High-tech surveillance gadgets such as hidden cameras, SIM card readers, keyloggers and GPS tracking devices are making it more difficult for everyday people to hide their indiscretions.
Consider the tabloid-worthy case of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, whose tearful admission to an affair in Argentina dominated headlines in June. “The State” newspaper in Columbia, SC published flirtatious e-mails sent by computer between the politician and his love interest. Suddenly, the “secret” correspondence between two people became gossip for a nation.
Surveillance technology has evolved so much that you don’t have to be a high-profile citizen to get the low-down on a business associate or loved one. People need very little expertise these days to do spy work, said Bill Hickman, a private investigator who runs Gentile-Meinert and Associates, of Monaca, a borough of Pennsylvania. It’s actually easy, he said, to gather incriminating evidence on people, with just a little technological know-how.
The blessings and convenience of instant communication can easily be a curse when someone is on the receiving end of an investigation. Instant messaging, text messaging, computer e-mails and social networking websites are a few popular activities that can be tapped into by a third party, even when the user believes he or she had deleted or virtually disintegrated the evidence. (more…)
