Microtechnology at the service of espionage

2003/11/16 Kortabarria Olabarria, Beñardo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Teknologia

There are very suitable devices on the market to be able to listen to the type of wall.

By the time, Agent 007 used some surprising frets: shoes with the phone stored, pens that turned into a gun, invisible ink, very small pistols, mini-cameras, decos to open the coffers, portable helicopters, laser watches, backpacks, underwater backpacks, underwater respirators… All had the same characteristic: they had to have small ones. And the profession of the spy is unconscious.

Some of these inventions that at some point were only seen in films can now be purchased in stores. Technological development has made available to all public devices to see and listen without being seen or heard, full protection locks, cameras that show what you want to hide…

Up a micro wall, down a mobile phone. Talking about mobile is not as safe as it is believed.

The offer is abundant and the variety of prices is wide and the clear criterion is the smaller, the more expensive. The world of microcameras, for example, is very representative. If for 400 euros you can buy a microcamera stored in a plug, it also records the sound and takes full color images. Push-button cameras can be obtained worth 800 euros, which can be put on a shirt. Cameras are also included in pens. Innovation has brought to the market a pen that is around 600 euros. The battery has been placed inside, so it can be used as both camera and pen.

Micro-cameras that only have a ballpoint shape are cheaper and sell at 300 euros. Microcameras enter fire detectors, kitchen clocks, alarms, door eyes, etc. Regardless of their location, all of these devices have the same operating base: they record the image and sound and then transfer them to a receiver by radio waves. Depending on the image and sound quality, their autonomy and whether the transmission is made by cable or cable, they will be cheaper or more expensive.

Sometimes it is not necessary to collect and record images, it is enough to receive the sound. Of course, technology has also taken important steps in this regard, if on a button you can place microcameras that collect sound and image, where can not hide a small microphone? Anywhere, because consumption is low, devices that supply power are also small. Phones, pens, cameras, jerseys, radios... anywhere. There are also microphones on the market that allow you to listen across the walls. Enfin, there is a wide range of microphones from 25 euros.

Wireless hearing aid up, in the center a Microcamera and down a microcamera in the pen.

Phone spy technology has also advanced a lot. The media have collected it on more than one occasion and have done it on occasion. The abbreviation CESID is related, among other things, to hidden auditions. Secret services will use more sophisticated devices, but those that can be found on the market are not slow. The novelty is mobile phones. They serve to listen to interviews. They allow you to make a call to a phone number and automatically listen to all calls made from or to it. The most advanced models also have GPS, in addition to listening to conversations, to know where the speakers are. So when you're at the bar, saying "I'm in the office, it will take me to get home" won't be that easy anymore. Luxury usually costs and, as is normal, these phones are more expensive than conventional mobile phones, they cost 1,100-1,600 euros.

Hearing aids are widely used tools by cyclists, television presenters, rowers, bodyguards... On television they are normal images. They are also used for espionage work, but they are not exactly the same. In fact, the latest hearing aids are not seen, they are hidden inside the ear. The hearing aids are basically very small radio receivers, so they can receive signals from mobile phones, recorders, radio, etc. They sell between 500 and 700 euros.

Logically, just as technology for spies has been developed, counterespionage services technology has also made its way. It could not be otherwise. Therefore, it is not difficult to find devices that detect and interrupt the signals of mobile phones, devices that distort the voice, radio signal detectors, devices that can block waves of all kinds, tools capable of locating the signal from hidden microphones, alarms… all of them products based on microtechnologies.

The technology capable of locating and cutting any signal is very advanced.

James Bond would be delighted with some of the devices that have been mentioned, but would obviously not facilitate the work, as his rivals would also have it at hand. Mean bad, because otherwise 007 would make too easy the small leeks that put it.

Published in 7K.