I work in a small food business that has video surveillance (That is perfectly fine since it makes it feel more secure) which they watch from home and on their phones. Managing the store, I feel I have no privacy now, since I was informed that they also LISTEN to our conversations and have their family come and watch us to make comments on anything they think we should change in our routine. It’s uncomfortable on many levels. I was wondering if that is legal or not?

Really is unfair since the only reason they told me is because they saw me talk to friend who came in to give me coffee, (not busy at work btw) and so I chatted for 5 minutes just standing up and multi tasking per se. But I got in trouble because I should have been working when I had been working 9hr shifts without lunch breaks or breaks in general. Pretty sure one or the other is illegal.

I recently sold my computer through an auction site. Before it was sold I formatted the drives, then ran clean disk security (a hard drive deleter) many times (over 35 passes I believe). I then tested it to see if I could recover any files with programs I got over download.com and retrieved nothing. Tested it by deleting a file, then ran the recovery programs, and that file showed up; ran clean disk security and i could no longer recover it.

Would you say that my personal information is safe from the person I sold it to? Would there be any way for them to realistically retrieve my old files? Such as taking it to a data recovery center or tech support guys. Or do these cleaners really knock everything out?

Note: I remember finding something on the drive though - it was a folder of zeros that werent very big in file size.
Robert - yes, it’s already gone.

Adnan - so data recovery centers should be able to retrieve the files even though the drives free space was over written after formatting? I know it’s probably unlikely that the buyer would get data recovered for that price, but still knowing that all of my conversations with loved ones, credit card information and account passwords are there it makes me uneasy. My life was on that computer.
RC - how sure are you of that?

I know of a convenience store in CA where the owners have video surveillance cameras throughout the store. The system also is recording audio and it is known that the system can "zoom in" on low-level conversations. Doesn’t the owner have to post a sign notifying customers that audio recording is taking place? Also, what is the recourse for taking legal action? Can someone simply report this to the local police department? Or is there some other agency they would complain to?

My husband & I have been together for close to 4 years now & I’m at my wits end. Every morning since we’ve been married I’ve had to wake my husband up. He doesn’t hear any alarm clock & I have to sprinkle water on him, shake him, & repeatedly call his name to get him to wake up. However, he also holds conversations in his sleep so sometimes I think he’s awake when he really isn’t.

He’ll get VERY grumpy & says hurtful things during these sleep/wake episodes, & he’s shocked when I tell him about it later; he never remembers it, but he’s always deeply regretful and feels terrible about it when I tell him. He is normally a VERY considerate & loving (so PLEASE don’t tell me to leave him; I won’t).

I’ve looked at some sleeping disorder websites & nothing really seems to match; no one even addresses the anger. Does he need to do a sleep study? On the weekends I can just let him wake up on his own & he’s just fine, & he goes to sleep just fine at night too.

Any ideas?

I heard a radio program by this "electronic surveillance" expert- you can hear it at - bugsweep.com - radio talk show icon with George Noory— he said that some of the phones record even when they are in the off position —they supposedly record the conversations going on around them, then every 15 min. they send a "packet" to the internet. (He monitors them with over 0,000 worth of electronic equipment –and it is his job).Do you think this is true?

I am an 18 year old US Citizen. My fiance and I are trying to work on my problems to make me better (I don’t live with him, I live with my step-dad), but I heard I could get Social Security Disability meanwhile if I file correctly and have enough of a problem to.

I would have gone to a psychiatrist already to figure out what’s wrong with me, except I’m scared to go. I’ve been to them when I was younger (I’m 18 right now) and my step-dad had to sit in on those conversations, because I was nervous of sitting alone with the psychiatrist. When I did go in alone, I often did not make eye contact, looked away, turned away, and sort of balled up. I ended up leaving all of my psychiatrists before a diagnosis could be made because my step-dad got angry at me for not talking and just avoiding my psychiatrists.

Now that I’m 18, I have to do adult things. For example, I’m supposed to go to the bank tomorrow. But the idea of going to the bank makes me so nervous that I have a piercing headache in my temples and I can’t help but think of all the things that could go wrong, like if I walk in and there’s a really long line and I can go to the teller only when the bank’s about to close, or if I take a really long time at the teller and everyone on the line starts to hate me, or if the teller calls me an idiot for not knowing how to do things or not knowing my bank account number or what have you.

I was going to college, but I’m going to drop out and going to online college because I’m really nervous sharing a classroom with other people I don’t know, and all the things that they may be saying about me or thinking about me. I had a volunteer job at college, but I got scared of messing up somehow, like maybe accidentally typing in the wrong thing for data entry or messing up somehow and not doing good enough for my employer, so I quit.

My sister and someone I know that this is good enough for me to get Social Security Disability… do I qualify?
Pardon the typos and left-out words. Thinking of going to the bank tomorrow is giving me a terrible headache.
I'd kindly like to ask that all answers keep off the topic of my age and my fiance — he's the one person and thing I feel secure with and about, and I'd rather not have people shatter that for me. Thank you.

NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls
by Leslie Cauley
From Common News and Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

The more important question is: What are you going to do about this?
————
For the people that say this is GOOD because of terrorists! Wake UP! Terrorists aren't the problem, our own government is! Turn off Fox News and find out what's really going on! It isn't a Democratic smoke screen, our privacy is being invaded. This country was founded on basic freedoms, and the main one was privacy!
I just don't subscribe to the idea that this administration has my personal best interests at heart. So saying I have nothing to worry about if I've done nothing wrong is naive at BEST. But that would be the reason this corrupt group has attained and maintained power. Thank you all for answering, you've confirmed my worst fears.

OK a few weeks ago I asked about what happens to IM messages after the IM window is closed…to see that question you can go here>>> http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgW.HJ8ru64JNnhlFCZ6tqDty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080802141717AAhM3ls

One answerer said in part “however msn always have a log of all conversations, and they usually stored for 1 month, they cant store them forever …. data protection act!”

So my question today is this! What is this data protection act? And why does it limit places like MSN and Yahoo to a month? AND what happens at the end of that month?

*curious geek*

hasicit: I'm talking about IM's not questions and answers.

Key employee will be out of office performing highly confidential
negoiations and we have security concerns. His hotel has a landline
with free local calls and high speed wireless internet.

Regarding the phone, how safe is it to make calls thru hotel phone?
How can someone intercept,switchboard? Have a cell phone but number
and carrier is known. With this info we are told that eavesdropping
can occur with equipment located within 100 feet of phone. Could we
change the number to block this or would carrier be enough to capture
conversations? Suggestions?

High speed wireless-We have Ghostsurf to use an encrypted proxy but we
do not know exactly how this works. If someone is watching from the
hotels node could they capture data? Or will the wireless aspect be
the biggest security hole. Suggestions? Use landline phone and go
back to 56k speed?

Thanks for the help!

I know it is illegal to tap someone's phone line.

But my neighbor is a prostitute and sometimes she has conversations with the Johns she picks up on the metal staircase right next to my bedroom window… outside… in my apartment complex.

Can I put some sort of audio surveillance equipment under the staircase and record her so I can report her to the police?

Will that be breaking any laws?

I know for a fact my evil cousin has bugged his house, when I looked up surveillance equipment I learned that they can monitor conversations through clock radios, power strips, quarters, calculators……How do I know if my calculator is listening to me? How do I know if this is surveillance equipment? Do I have to call a specialist, if so, what specialist?
What if it's a digital gsm bug that transmits to a cell phone, would it still affect the AM radio?