Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spy

Best Discreet Subway Camera?

joshwa — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:00:54 -0800

DigitalCameraFilter: I am trying to find a small, discreet point-n-shoot camera that I can use on the subway to take pictures of my fellow-passengers (think Walker Evans - Many Are Called). Trying to find something that is: small (fits in pocket), quiet, sharp, can disable the rear lcd, and has minimal shutter lag. Good high-iso performance also a plus. Zoom not necessary. The Canon G-series would fit the bill, but they're rather bulky are mega-pricey for this application.

Hoping that someone here has experience with such an application and can recommend something?

Googling, as you'd imagine, is of limited usefulness. There are just too many small digital cameras and thousands of spammy spycam and bogus affiliate sites.

I am La Femme Picky-ta

np312 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:20:43 -0800

Serious movies with a female spy or secret agent as the main character, preferably about her working solo to solve a case/perform a mission --that somehow involves her own past? I know this is a pretty specific set of parameters. I've already watched:

La Femme Nikita
Point of No Return
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Elektra
Aeon Flux
Mr & Mrs Smith
Wanted (which isn't really good since Jolie isn't the protagonist)
Avengers
Tomorrow Never Dies (again, female spy not the protagonist)

D.E.B.S and Charlie's Angels are too light-hearted for what I'm looking for, which is more like "Bourne Identity" but with a female lead, (and amnesia is optional.)

And no silly comedies-- I am looking for straight up action/thriller genres. Please help! Thanks.

How can I make my house into a home fit for a spy?

kurmbox — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:55:57 -0800

I've always been interested in spies, secret passages, and gadgets. How can I transform my home to incorporate these things? I'm interested in the practicalities of building my own passageways, but I'd like to hear more from those of you who may have already undertaken the task, along with ideas about unique ways of implementing them.

What are some interesting gadgets I could add to my home to achieve this effect (gadgets similar to those discussed here, but less portable).

Intricate puzzle designs and custom-designed passageways would be great, but I'd like to do as much of this on my own as possible, for as cheap as possible (but don't hesitate to share really cool ideas even if they are prohibitively expensive). Therefore, are there any unique carpentry projects you've undertaken to embed hidden drawers or compartments in furniture (or something similar)? Are there any unique transformations you've seen applied to everyday household items to turn them into more than meets the eye?

Do you spy the spy?

overglow — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:27:23 -0800

Help me find this essay about a spy... A while ago I read an essay online about a somewhat famous blogger/writer who focused on espionage. I'm pretty sure the essay was published on Radar-Online, probably two or three years ago. The person writing the essay talked about how interviewing the espionage writer was very much like dealing with a spy--they were secretive and wanted to only meet in certain places and generally acted paranoid and had a very interesting, murky past. The essay was fairly long. If you read the essay too and could point me to where it was, that would be great. But guesses as to who it could be about are welcome too. Thanks!

Suspicious foreigners

thesailor — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:07:15 -0800

Imagine you are a suspicious foreigner in another country... ...and everyday you are blatantly followed by undercover police. Eventually this starts to get to you and you begin playing mind games with them. E.g. you walk into a bar, the undercover officer follows you in, you deliberately delay your order and wait until the officer has placed his. Just when the officer gets given his beer you walk out again, thus forcing the officer to give up his beer.

I'm trying to think of some other examples of mind games. This is for a book. Thanks in advance!

Who is sending me secret spy software

wrok — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:07:04 -0800

Why/How did I get mystery software from China? Also applicable: Who/What/When/Where. A few months ago I received a package in the mail from China. I occasionally receive (expected) packages from Hong Kong, so this package didn't freak me out that much initially -- I figured it was a gift from a merchant I patronize (who has been known to send random little gifts airmail).

...Until I opened it to find an extremely well pirated copy of Windows Vista Ultimate. I had absolutely no involvement with anything even remotely related to ordering software, much less pirated software from China. (I am 100% certain this is unrelated to the business I have with Hong Kong, the address was unrelated and email to that business has confirmed they have no idea what I'm talking about).

The box looks correct, same funky styling, high quality printing, but all printed material including the packaging look just a *tiny* bit off-color, like a color xerox. The CDs inside have not-quite convincing 'holographic' stickers on them. The inside of the booklets look a little grainy, again like a relatively high quality color xerox.

Paranoid to the core, I have not so much as put it in the same room as a working computer.

I'm not even sure what I'm specifically asking, but maybe the HiveMind will know what this is, where it came from, why I got it, and what I should do with it? I have considered that it's some sort of sneaky spy software the Chinese government has sent me -- but that seems a little far fetched... Thoughts?

Port Snoop / Spy Tool

inquisitive — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:04:22 -0800

How can I Spy the messages being exchanged by 2 programs on 2 known port nos. in my computer ? I am running 2 instances of a particular program: 1 in server mode and 1 in client mode. I have configured the server instance to run on a particular port and the client instance to run on a different port. In the client instance, I also tell the client where (which port) to look for the server instance.

Upon certain user action, the client instance initiates some communication with the server instance. Then the server instance also sends back a message and both the instances keep communicating until all messages are exchanged.

All the messages are exchanged in text format (I know this from a particular source).

I want to spy the messages being sent from the client to the server and the server to the client.

For this, I am looking for an easy-to-use tool which I can first install on the server port, so that I can see the message being first sent by the client. Then I will put this tool on the client port to see what reply the server gives. In this way, I will keep on alternating the spy tool between the server port and the client port.

Which tool can serve my need and which is also easy-to-use and powerful ?

The reason is I want to develop some plug-ins for this software, so I should know the message protocol. The developers of the product are not willing to share this information.

Help me understand the cold war--or at least a mediocre movie

mecran01 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:05:49 -0800

I have several questions about the 2006 movie The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon, and I haven't been able to find answers from my usual sources. I'm hoping Robert DeNiro is a secret MeFi fan and will step in, providing closure. [spoilers ahoy!] The IMDB FAQ suggests that Edward's giving of the dollar to Ulysses' aide was a tacit agreement to reveal "the cardinal" a highly-placed asset in the KGB. Wikipedia, however, has the following:

"Ulysses notes of Edward Jr.'s fiancée: "neither of us can be sure about her", and asks Edward, "Do you want her to be part of your family?" Edward says nothing. Shortly after this, Ulysses' aide asks him for change to purchase his daughter a souvenir from the gift shop. Edward asks how much it is, and, upon hearing it is a dollar, hands him a one dollar note, commenting that a cardinal rule of democracy is generosity. This appears to be a reference to a scene from the film's beginning, where a young boy on a bus asks Edward for change for a dollar—when Edward returns to his office, he matches the bill's serial number to a CIA asset codenamed "CARDINAL". So Edward is, in fact, returning the "marked" dollar to the asset, who is Ulysses' aide."

So is Edward betraying The Cardinal (and thus becoming, like his father, a traitor who forsakes his family) or simply communicating with him? Also, why is he being observed by his own people during this transaction? Did Edward bring them along, or are they trying to catch him betraying his country?

Also, what was symbolized by Edward's burning of his father's suicide note? Is it an indication that Edward realizes he has become his father?

Guide me to well written books about financial crimes

reenum — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:49:17 -0800

I want to read more about financial crimes, real and fictitious. Any recommendations? I just read Charlie Wilson's War, which talked about the different ways the CIA laundered money to get it to the mujahideen. I've also read a couple of books about BCCI.

I want to read more about financial crimes. Jewel heists, covert operations, etc. Anything where money is being concealed and funneled to clandestine sources qualifies.

I prefer non-fiction, but well written fiction would also be up my alley.

So I ask the Hive Mind: what should I read next?

I'm being sniffed!

wastelands — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:54:14 -0800

Should I worry about a WiFi access point owner spying on me? When using a public Wifi access point, should I assume that the owner of it could be viewing all of my traffic as it passes through? If so, does viewing encrypted content (e.g. https pages) help at all?

Xander Cage + James Bond?

Anonymous — Mon, 26 May 2008 18:22:04 -0800

Resources for thrill seekers and general superhero/spy training in Texas? I've decided to go through a second childhood. And I'm gonna learn how to do all of the things I've always wanted to learn how to do but there's no reason to learn because, come on, I'm a twentysomething secretary living in a small suburb of Dallas - there's no logical reason for me to learn this stuff!

....... but i still want to learn how to do these things!

Instead of looking independently for a place to rock climb, a place to learn how to shoot and learn swordplay and knives and learn how to speak Russian or Serbian and swimming and martial arts and learning to ride a motorbike and learning how to do a 180 AND a 360 in a car and all of that kickass shit... are there any resources that I can use to find various places, instead of me scouring the net, looking for not only legitimate places but also references?

The only thing I can generally find is "thrill seeking", but that's extreme sports - and while I would love to learn to snowboard, I don't want to limit myself to just sports.

(Asking anonymously because my friends read AskMeFi and will call me an idiot for wanting to learn all of this cool stuff.)

I need a tiny camera...

DMan — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:52:11 -0800

Where can I find a tiny wireless camera, and how much will it cost me? I've recently realized that I have need for a small wireless color video camera to use with some robotics stuff I work with. This is purely recreational and not "mission critical" in any way.

Anyway, I want to get a very small camera that can transmit wirelessly to a base station. I've seen some that have RCA outputs, and while that'd be acceptable, I'd prefer USB.

I also want the camera to be in color and have a fairly good resolution. I realize that this will be difficult to get for a cheap price, but I'd like enough resolution to be able to remote-control the robot based only on what I see onscreen.

Is this possible for a cheap price (<$100)? If so, can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

Where can I find Pearl Cornioley's autobiography Pauline?

stewiethegreat — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:30:58 -0800

I saw the question in the blue a few days ago about Pearl Cornioley. Wikipedia mentions a book she wrote. Can you help me find it? The autobiography is called Pauline, written with the help of journalist Hervé Larroque in 1996, isbn ISBN 978-2-9513746-0-7. I suspect that this is a french book because amazon doesn't know what the ISBN is, and I found this. Any chance anyone has heard of the book, or found an english translation? I know there are accounts of Cornioley's wartime experiences in other books, I'm just intrigued to hear it in her own words.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

quin — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:23:11 -0800

Help me come up with some spy trivia for a Customer Service appreciation quiz. My company is have a Customer Service appreciation week. One of the days is listed as having a Mission Impossible type theme, and I was tasked with coming up with some activities.

We are going to have a costume contest, a mystery prize package, and a trivia contest. This last is where I could use some help; my plan is to have three different quizzes, each one more difficult than the last. The questions need to be asked in such a way as to have short, simple answers (about 500 people participating and questions will likely be checked by hand).

Q: An example: When did the Office of Strategic Services begin operations?

A: June 1942

The people answering will have internet access. And I'm interested in questions that involve movie trivia (Bond, Spy Kids, Enemy of the State, etc) as well as real operative lore.

Yes, I'm reading your email...

tdreyer1 — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:59:46 -0800

I need a good email monitoring program for my workplace. My workplace is having problems with employees giving vital information to one of our competitors, and it is hurting the company. I was asked by my boss ( as I am the resident geek ) to find a program ( not a network device ) that we can install on a computer to see what an individual is emailing. We don't necessarily need to keep track of incoming email, just outgoing. We are using Windows machines with Win2000 on them and we use Earthlink email with Outlook Express. Free would be great, but we can pay, so all suggestions are welcome. If we can access the data from another computer on the network, that would also be helpful. The program needs to be completely transparent so the individual won't know. Also, practical tips for keeping it from being found & removed by antivirus/antispyware programs would be nice. Thanks!

The Spy Who Wrote Me

basicchannel — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 12:34:16 -0800

In the movie Breach, notorious spy Robert Hanssen obsesses briefly over a specific brand/model of pen. Anyone know the brand/model Hanssen preferred so much? According to the LA Times the pen detail is accurate.

Spy kit

Astro Zombie — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 21:38:28 -0800

What should I put in my spy kit? I've come to the conclusion that, at every moment of my life, I should be prepared to launch into a James Bond-style spy adventure, because you never know when the world is going to demand that of you. Therefore, I have purchased a messenger bag to carry with me always, and now I need to make some decisions about what to put in it, as well as what to carry on my body. Keep in mind, everything I put in it must seem relatively innocuous, because I don't want to be rousted by the fuzz and have them go through my kit and realize I'm a superspy just waiting for an opportunity. But spy stuff that can pass a superficial inspection, such as pens with knives hidden in them, are all right. And I am in Minneapolis, so I can carry a concealed pistol around with me, so don't worry about that part of it -- I'll have my Walther P99 when I need it. But what else?

Suggestions for spy novels.

jon_kill — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 10:09:33 -0800

I like Len Deighton. I like John Le Carré. Who else is there, and what is their best? I prefer small spy stories, about realistic situations. What else should I pick up for that kind of feel?

Yes, you're correct. I don't trust him.

damnjezebel — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 09:13:13 -0800

I want to monitor activity on my computer, but I'm totally at a loss. Can you recommend any software? My brother's friends are occupying my laptop when I'm not around and I don't trust them. However, instead of just password protecting my laptop, the kitten in me is very curious. I want to know what those boys are doing on my laptop when there's several computers and laptops in the house.

My firefox "history" only records web pages, my yahoo only archives conversations - just those aren't good enough. Is there some sort of (DECENT) self-installed nonspammy spy"ware" out there that will track movements on a PC? I want to be able to see a record of everything that is done on this computer when I'm not on it. When the email is checked, when files are accessed, that sort.

I don't really care about blocking access to the laptop. If it's warranted, I can password protect the computer or just keep it in my room so others can't use it. I'm just curious about what's being looked at on my computer.

Help to identify this music

queue_strategy — Tue, 30 May 2006 18:32:36 -0800

Can anyone identify the music in this MP3 file?

Clearing up the sound on a low quality avi recorded with a Casio EX-Z57?

nthdegx — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:40:43 -0800

Clearing up the sound on a low quality avi recorded with a Casio EX-Z57? Some teenagers made off with one of my neighbour's moped scooters last night. A passer-by walking his dog spooked them and they abandoned it round the corner. They couldn't start it so a load of them had been carrying it. Later that evening some teenagers were sitting on the wall outside our house, and I could hear one, on the phone, asking some friends where they were. He definitely eyed up the scooter in the yard, and my neighbour later said that the cover of her scooter, a different one, might have been disturbed. My neighbours thought we should go downstairs to make some noise, but I took a few moments before that to record them on my camera. They were talking very quietly however, and so it's very hard to make out what's being said. Curiosity has gotten the better of me, though, so I'd like to find out if they said anything incriminating. I got a good look at them later, but didn't get their faces on video; but it'd be handy to know if they came back that they are the ones responsible. It's not the first occasion someone's been at the mopeds either.

I've spoken to the police and have no intention of taking the law into my own hands yada yada etc etc sensible sensible...

For the curious and helpful, I've uploaded a 10Mb zip file of the videos to yousendit. I fear a little whispering on my part interferes with the sound in the second.

Is there anything I or anyone else can do to clear up the speech?

Mission Impossible(?): Spy Games

MasonDixon — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:22:45 -0800

Hosting an adult birthday party centered around the ABC show "Alias" as its theme. I'm looking for a good game or activity that could fit an espionage type theme. I'm looking for a game or activity that would loosely fit the super-spy, top-secret, or secret identity type category. (I'm very aware of Assassin/Werewolf and there's already several AskMe's that talk about how good it is, but it wouldn't be very fresh for us.)

Being Alias, if there was a game that played on alchemy/arcane knowledge (an ode to the Rambaldi artifacts, etc.) that might work too.

I'm not going to be a fundamentalist about it so any suggestions that could loosely fit the themes would be appreciated.

short titless

Paris Hilton — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:37:15 -0800

Spyfilter: Suppose I wanted to rig up a room with a few microphones in order to covertly record conversations, etc, and I want to spend less then $100. I understand the general concepts, but what stuff would I need to buy? I realize there are legal issues, but let's assume that won't be a problem in this situation, since the person will have signed a (lawyer-aproved) release at some point. Are there any cheap, and *small* wireless microphones capable of picking up someone's speech in a meter or so away in a relatively quite room? Are there any cheap 4-track recorders that I could use? Or should I just use a cheap stereo tapedeck (with two mics)?

What kind of software would I need to do to post process and improve the quality if things don't turn out perfectly? How would I master this down to a stereo recording on my computer?

What else should I keep in mind?

TIA.

What are the 40 full "Moscow Rules"?

arimathea — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 17:25:31 -0800

What are the 40 full "Moscow Rules"? An abridged version of the Moscow Rules has been posted several times. There were apparently 40 original Moscow Rules, a set of guidelines created by the CIA to benefit them in their operations in Russia. Where can I find the full 40 rules?

Is it legal to eavesdrop on someone with a hidden camera placed in their home?

Astragalus — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 10:48:29 -0800

For reasons that don't particularly make sense I believe that someone is spying on me with a camera hidden somewhere in my room. Ignoring for a moment the fact that I'm clearly nuts, what exactly would the law be on this (I live in the US)? I know what a cliche it is, but recent talk of the beloved patriot act has made me realize that I don't even know if it would be illegal for someone to slither a camera into my bedroom and ride the thrill of my oh-so-exciting bedroom existence. What could I do? If they were really sadistic a well placed speaker and night vision would make for some high comedy as my sanity crumbled into pathetic little bits before their eyes.