spy

In addition to targeting suspected terrorists, it appears the National Security Agency also spent time spying on foreign heads of state.

A leaked document from the explosive NSA document deluge shows that the U.S. government was spying on former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the London G20 summit in 2009, according to the Guardian.

Apparently, the NSA document shows that U.S. spies got their hands on top-secret communications between Medvedev and his delegation and then shared the information with government officials from the U.K., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

The NSA document, titled "Russian Leadership Communications … Read more

The head of the National Security Agency hinted Wednesday that logs of Americans' e-mails and Web-site visits may be secretly vacuumed up by the world's most powerful intelligence group.

During a U.S. Senate hearing, NSA director Keith Alexander was asked specifically about whether "e-mail contacts" are ingested under the Obama administration's secret interpretation of the Patriot Act's surveillance powers.

"I don't want to make a mistake" and reveal too much, Alexander said, adding that disclosing details about such surveillance would cause "our country to lose some sort of protection." … Read more

There are dozens of calculator apps on the App Store, so opening someone's phone and finding an app called "digital calculator" wouldn't cause anyone to bat their eyes twice. Except, this particular digital calculator is actually Spy Calc, an app that hides private photos and videos behind the façade of a boring calculator interface.

The tool is ingeniously made. The front-end calculator uses the built in iOS tools to recreate a digital calculator, but adds a password to it as an extra layer. You can use the calculator or you can enter your password … Read more

If you provide cell phones to your kids, employees, or anyone else you're responsible for, you can understand that it's in your best interest to have a reliable, accessible record of when, where, and how they're used, and, at times, even recordings of calls. Even if you're the only one responsible for your cell phone, you'd probably like a complete accounting and backup of everything on it, in case it's lost, stolen, dropped on concrete, eaten by the dog, or accidentally hurled at the TV screen. HelloSPY can handle that. HelloSPY hides in your … Read more

As children use smartphones more often, monitoring their use has become important. TruSpy works well as a hidden application and has a number of useful features for parents tracking cell phone use.

The program offers a free trial version with a 48-hour time limit. Full functioning requires payment of a subscription at a daily rate that varies depending on the length of time of the contract. TruSpy downloads quickly, but installation took longer than expected. At startup, the user is prompted to sign up for an account through the developer. Once completed, the application installs on the phone, but does … Read more

It's happened to everyone -- you visit a Web site and instead of the browser taking you directly to it, you get a notice that says you're about to visit an untrusted site. The reason this happens is because the browser hasn't certified the site.

This type of action could mean a slow death for such a Web site, since messages like these tend to scare off users.

Mozilla, Firefox's parent company, is now contemplating whether to give international telecom giant TeliaSonera this type of punishment, according to the Register. Apparently Mozilla might refuse to include … Read more

Pictures often hold much more information than meets the eye, but maybe you're not aware of how much, where it is, and what this information might say about you. If you take a lot of digital snapshots (and who doesn't?) you're probably aware of all the metadata stored with your pics, such as date and time, location, exposure, and even camera make and model. Some of that data might be personal or sensitive, especially if you're a commercial photographer; but even amateurs who want to protect their privacy have an interest in purging sensitive personal and … Read more

This might seem like Fred Astaire and Carrot Top.

It might resemble that little-known double-act Putin and Tutu.

For some, it might even conjure Jerry Falwell and Jenna Jameson.

Here, you see, is news that the squeakiest of squeaky clean musical acts, the Jonas Brothers, are getting together with slightly more controversial gadget maker Huawei.

A breathless announcement is currently dancing before my eyes. It reveals that Huawei is to sponsor the Jonas Brothers' new tour, which, as you know, begins July 10 in Chicago. … Read more

It looks like Canadian privacy advocates won a battle over an Internet bill that was intended to stop online predators. The Canadian government announced today that it was not passing the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, or Bill-C30, according to the Register.

The purpose of the bill was supposedly to make sure children weren't stalked on the Internet by criminals or sex offenders. However, it also enabled warrantless wiretapping. The law said that carriers and ISP providers would be required to give police information about their customers.

The bill (PDF) says that if passed it would "require … Read more