Countersurveillance & Recording Devices

Human Surveillance

Surveillance often involves people physically watching others. Police officers, private investigators, intelligence officers and journalists do this to monitor people's movements. Two methods of countersurveillance, overt and covert, are employed to allude this type of surveillance. Overt countersurveillance uses obvious visible techniques such as turning a corner and waiting to see who is following. Covert (secretive) techniques involve using various modes of transport or traveling complicated routes to avoid being followed. Increased use of cameras increasingly makes this type of surveillance unnecessary.

Planting recording devices, either audio or visual, in a person's home or workplace is another common form of surveillance. Recording devices can be placed behind picture frames, in plant pots or under furniture. Some recoding devices are disguised as innocuous objects such as pens, watches or briefcases. Recording devices for surveillance, often called bugs, either transmit the information over radio frequencies or store the information for later retrieval. Recording devices worn on a person also are used. Advances in miniaturization mean that buttons, tie pins and even spectacles can disguise these devices.

Countersurveillance for detecting recording devices is known as bug-sweeping. Bug detectors can find hidden transmitting devices by picking up their radio signals. Bug detectors cannot find recording devices that don't transmit. These devices require manual discovery, such as checking behind electrical fittings, light sockets and pictures. Optical camera finders can detect a camera by spotting the glint of the lens (optical augmentation) regardless of whether it transmits.

Another form of recording device is known as the wiretap. Wiretaps record conversations on telephones. Some suggest the Constitution's Fourth Amendment prohibits wiretapping by government agencies, although law enforcement officers can make observation if it does not invade the suspect's privacy. Government agencies infrequently require physical wiretaps as monitoring phone calls is possible remotely. With more people using computers for communication, modern surveillance and countersurveillance increasingly centers on Internet monitoring.