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Brett Shavers | Ramblings

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Books

NOV
25
0

Massive Government Surveillance - Not a new thing

Posted by Brett Shavers
in  Books

I'm close to wrapping up my latest book, Hiding Behind the Keyboard. One of the more interesting things I found while researching the electronic surveillance chapter is a historical note of massive electronic surveillance...way back in the early  1890s. 

Considering that government surveillance is one of the hottest topics today, no doubt brought into the spotlight by Edward Snowden, I found this one historical bit of surveillance in New York to be a reminder that electronic surveillance has been around much longer than what the average person may know.

Before getting into the New York Police massive surveillance story, you should know that wiretapping has been around as long as communicating electronically has existed.  For example, as soon as the telegraph was used, the telegraph communications were intercepted. During the Civil War, a "wire tapper" was an actual job in the war to intercept telegraphs!  But that's not what I mean in regards to mass goverment surveillance. The New York Police Department's history with wiretaps is what I found to be really interesting, even more interesting than the NSA surveillance disclosures. 

In short, back in the late 1800s, New York made wiretapping a felony but the NYPD believed they were above this law. They tapped people at whim and without warrants, including tapping Catholic priests.

In fact, NYPD quickly discovered that they could tap into any phone line of the New York Telephone Company, at anytime  to listen to any person on the line. They even tapped into hotels to listen to hotel any guest.

Obviously, this free-wheeling phone tapping ended after the Supreme Court decided that the Fourth Ammendent protected "intangles" such as communications when it was previously believed that only "tangibles" were protected against unreasonable search and seizure. However, the NYPD experience shows that when  given unfettered access to monitoring and surveillance, government can go too far with good or bad intentions.

The solution to prevent going too far is simple. Get a warrant. Smart government employees know that a warrant protects the people and the employee's career. For anyone to say warrants are difficult, impossible, or too burdonsome simply has not written an affidavit for a warrant or just doesn't have the probable cause in the first place (or may be lazy....).  Warrants are easy to write if you have probable cause.  In fact, some warrants don't even need to be written for approval as a recorded phone call to a judge can get you a telephonic warrant approved in less than half an hour or faster.

For those against any government surveillance, such as wiretaps or pen registers, as long as there is a warrant, there really isn't any problem.  The Constitution and state or federal  laws that approve wiretaps require that the searches not be unreasonable or unnecessary (meaning, there must be cause).  Technically, it is almost as easy as flipping a switch, but practically, it takes takes an investigation to develop probable cause that a crime exists in the first place.  No crime = no probable cause = no warrant.

As a disclaimer to my personal experiences, I have initiated and supported dozens of wiretaps, pen registers, trap and traces, hidden cameras, GPS installations, body wires, and bugs during my time in criminal investigations. I've had probable cause every single time, so much so, that PC dripped out of my investigation binders. And with that, I'm not a fan of unfettered, massive government surveillance without cause...

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JUL
16
0

Last day of discounted X-Ways Forensics online course

Posted by Brett Shavers
in  Books
I'm sure there are a few more people left to register for the X-Ways Forensics online course (XWF I) with the discount code of "xwf1". That's 25% off, plus includes free tuition to the X-Ways Forensics II online course. XWF I is introductory, XWF II is more indepth, quite a bit longer, and will be released in August. XWF III, a shorter course will be released sometime after August.

Everyone registering by midnight tonight (Pacific time) for XWF I, gets access to XWF II and XWF III when published without cost. Otherwise, it's a separate tuition payment for each course.  From July 18, the XWF I is back to $195, XWF II will be $299, and XWF III will be $75.   Each class is lifetime access, on demand training, including updates to the courses when XWF is substantially updated (should be a course update once a year).

Details on XWF II are here: http://xwaysforensics.wordpress.com/2014/07/05/x-ways-forensics-practitioners-guide-online-ii/

Register for X-Ways Forensics Practitioner's Guide online course here:  http://courses.dfironlinetraining.com/x-ways-forensics-practitioners-guide

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JUL
05
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X-Ways Forensics Practitioner's Guide Online II

Posted by Brett Shavers
in  Books

For all  XWF I registrations prior to July 17, 2014, you will receive a code for 100% off the XWF II course shown below at the email you registered.  The deadline to register in order to receive the 100% discount code for XWF II is July 17, 2014, after which, the course is available for purchase without a discount.

These are on-demand courses and you have lifetime access to both courses (XWF I and XWF II).  There will be an XWF III course released during the summer, all who register before July 17, 2014 will receive another 100% off discount code for XWF III.  So, for the purchase of XWF I by July 17, you will have lifetime access to XWF I, XWF II and XWF III.

XWF II will be released after the discount codes currently given have expired in a few weeks.  The general discount code for 25% off is:   xwf1

Members of HTCC, IACIS, and CTIN have received a 30% discount code in their e-mail.  If you are a member and did not receive the code, check your e-mail, it should be there.  If you belong to a high tech crime group not listed, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I can send a 30% code to your association.  Otherwise, feel free to use the 25% discount code.

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