One More Reason to Turn Off Wi-Fi on Your Phone

I have a habit of turning off my Wi-Fi on my smartphone, mostly because I am gone out and about for most of the day, and when Wi-Fi is turned on it tends to drain the battery much faster as I move about because it is constantly seeking to connect.

Well, a security researcher, Brendan O'Conner, developed a device (which many could make on their own) that can snoop on anyone whoever happens to hook up with unsecured Wi-Fi.

He could pick up the Web sites he browsed when he connected to a public Wi-Fi – say at a cafe – and he scooped up the unique identifier connected to his phone and iPad. Gobs of information traveled over the Internet in the clear, meaning they were entirely unencrypted and simple to scoop up.

 Even when he didn’t connect to a Wi-Fi network, his sensors could track his location through Wi-Fi “pings.”

Not only that, but it could gather email addresses, Id's to social media sites, photos and a lot more.  You can learn more about it by reading A Cheap Spying Tool With a High Creepy Factor

This is not legal to do anywhere, but it can easily be done.  So my tip for you is to turn off Wi-Fi except when you are using a secured server.  Identity thieves can really have a hey day with something like this.
Whatever you do - Stay Safe!

NSA Has Been Tapping Into Skype

We should have known.  You should have known.  Every time Microsoft takes over an operation – security is compromised.  This happened when Skype was taken over by the Software giant.  Before Skype was nearly impossible to “tap” because it was a peer to peer service and was encrypted.  Once Microsoft took over, they decided that Skype needed to increase Skype’s reliance on the Microsoft-owned “supernodes.”

Then comes May…  ARS technical – a security website (http://arstechnica.com) revealed good reason to fear that the once “untappable” system became vulnerable.  Their research found evidence that Microsoft has access to the unencrypted contents of Skype chats. You can see that information here: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/05/think-your-skype-messages-get-end-to-end-encryption-think-again/

-  in a nutshell – they sent Skype messages containing specific links.  Those links were “clicked on” by machines that had IP addresses belonging to Microsoft.

According to the Guardian, Microsoft helped enable the NSA to intercept Skype conversations.  From their article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data/print) they also state that:

• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;
• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;
• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;
• In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;

It does not take an intelligence expert to connect the dots.  I firmly believe the sole purpose of Microsoft taking over Skype was for the intelligence community to be able to monitor the conversations.  Do I have absolute proof?  No.  Does it all make sense looking at the situation now?  Yes.

Whatever you do – stay safe!

A Problem Serve

I had one of those "problem" Troopers to serve the other day.  I had a subpoena for him.  I contacted his dispatch two times over a period of three days and left a message, went by his office three times on different days (I left a message there 2 of those times) after about 5 days total, I decided to go to his house.  No one answered, so I left a note on the windshield of his patrol car with my card.

In case you don't know, here in Texas most DPS Troopers don't have a particular "roll call" before going to work.

He calls me 2 days later, so I ask him  if we can make arrangements to meet so I can serve him the subpoena.  He says he needs to talk to the attorney that issued the subpoena first.

A day later he calls the attorney and complains that I was "unprofessional" for going to his house.  He griped at him quite a bit.  This attorney is low key and basically told him he doesn't tell me how to serve subpoenas.

I wait another day, and I call the Trooper back on the number he called me from.  He starts complaining about me calling his personal phone and going by his house.  I explained that I had not heard anything after leaving several messages.  He finally agreed to meet me.

When we met, he acted all nice and said nothing other than "where do I sign?"  As a matter of fact he was very polite and cordial.

I decided to say I was sorry that I had to go by his house, but I did not know if he had gotten any of my messages.

His response:"Oh, I got the messages, but I was off for a few days."

So I ask "so, what would you want me to do in these cases?"  He says "Call the Sergeant." as he turns and walks away offering me no contact information for his Sergeant, nor does he say who (s)he is.

Now how hard would it have been to return a call to me and say "I will be off until next Thursday?" - and supposedly I am the "unprofessional" one.

Whatever you do - stay safe.

Judge Gone Wild

Apparently, in Jefferson County Texas, Judge Layne Walker, has decided either he is the law or is at least above the law.  It looks like something that would be going on in a banana republic, but no, it is happening in Texas.   I have not checked the party affiliation of the judge, as that does not matter.  Government gone bad is government gone bad. There are many accusations against said judge, and his actions as reported in articles, are not professional or are downright corrupt.

Allegedly, the judge had pulled a gun on a process server that was attempting to serve him.  The same judge then incarcerated the same process server for trying to serve the same documents to the judge at the Jefferson County Courthouse.  The server was not charged for anything, until long after he had been in custody.

It seems the Judge is really annoyed at what has been reported by Investigator Philip Klein.  You can read more about this and other things concerning this judge and the complicit sheriff at The Southeast Texas Political Review.

WND has taken notice and has an article about the Texas Judged (sic) Accused of Corruption Goes on Legal Rampage.  It speaks of even more bad behavior that the Judge appears to have been doing.  People often ask how can things get this bad?  When the powers that be either fear or are complicit with a judge like this, it is easy for it to grow into a lawless situation. The Texas Rangers will not investigate without the permission of the District Attorney.  Maybe many turn their head because the Texas Gang Investigators Association has recognized Judge Layne Walker with a state-wide "Ted Poe Damn Good Judge" award for what the group calls his effort to help combat gang activity.  After all, he puts gangsters away!

Just because the judge does one thing you like doesn't mean that the (alleged) flood of ongoing bad behavior should be ignored.

I just could not pass up posting about this.  Whatever you do, stay safe!

The Friday Afternoon Rush

In my business, I find a common factor of Fridays.  I believe it is because attorneys and "legal service" companies want to clean up their pending workload before weeks end.  So, more often than not, there is a Friday rush of papers to be served.

I even usually wait to go do Friday evening serves until after 5pm, to make sure that I will be able to catch all of thos last minute papers.  The problem is, some find ways to even get them to me after that.  Many of the people that I serve for email me th documents to be served.  On company, I went out on Friday and returned after 7pm, and still had no new documents.  When I checked on Saturday, there were 10 new papers to be served.  I was originally planning on a "slow" Saturday, but that had changed my plans.

Yes, I could have waited until Monday to start service, but I really do not like having a lot of pending work myself, but that applies to any day - not just Fridays.

I have learned to expect the rush of papers, but sometimes they still find ways to surprise me.

STay Safe!

Making Sure Your Photos and Video Can Be Used as Evidence

It is really not all that difficult to get photographic evidence or video evidence introduced into a case.

There is an age- old "7-Prong Test" for this type of evidence to be admitted:


1)   It must be proved that the camera was capable of taking photos/video.  In other words Was the camera was in good operating condition without malfunctions?

2)   The person taking the video/photos must be shown to be competent in the use and operation of the camera.

3)   The authenticity and correctness of the recording must be documented. You must be able to document  that tampering with the photos/video has not occurred.

4)   You also must be able to show that the video or photographs have not had any additions, deletions or changes made. Note:  You must be able to testify that the video is a true and complete recording, free of editing or tampering of any kind.  If a video is edited (like many need to be to have a time-stamp), the original unedited copy must be available for review by the court.  I also often have to convert the files to another format, as the court may not be able to view the original format.

5)   The court must be shown the manner of presentation.

6)   The recordings must show proper identification of the subjects depicted in the video or photographs.  Note:   The investigator must have proper facial views of the subject documented so that the identity of the subjects can be assessed.  Either that or other distinctive markings, or tattoos must be clearly visable.

7)   You need to be able to show that the actions was elicited voluntarily without inducement.  You cannot cause a situation that would create circumstances that would make the subject act differently than they might without the circumstances presented to them.  For example:  you cannot let the air out of a tire to cause the subject to have to change the tire.  This comes down to entrapment.

If you can meet the 7-prong test, you can get the evidence admitted.  Questions about video or photos on an SD card and whether they are on the orginal SD card are not really relevant.  SD cards are merely temporary storage devices for the evidence themselves.

Whatever you do - stay safe!

Finally Not Embarrassed to Show ID

My new license(s) have finally come in after renewal, and they actually look like a state issued license.  I am happy to retire my previous state issued license(s) that looks like something one may find in a Cracker-Jacks box.

Hooray for the changes that have finally come in Texas.

(Note: they still call them "pocket cards" in trying to keep us from appearing too professional)

Whatever you do - stay safe!