HOW YOUR WORLD WORKS↓GREAT
UNKNOWNSBIG QUESTIONS.
ANSWERS YOU CAN‘T FIND ON THE INTERNET.
(^96) July/August 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com
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HE FIRST STEP is to consider carefully whether you
are sufficiently interesting to warrant surveillance. If
you’re a crook, a cheater, or a keeper of political or cor-
porate secrets, the answer may be yes. But if you’re just
a regular Joe, run through this handy checklist: Did
you recently snarf down one or more of those slightly
odd-tasting cookies you found in your teenager’s back-
pack? Has any medical professional ever used the word paranoid
in your presence? Now reach up and feel the top of your head. Is
there anything there? Is it made of tinfoil? If you answer any of
these queries in the affirmative, rest easy: It’s unlikely Big Brother,
Little Sister, Uncle Sam, or
Comrade Vlad is watching.
Suppose, though, that you
are, in fact, interesting. Yo u
might then raise an eyebrow
if your home or office gets bur-
gled but nothing of value is
taken. Perhaps a surreptitious
Santa left you a surprise gift,
embedded in a light fixture
or electrical socket. Be par-
ticularly suspicious if your
furniture appears to have
been moved, or you find plas-
ter dust, which suggests that
someone may have drilled into
your wa lls or ceiling. Listen for
clicks or other strange noises
in your walls or on your phone
lines. Consider also whether that gift from a business acquain-
tance could be a Trojan paperweight or Dumbo-eared desk clock.
Maybe pass those along to Goodwill and, if you have any lingering
doubts, call in a pro to execute a “bug sweep.”
S. Brian Matthews, private investigator and owner of LA Intel-
ligence, says his firm performs about three sweeps a month using
sophisticated electronic detection equipment. How often does
he actually find something? “The national average is about three
out of a hundred. So you don’t get a hit very often,” he says. “It’s
more about the client having peace of mind knowing there’s no
one listening. The last time we found something was a couple of
months ago—there was a whole wall full of video cameras inside
a guy’s apartment. They were there when he moved in.” And
presumably when he moved out, which we guess was approxi-
mately five minutes later.
What about tracking? Are you being followed? It’s not impossi-
ble there’s a surveillance team trailing you, but...seriously, come on.
“You think you’ve got like three PIs following you?” asks Ken Childs,
owner of Paramount Investigative Services. “From like 65 to 150
bucks an hour? Twenty-four hours, seven days a week? No.” On the
other hand, someone could easily plant a GPS tracker on your car
to monitor your movements. If you have concerns, Childs suggests
paying a shop to put your car on a lift so you can take a thorough gan-
der underneath. Assuming the person who’s tracking you can’t get
inside your car, any device has
most likely been planted some-
where between the rear wheels.
If you do happen to find some-
thing, take it directly to the
police. Law enforcement can
subpoena the tracker’s man-
ufacturer in order to find out
who bought it. In many states,
tracking a vehicle you don’t
own is against the law (bear
in mind, though, that it might
not be at the top of the police’s
priority list).
But forget bugs and track-
ers—those are so 20th-century.
Your biggest vulnerability
these days may be sitting right
on your desktop, riding around
in your briefcase, or ta king up space in your pocket, says Mat thews.
Computer hackers can not only monitor your activity by breaking
in and reading your secrets, they can, in some cases, actually turn
on your devices’ cameras and microphones to engage in real-time
surveillance. And that’s to say nothing of the data on your movements
and whereabouts that’s routinely collected by mobile hardware and
software purveyors, ostensibly to “improve your user experience,”
or some such code for “enrich ourselves at the expense of your
privacy.” Unfortunately, that’s no delusion.
How can you tell if
someone is bugging or
tracking you?
Do you have unusual questions about how things work and why
stuff happens? This is the place to ask them. Don’t be afraid. Nobody
will laugh at you here. Email [email protected].
Tent is crushing vegetation • Tent is set up under low branches • Tent is too close to creek in case of flash flood
- Camper threw trash into bushes • Fire is built just below a bird’s nest • Fire is too large for pit • Bear bag is not
hung high enough and is over the tent • Toilet hole is too close to campsite.
ANSWERS TO JUNE
ISSUE’S “WHAT’S
WRONG WITH THIS
PICTURE—CAMPING”