 2006.

Matthew DePante, 32, and his father Joseph DePante, 64, were arraigned last week on charges of conspiring to … Read more