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Aussie couple arrested and charged with spying for Russia

<p>An army private in the Australian Defence Force and her husband have been arrested after being accused of spying for the Russians.</p> <p>The Australian Federal Police arrested the 40-year-old soldier Kira Korolev and her 62-year-old labourer husband Igor Korolev at their Brisbane home on Thursday morning.</p> <p>They have been charged with preparing for an espionage offence.</p> <p>The woman has been employed by the ADF for several years as an information systems technician.</p> <p>It is alleged the Russian-born Australian citizens worked together to obtain sensitive information.</p> <p>AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the couple have been living in Australia for more than a decade after the woman received her citizenship in 2016, with her husband also becoming a citizen in 2020. </p> <p>The woman is accused of not declaring her travels to Russia during long-term leave from the ADF since 2023, both with and without her husband.</p> <p>While her husband remained in Australia, the woman is accused of instructing the man to log into her official work account and access information to send to her private email while she was in Russia.</p> <p>It is alleged this information related to Australia’s national security interests and was accessed a number of times with the intent of passing it on to Russian authorities.</p> <p>“Western democracies, including Australia, are being targeted by state actors, but Australia’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies have the laws, capability and tradecraft to identify these spies and those seeking to undermine Australia’s interests,” Kershaw said on Friday.</p> <p>“So my direct warning is this, we know who you are. You are likely already exposed.”</p> <p>It is unknown if the information was passed on, or what the pair did while overseas, however the investigation is continuing.</p> <p>“Whether that information was handed over remains a key focus of our investigation,” Kershaw said. “Currently no significant compromise has been identified.”</p> <p>ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said the “espionage threat is real”.</p> <p>“Multiple countries are seeking to steal Australia’s secrets. We cannot be naive and we cannot be complacent,” Burgess said.</p> <p>“Espionage is not some quaint Cold War notion. Espionage damages our economy and degrades our strategic advantage. It has catastrophic real-world consequences. Foreign intelligence services are capable, determined and patient."</p> <p>“They play the long game. The problem for them is ASIO does too,” he said.</p> <p><em>Image credits: ADF</em></p>

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"Most dangerous spy in US history" dies in jail

<p>The USA’s most notorious FBI agent has been found dead in his top security prison cell at the age of 79. </p> <p>Prison officials confirmed the news of Robert Hanssen’s passing, more than 20 years after he received a life sentence for selling classified US material throughout the 1980s and 1990s. </p> <p>While no cause of death has been revealed, a statement from the Bureau of Prisons revealed that staff at the facility took life-saving measures after Hanssen was found unresponsive in his cell, to no avail. </p> <p>Hanssen - who is now regarded as one of the most dangerous spies in US history - sold thousands of documents in exchange for the diamonds and cash over the course of his deception. According to the FBI, by the time of his arrest, Hanssen had received the value of more than $1.4 million. </p> <p>He first launched his career with the FBI in 1976, and it was only a few years before he began spying for the Soviet Union, sending classified information - on everything from human resources to counterintelligence - to the Soviet Union and Russia under the alias ‘Ramon Garcia’. </p> <p>It is believed that he was able to cover for himself through his role in the FBI’s New York counterintelligence department, where he was tasked with tracking down his own kind - spies. </p> <p>“As a result of his assignments, Hanssen had direct and legitimate access to voluminous information about sensitive programs and operations,” the FBI explained at the time. “As the complaint alleges, Hanssen effectively used his training, expertise and experience as a counterintelligence Agent to avoid detection, to include keeping his identity and place of employment from his Russian handlers and avoiding all the customary ‘tradecraft’ and travel usually associated with espionage.”</p> <p>Neither the FBI or CIA caught on to the fact there was a mole working within the system for years, but did eventually secure “original Russian documentation of an American spy”, according to the FBI and Forbes. </p> <p>According to reports, not even Hanssen’s Russian handlers knew his true identity, and he was not at the top of any suspect list. By all appearances, he lived a frugal life among Washington’s conservative Catholics, with a wife and six children. </p> <p>But Hanssen was caught in suburban Virginia at a ‘dead drop’, and his arrest came in 2001. He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage, and was consequently sentenced to life behind bars without parole for “espionage, conspiracy to commit espionage, and attempted espionage”.</p> <p>“I apologise for my behaviour,” Hanssen said during his sentencing. “I am shamed by it.</p> <p>“I have opened the door for calumny against my totally innocent wife and children. I’ve hurt so many deeply.”</p> <p><em>Images: FBI</em></p>

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"The wilderness of mirrors": 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction

<p>"The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning."</p> <p>With these opening words, Ian Fleming (1908-64) introduced us to the gritty, glamorous world of James Bond.</p> <p>Fleming’s first novel, <a href="https://www.ianfleming.com/items/casino-royale/">Casino Royale</a>, was published 70 years ago on April 13 1953. It sold out within weeks. British readers, still living with rationing and shortages after the war, eagerly devoured the first James Bond story. It had expensive liquor and cars, exotic destinations, and high-stakes gambling – luxurious things beyond the reach of most people.</p> <p>The novel’s principal villain is Le Chiffre, the paymaster of a French trade union controlled by the Soviet intelligence agency SMERSH. After losing Soviet money, Le Chiffre takes to high-stakes gambling tables to recover it. Bond’s mission is to play against Le Chiffre and win, bankrupting both the Frenchman and the union. </p> <p>The director of British intelligence, known only by his codename “M”, also assigns Bond a companion – Vesper Lynd, previously one of the agency’s assistants. The two infiltrate the casino, play at the tables, and dodge assassination attempts, while engaging in a dramatic battle with French communists, the Soviets, and each other.</p> <p>Fleming’s Bond – the sophisticated, tuxedo-clad secret agent – is an enduring image of espionage. Since 1953, martinis, gadgets, and a licence to kill have been part of how ordinary people understand spycraft. </p> <p>Some of this was real: Fleming drew on his own work as a spy for his novels. Intelligence work is often less glamorous than he depicted, but in both espionage and novel-writing, the difference between fact and fiction is not always easy to distinguish. </p> <h2>Ian Fleming, Agent 17F</h2> <p>Fleming came from a wealthy, well-connected British family, but he was a mediocre student. He only lasted a year at military college (where he contracted gonorrhoea), then missed out on a job with the Foreign Office. He could write, though. He spent a few years as a journalist, but drifted purposelessly through much of the 1930s. </p> <p>The outbreak of war in 1939 changed everything. The director of British Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Henry Godfrey, recruited Fleming as his assistant. Fleming excelled, under the codename 17F. He didn’t see much of the war firsthand, but was involved in its planning. He was an ideas man, not overly concerned with practicalities or logistics. Fleming came up with the fictions; other people had to turn them into realities. </p> <p>In 1940, for example, he developed “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/entertainment-britain-fleming-bond-finea-idCAL1663266620080416">Operation Ruthless</a>”. To crack the German naval codes, Fleming planned to lure a German rescue boat into a trap and steal its coding machine. They would obtain a German bomber, dress British men in German uniforms, and deliberately crash the plane into the channel. When the German rescue crew arrived, they would shoot them and grab the machine. </p> <p>Preparations began but Fleming’s plan never eventuated. It was too difficult and risky – not least because crashing the plane might simply kill their whole crew.</p> <p>Fleming worked on various operations. When he began writing after the war, these experiences found their way into Bond’s world. Fleming and Godfrey had visited Portugal, a neutral territory teeming with spies, where they went to the casino. Fleming claimed he played against a German agent at the tables, an experience that supposedly inspired Bond’s gambling battles with Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. </p> <p>Godfrey maintained that Fleming only ever played against Portuguese businessmen, but Fleming never let facts get in the way of a good story.</p> <p>Fleming picked up inspiration everywhere. Godfrey became the model for M. Fleming’s secretary, Joan Howe, inspired Moneypenny. The Soviet SMERSH coding device in <a href="https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/From_Russia_with_Love_(novel)">From Russia, With Love</a> (1957) was based on the German Enigma machine. Many of Fleming’s characters were named for real people: one villain shares a name with Hitler’s Chief of Staff, another with one of Fleming’s schoolyard adversaries.</p> <p>It became something of a sport to hypothesise about the inspiration for Bond. Fleming later called him a “compound of all the secret agents and commando types” he met during war. There were elements of Fleming’s older brother, an operative behind the lines in Norway and Greece. Fleming also pointed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Reilly">Sidney Reilly</a>, a Russian-born British agent during the First World War. He had access to reports on Reilly in the Naval Intelligence archive during his own service. </p> <p>Other possible models include <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_O%27Brien-ffrench">Conrad O’Brien-ffrench</a>, a British spy Fleming met while skiing in the 1930s, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Dunderdale">Wilfred “Biffy” Dunderdale</a>, MI6 Station Chief in Paris, who wore handmade suits and was chauffeured in a Rolls Royce. Stories of discovering <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/mr-bond-i-presume-20141017-117xji.html">the real-life James Bond</a> still appear.</p> <p>But there was also much of Fleming himself in Bond. He gave 007 his own love of scrambled eggs and gambling. Their attitude towards women was similar. They used the same brand of toiletries. Bond even has Fleming’s golf handicap. </p> <p>Fleming would play with this idea, teasing that the books were autobiographical or that he was Bond’s biographer. Much like a cover story for an intelligence officer, Bond was Fleming’s alter-ego. He was anchored in Fleming’s realities – with a strong dash of creative licence and a little aspiration.</p> <h2>The changing world of Bond</h2> <p>The success of Casino Royale secured contracts for more Bond novels. In the early 1960s, critics began to denounce the books for their “sex, snobbery, and sadism”. Bond’s attitude toward women, in particular, was clear from the beginning. In Casino Royale, he refers to the “sweet tang of rape” in relation to sex with his MI6 accomplice and paramour Vesper Lynd. </p> <p>But the public appeared to be less concerned. Bond novels still sold well, especially after John F. Kennedy listed one among his top ten books. The first film adaptation, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055928/">Dr. No</a>, appeared in 1962 and Fleming’s success continued apace.</p> <p>Bond’s world was evolving, though. From Casino Royale to For Your Eyes Only (1960), Bond battled SMERSH, a real Soviet counter-espionage organisation. The early Bond novels were Cold War stories. Soviet Russia was the West’s enemy, so it was Bond’s. </p> <p>But East-West relations were thawing in 1959 when Fleming was writing Thunderball (1961). The Cold War could plausibly have ended and he didn’t want any film version to look dated, so Fleming created a fictional villain: SPECTRE. This was an international terrorist organisation without a distinct ideology. It could endure beyond the battles of the Cold War – and did. It features in the 2021 Bond film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382320/">No Time To Die</a>.</p> <p>Fleming’s more fantastic plots were always anchored in reality by recognisable brands and products. Bond’s watch was a Rolex; his choice of bourbon was Jack Daniels. His cigarettes were Morlands, like Fleming’s. In the novels, Bond drove Bentleys – the Aston Martin was introduced in the 1964 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/">Goldfinger</a>. </p> <p>The films have changed Bond’s brands to keep up with the world around them (and secure lucrative product-placement deals): Omega replaced Rolex in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113189/">Goldeneye</a> (1995); the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/apr/17/bond-taste-for-beer-skyfall">martini was swapped for a Heineken</a> in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1074638/">Skyfall</a> (2012). Bond now carries a Sony phone.</p> <p>Other changes brought the 1950s spy into the 21st century. Recent films have more diverse casting. Their female characters do more than just spend a night with Bond before their untimely deaths. The novels, too, continue to change – the 70th-anniversary editions have had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/27/james-bond-novels-to-be-reissued-with-racial-references-removed">racial slurs and some characters’ ethnic descriptors removed</a>. </p> <p>Some have criticised this as censorship. But as with <a href="https://theconversation.com/roald-dahl-a-brief-history-of-sensitivity-edits-to-childrens-literature-200500">recent rewritings of Roald Dahl’s books</a>, changes like this are not new. Fleming’s family has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-28/ian-fleming-james-bond-books-changes-to-new-editions/102035958">defended the alterations by citing similar removals</a> in 1955, when Live and Let Die was first published in the United States. </p> <p>There is a risk that this whitewashes Fleming’s attitudes, making them appear more palatable than they really were. But the revised Bond novels will include a disclaimer noting the removals. Casino Royale itself has not been altered (Bond’s rape comment remains intact), so the changes will perhaps be less extensive than the media coverage suggests.</p> <h2>Spies After Bond</h2> <p>Fleming is not the only ex-spy to have successfully turned his hand to spy fiction. John le Carré’s George Smiley is perhaps an anti-Bond: slightly overweight, banal, and essentially a bureaucrat. He relies on a shrewd mind rather than gadgets or guns. </p> <p>Le Carré introduced his readers to a more mundane, morally grey world of espionage. He had worked for MI5 and MI6 in the 1950 and ‘60s. He thought Bond was a gangster rather than a spy. Le Carré’s stories have also shaped how we think about espionage. Words like “mole” and “honeytrap” – the terminology of spycraft – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/02/john-le-carre-spy-came-in-from-cold-book/673227/">entered common usage via his novels</a>.</p> <p>Stella Rimington, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/apr/23/stella-rimington-i-fell-into-intelligence-by-chance">the first female director-general of MI5</a>, began writing fiction after retiring from intelligence in the late 1990s. Her protagonist, 34-year-old Liz Carlyle, hunts terror cells in Britain. Like Smiley, Carlyle appears rather ordinary. She is serious and conscientious. We get glimpses of the everyday sexism she experiences. Carlyle triumphs by remaining level-headed, not by fiery gun battles or explosions.</p> <p>After three decades of agent-running for the CIA, Jason Mathews wrote his <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Red-Sparrow-Trilogy">Red Sparrow</a> trilogy to occupy himself in retirement. He called it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/books/shadowing-jason-matthews-the-ex-spy-whose-cover-identity-is-author.html">a form of therapy</a>. </p> <p>There’s a little more Bond in Mathews’ books than in those of le Carré or Rimington. His protagonists Nate Nash and Dominika Egorova are attractive, charismatic and entangled in a personal relationship of stolen moments and high drama. This is counterbalanced by the many hours they spend running surveillance-detection routes before meeting targets. The more tedious and banal aspects of spycraft – brush passes, broken transmitters, and dead drops – accompany the glamour and romance.</p> <h2>The wilderness of mirrors</h2> <p>Spy fiction is never just about entertainment. The real world of espionage is so secret that most of us only ever encounter it on pages or screens. We don’t usually look to Bond films for accurate representations of espionage. But the influence of Fleming’s spy and the general aura of secrecy surrounding intelligence work lend some glamour and excitement to the work of real spies.</p> <p>These fictions also influence our views on real intelligence organisations, their activities, and their legitimacy. This is why the <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-cia-goes-to-hollywood-how-americas-spy-agency-infiltrated-the-big-screen-and-our-minds/">CIA invests time and money into fictionalisations</a> dealing with its work. From stories based on true events, such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/">Argo</a>(2012) or <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/">Zero Dark Thirty</a> (2012), to fictional series like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1796960/">Homeland</a> (2011-20), the agency’s image is shaped via the media we consume.</p> <p>This was true when Fleming was writing, too. Soviet authorities <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Russia-and-the-Cult-of-State-Security-The-Chekist-Tradition-From-Lenin/Fedor/p/book/9780415703475">were preoccupied</a> by Sherlock Holmes’ surging popularity behind the Iron Curtain and fretted over the release of the Bond novels and films. The KGB studied both carefully. It was likely Bond who prompted KGB officers to release classified details about their most successful spy story: the career of <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-name-s-sorge-richard-sorge/">Richard Sorge</a>. </p> <p>Former intelligence officers such as Fleming are often quite good at fiction – perhaps because it is a core part of spycraft. A solid cover story has to be grounded in reality, with just enough fiction to protect the truth or gain a desired outcome. A good operation often requires creativity, to outwit a target or evade detection. And spreading fictions – disinformation – can sometimes be just as useful as gathering information.</p> <p>The world of espionage is sometimes referred to as the “wilderness of mirrors”. Spycraft relies on both reflections and distortions. The line between fact and fiction, between real stories of intelligence work and invented ones, can become blurry – and intelligence agencies often prefer it that way.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Columbia Pictures</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-wilderness-of-mirrors-70-years-since-the-first-james-bond-book-spy-stories-are-still-blurring-fact-and-fiction-201373" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Books

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“Have a second phone”: Aussie spy chief’s warning on social media use

<p dir="ltr">MPs have been urged to use a second phone if they want to access social media apps such as TikTok, after one of Australia’s top spy bosses spoke about how these apps use our personal information.</p> <p dir="ltr">Rachel Noble, the Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), recommended that politicians and their staff should adopt the practice during a Senate estimates hearing.</p> <p dir="ltr">She also said that having a phone without access to social media was the only way to have “absolute certainty” of data privacy.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Our advice was, frankly, for people who are members of parliament who might be particularly targets of espionage … that if you wanted absolute certainty that your social media app couldn’t have access to those things … would be to have a second phone which you exclusively use for that,” Ms Noble said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The warning comes after it was reported earlier this year that the ASD had confidential meetings with politicians and their staff to warn them that some apps undertake excessive data collection and request access to contact lists, location data and photos.</p> <p dir="ltr">Last year, the Department of Home Affairs restricted TikTok use on work phones, joining the Department of Defence in doing so.</p> <p dir="ltr">During the hearing, Ms Noble said that in some cases social media apps were collecting additional information extending “beyond the content of messages, videos and voice recordings”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Social media apps are monetising what you do on your phone, what you access, what you look at for how long, who your friends are – they will seek to get demographics of your friends in order to push you the information and get you to buy things,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">With some apps headquartered outside Australia, such as China, Ms Noble said the information collected could be accessed legally or be subject to covert collection.</p> <p dir="ltr">Sectors of the Australian public service aren’t the only ones restricting use of social media apps on work phones, with parliaments in the United States and New Zealand warning against using TikTok on government devices.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4a365f66-7fff-12a0-c84b-6e36f0ce1003"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Technology

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Coins covered in coded clues will test your spy skills

<p dir="ltr">A new, limited edition 50-cent coin covered in coded messages is more than just a mental puzzle for coin collectors - its creators hope it can help identify some of Australia’s next foreign intelligence recruits.</p> <p dir="ltr">The commemorative coin was released on Thursday to mark the 75th anniversary of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the country’s foreign intelligence cybersecurity agency.</p> <p dir="ltr">Though they won’t be available for circulation, 50,00 of the unique coins will be available to purchase from the Royal Australian Mint.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-91d5a6fc-7fff-bb93-5d60-cff3220f11f5"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Each coin features four levels of coded messages that become more difficult to solve - though clues can be found on either side of the coin.</p> <p><iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRoyalAustralianMint%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0NUz7VxNyNToHFmQzbPFTNi2rYo4Vvngztz8nmQssosevJzo2ExGpxdp5fumXeXcol&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=500" width="500" height="498" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p dir="ltr">ASD Director General Rachel Noble said the coin celebrated the work of the members of the agency and the evolution of code-breaking over the past seven-and-a-half decades.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Back in World War II, our people, military and civilian, and mostly women … used pencil and paper to decode Japanese military codes, and then re-encode them to send them out to the allies to let them know where Japanese war fighters were," she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We have used that part of our history in different layers, which represent the progress of encryption and technology through our 75 years."</p> <p dir="ltr">The puzzling currency also serves another purpose, with Ms Noble adding that those who can crack the codes could be "pretty well-placed" to work at the ASD.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We thought this was a really fun way to engage people in code-breaking with the hope that, if they make it through all four levels of coding on the coin, maybe they'll apply for a job at the Australian Signals Directorate," she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Royal Mint chief executive Leugh Gordon said the coin was created with the help of cryptography experts, but that even with their help it still proved a challenge to get the codes onto the coin.</p> <p dir="ltr">"While the 50-cent piece is Australia's biggest coin, it still doesn't have a lot of surface area," he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Ensuring people could see the code to decrypt it was one of the challenges our people were able to solve with ASD, to create a unique and special product."</p> <p dir="ltr">It's not the first time secretive workplaces have used unusual recruiting drives, with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service releasing an online test targeting Australia's next generation of spies in 2017, while ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) took to Instagram last year to show the secrecy surrounding the lives of modern spies.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms Noble said those who crack the code won't get their hands on any top secret information, but instead will find "some wonderful, uplifting messages".</p> <p dir="ltr">"Like the early code breakers in ASD, you can get through some of the layers with but a pencil and paper but, right towards the end, you may need a computer to solve the last level," she said.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-73e50ae0-7fff-e141-a245-39a4ce9b8192"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Royal Australian Mint</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Colin Firth takes on Hitler in new spy movie

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After appearing as the fictional spy Galahd in the </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kingsman</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> trilogy, Colin Firth </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/colin-firth-plots-to-trick-hitler-operation-mincemeat-trailer/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">is portraying</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> a real-life spy in the new trailer for </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Operation Mincemeat</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite the grisly name, the movie is named after the real operation run by British intelligence officers during World War 2, where they attempted to thwart the Nazis by planting a dead body in enemy waters with a briefcase full of fake documents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">See the trailer here:</span></p> <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YQ7ZXOXHZ20" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Firth is set to play Ewen Montagu, the British naval intelligence officer who came up with the idea for Operation Mincemeat along with Matthew Macfadyen’s Charles Cholmondeley.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844679/mincemeat1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/2c9d93e8b1b5492c9927d09c869a96d5" /></span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">British musician Johnny Flynn portrays author and intelligence officer Ian Fleming.</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alongside the scheming duo, the cast includes Penelope Wilton as Hester Leggest, Johnny Flynn as <em>James </em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Bond</em> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">author and intelligence officer Ian Fleming, and Kelly Macdonald’s Jean Leslie.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844680/mincemeat2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/54cdfbaa95fb4ef7a57d71c0714e4eea" /></span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kelly Macdonald as Jean Leslie, the MI5 clerk whose image was used in the operation.</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jason Isaac is set to play skeptical John Godfrey, while Winston Churchill will be portrayed by Simon Russell Beale.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">John Madden - the director behind </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Shakespeare in Love</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> - is directing the all-star cast.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Operation Mincemeat </span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">is </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.flicks.co.nz/movie/operation-mincemeat/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">due to be released</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in cinemas in early April of next year.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Images: @netflixfilm / Instagram</span></em></p>

Movies

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Why James Bond would make a terrible spy in real life

<p>James Bond may have more than 60 years of experience saving the world from notorious villains, but he’d have a tough time getting a job in MI6 today, says Alex Younger, chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, in the <em>Guardian</em>. Apparently, there’s more to being an SIS officer than expensive cars, martinis and tuxedos.</p> <p>Even if Bond’s appreciation for the finer things in life were qualification enough, his recklessness on the job would likely cut his career short. “The violence, mayhem and death that seem to follow Bond wherever he goes are certainly one thing that would have gotten him early retirement from any reputable intelligence service long ago,” says Alexis Albion, the International Spy Museum‘s lead curator. “Also, his tendency to use his own name, lack of communication with headquarters, wanton waste of government resources, lack of discretion in his sexual dalliances … the list goes on.”</p> <p>In other words, James Bond would make a terrible spy.</p> <p>Think about it. It’s hard to be effective at espionage when everybody knows who you are. Agent 007 is the most famous spy in the world, yet he rarely wears a disguise and almost always uses his real name. Even if “Bond, James Bond” is actually a code name, why use it over and over again?</p> <p>Finally, 007 has a pretty terrible track record of getting captured by his enemies. Alec Trevelyan – aka Janus, from <em>GoldenEye</em> – even captured him twice! And how many times do you have to drink a poisoned beverage to learn that you shouldn’t consume anything given to you by your enemy? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool Bond twice, shame on 007.</p> <p>There’s also Bond’s inability to stay under the radar. Real-life spies go out of their way not to draw attention to themselves. Bond, meanwhile, is a magnet for attention. Just look at the types of luxury vehicles he drives: Aston Martins, Audis, Bentleys, Rolls-Royces. They’re way too eye-catching, and probably too fast; Bond’s need for speed is yet another problem. To quote Q in <em>GoldenEye</em>, “Need I remind you, 007, that you have a license to kill, not to break the traffic laws.”</p> <p>Then there’s the simple fact that Bond is an alcoholic. British researchers report that 007’s weekly alcohol consumption is over four times the recommended limit for an adult male. They also suspect that Bond suffers from alcohol-induced hand tremors as a result of all that drinking. That could explain his preference that his vodka martinis be “shaken, not stirred,” when, in fact, they should be stirred, not shaken.</p> <p><em>Written by PJ Feinstein. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/why-james-bond-would-make-a-terrible-spy-in-real-life">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, here’s our best <a href="https://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRA93V">subscription offer.</a></em></p> <p><em>Written by PJ Feinstein. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/why-james-bond-would-make-a-terrible-spy-in-real-life">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, here’s our best <a href="https://readersdigest.innovations.co.nz/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRN93V">subscription offer.</a></em></p> <p> </p> <p> </p>

Movies

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Dutton plans to set our international spy agency upon citizens

<p>Home affairs minister Peter Dutton quietly announced to the ABC <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-19/powers-for-asd-spy-dark-web-australians/11980728">a fortnight ago</a> that the Morrison government’s – <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-29/labor-blames-government-for-security-leak/9708594">often denied</a> – push to turn the nation’s international spying agency on its own citizens is close to finalisation.</p> <p>The minister rolled out one of the <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/true-crime-six-unsolved-australian-murders-part-2/">usual suspects</a> – child sexual offenders – as a reason for extending spying powers currently used to deal with foreign threats, so they could be applied locally to Australians as well. And he used a disturbing example of a months-old baby being tortured to make his point.</p> <p>This is the exact same proposal that <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/spying-shock-shades-of-big-brother-as-cybersecurity-vision-comes-to-light/news-story/bc02f35f23fa104b139160906f2ae709">was exposed</a> by News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst in April 2018, when she reported on leaked documents that revealed senior public servants discussing the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) being able to access citizen’s emails, bank records and texts.</p> <p>The documents detailed correspondence between Department of Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo and Defence secretary Greg Moriarty regarding a proposal that would allow ASD agents to hack into critical infrastructure so as to remove threats.</p> <p>Although, that correspondence doesn’t appear to have been dressed up in fighting paedophile rhetoric.</p> <p>The AFP went on to raid Ms Smethurst’s home <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-afp-press-raids-towards-a-totalitarian-state/">in June last year</a> in relation to the story. And a week after the raids, Dutton <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-return-of-dutton-enhanced-domestic-surveilling-and-attacks-on-minorities/">appeared on the ABC’s Insiders</a> suggesting that the nation needed to have a “sensible discussion” about providing the ASD with internal spying powers.</p> <p>And now, the home affairs minister is back spruiking a “public debate” around enhanced domestic surveilling powers – either allowing the ASD to do so or handing the responsibility to the AFP – even though the same article asserts “the proposal is at the advanced stage within the government”.</p> <p><strong>Blurring the powers</strong></p> <p>At the time Smethurst broke the news, <a href="https://www.cla.asn.au/News/#gsc.tab=0">Civil Liberties Australia</a> CEO Bill Rowlings told Sydney Criminal Lawyers that the division between onshore and offshore surveillance is “to maintain the critical distinction between ordinary policing and defence and spy agencies”.</p> <p>Currently, the Australian Federal Police and the domestic spying agency ASIO <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/dutton-considers-increasing-governments-surveillance-powers/">are empowered</a> to investigate citizens after a warrant has been issued by the attorney general, while the ASD has no such powers to operate internally.</p> <p>Rowlings asserts that it’s important to keep this distinction, as police “are still far more accountable to the public than our spying agencies”. And while police are to a large extent a readily identifiable entity, intelligence agencies operate in the shadows.</p> <p>“Transparency and accountability are impossible when the law makes it a crime – punishable by many years in prison – to even report the name of an intelligence officer,” Rowlings said, as he threw in an example of why the future Dutton is promising is somewhat unpalatable.</p> <p><strong>The directorate</strong></p> <p>The Australian Signals Directorate was formed in 1947. The ASD website <a href="https://www.asd.gov.au/about">explains</a> that it’s charged with protecting the nation from global threats and advancing our national interests. It does this by covert information gathering, protecting against cyber threats, and disrupting foreign capabilities.</p> <p><a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/isa2001216/s7.html">Section 7</a> of the Intelligence Services Act 2001 (Cth) outlines the functions of the ASD, which all pertain to spying and gathering information “outside of Australia”. These are the powers – designed to thwart foreign agents – that could be turned on Australians.</p> <p>The ASD plays a major role in the <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-five-eyes-alliance-is-watching-you/">Five Eyes arrangement</a>, which is a secretive information sharing agreement between Australia, the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand. It was established in 1946. And this leaves open questions as to where domestically harvested information might end up.</p> <p>The directorate is also allowed to <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-sunday-times/20180429/285598150666563">conduct certain activities</a> that are against Australian law when it’s operating overseas. And over the past 70 years, the ASD has developed from a body focused on collecting defence signals into a streamlined cyber spying agency.</p> <p><strong>An unnecessary venture</strong></p> <p>Just after the AFP press raids last June, minister Dutton appeared on the Insiders stating that “we don’t support spying on Australians”, while in the next breath he said, “there needs to be a sensible discussion about whether or not we’ve got the ability to deal with threats that we face”.</p> <p>Writing in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-be-wary-of-expanding-powers-of-the-australian-signals-directorate-119078">the Conversation</a> days later, Bond University criminology associate professor Terry Goldsworthy pointed out that the home affairs minister cited combating online paedophilia and protecting institutions against cyber attacks as reasons to turn the ASD on its own people.</p> <p>The professor then went on to state that there aren’t any domestic cyber attack threats coming from domestic sources. And he added that the sort of surveillance noted in the Smethurst article is already available to law enforcement agencies with a judge’s approval.</p> <p>And as for combating online paedophiles Goldsworthy explained that the AFP does so via the Virtual Global Taskforce – which sees it collaborating with multiple international crime fighting agencies – as well as its own Child Protection Operations (CPO) team.</p> <p>The academic concludes his article by maintaining that rather than simply suggesting that the powers of one agency be extended, the government should make the case as to why existing domestic strategies that are in place aren’t adequate.</p> <p><strong>A creeping surveillance state</strong></p> <p>While nobody is suggesting that paedophiles and terrorists be given carte blanche to conduct crimes without reproach, it does seem rather suspect that they’re cited as reasons to enact more laws and create new policies that impede upon the rights of all Australians.</p> <p>Back <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/gq88b7/new-australian-anti-terrorism-laws-could-see-the-mandatory-recording-of-your-private-data">in August 2014</a>, then attorney general George Brandis first announced that the federal government was looking at implementing the metadata retention regime in relation to terrorists. Today, all Australians have their data stored by telcos that can be accessed by intelligence agencies.</p> <p>Australia is the only western democracy in the world without a bill of rights, which means most of our rights aren’t protected. And <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-need-for-a-bill-of-rights-an-interview-with-unsw-professor-george-williams/">commentators have outlined</a> that this means the rights eroding laws that have been enacted in the name of terrorism go much further in their reach than elsewhere.</p> <p>And now it seems that minister Dutton would like to further see the nation morph into a <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/a-creeping-surveillance-state-an-interview-with-the-human-rights-law-centres-emily-howie/">surveillance state</a>, where ASD agents <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-19/powers-for-asd-spy-dark-web-australians/11980728">would be able</a> to snoop through citizens’ online and electronic space in much the same way police can access a house they have an official warrant to search.</p> <p><em>Written by Paul Gregoire. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/dutton-plans-to-set-our-international-spy-agency-upon-citizens/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</a></em></p>

Caring

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Foreign spying in Australia reaches “unprecedented scale”

<p>Australia is facing an “unprecedented” wave of foreign espionage, the nation’s domestic intelligence agency has warned.</p> <p>According to the<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-26/intelligence-agencies-warn-about-unprecedented-levels-of-spying/11441876?pfmredir=sm" target="_blank"><em>ABC</em></a>, senior intelligence figures said countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, North Korea and Malaysia were known to monitor their nationals living in Australia while also seeking to silence those speaking out against their former governments.</p> <p>Intelligence experts said most people do not have a full understanding of the extent of the threat, including how easily migrants and refugees can be recruited as spies, often against their will.</p> <p>An Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) spokesperson said foreign espionage was occurring at an “unprecedented scale”.</p> <p>“The security threat comes from the actions and intent of the small number of individuals who seek to do Australia harm,” the spokesperson told the<span> </span><em>ABC</em>.</p> <p>However, the spokesperson said the “actions of few” should not be taken as representative of the whole refugee community.</p> <p>“It is critical that we avoid commentary that will instil fear and taint communities which make such a positive contribution to Australian life, economy and culture,” the spokesperson said.</p> <p>Another intelligence expert said there are hundreds of spy recruits or agents operating in Australia today, with many of them having been blackmailed, threatened or coerced into gaining political information, recruiting other informants and conducting other illegal acts.</p> <p>John Blaxland, professor in International Security and Intelligence Studies at the Australian National University said numerous countries have tried to use their diaspora living in Australia to influence decisions made by government bodies, corporations and education institutions in their favour. He said threats are often made against the expats’ jobs and family members.</p> <p>The<span> </span><em>ABC</em><span> </span>report came after ASIO’s director general Duncan Lewis said the level of foreign interference and espionage is “higher than it has ever been”.</p> <p>“It is an unprecedented level of activity … it’s not visible to most people,” Lewis told<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/espionage-threats-unprecedented-says-spy-boss-duncan-lewis/news-story/e90c51bb103ffd1d536ae7b691671891" target="_blank"><em>The Weekend Australian</em></a>.</p> <p>“It’s constant. Every day there is a discovery. Some of them are more alarming than others.”</p> <p>Lewis said Australia’s case is not unique, as technological developments and “mass movement of people, goods and ideas” have intensified security challenges.</p> <p>Lewis warned that the espionage threat shows no sign of slowing down, with widespread cyber-attacks and traditional spy craft as well as growing interference within Australia’s political system.</p> <p>“The oversight mechanisms we have are substantial, [but] I think they need to be constantly under review,” he said. “They are not something you can set and forget.”</p>

News

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Prince William's intense 3-week undercover spy training

<div> <div class="replay"> <div class="reply_body body linkify"> <div class="reply_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>The Duke of Cambridge has just completed three weeks of undercover spy training with some of the top intelligence agencies in the UK and around the world.  </p> <p>Prince William spent time with Secret Intelligent Service (MI6), the Security Service and the Government Communication Headquarters.</p> <p>The 37-year-old royal oversaw the work of MI6 first, where he spent a week learning about their work process and developing foreign contacts gathering intelligence.</p> <p>Then spending a week with MI5, Prince William learnt more about the agency that focuses on national security, in particularly terrorism.</p> <p>In his final week, the royal member learnt about technology used to disrupt threats of national security.</p> <p>“Spending time inside our security and intelligence agencies, understanding more about the vital contribution they make to our national security, was a truly humbling experience,” the father-of-three said after completing his training.</p> <p>“These agencies are full of people from everyday backgrounds doing the most extraordinary work to keep us safe. They work in secret, often not even able to tell their family and friends about the work they do or the stresses they face.</p> <p>“They are driven by an unrivalled patriotism and dedication to upholding the values of this country. We all owe them deep gratitude for the difficult and dangerous work they do.”</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7oqkKFjw6/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7oqkKFjw6/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal)</a> on Apr 6, 2019 at 4:02pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>In the past, the royal heir has worked with the British Armed Forces and over 44 weeks of training as an officer cadet in 2006.</p> <p>Furthermore, the Duke underwent pilot training in 2008 and then undertook helicopter flight training, becoming a full-time pilot with the RAF Search and Rescue Force in 2009.</p> <p>While it seems Prince William might perfectly match the description of a diligent intelligence worker, the royal will become the Prince of Wales when his father is crowned King, making the idea not possible.</p> <p>The 37-year-old Duke’s time with the British Armed Forces ended in September 2013.</p> <p>After working two years as a pilot for the East Anglican Air Ambulance, he retired his position to become a full-time royal member in 2014.  </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div></div>

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Woolies staff rewarded for spying on pokie players

<p>A <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/" target="_blank"><em><strong>Fairfax Media investigation</strong></em></a> has revealed staff in pubs owned by Woolworths are being rewarded for spying on pokies players and sharing detailed, personal information to encourage them to stay longer and increase their gambling losses.</p> <p>The report cites data shared on a Google drive among the 400 pubs in Woolies’ network across the country, complied in a bid to increase the company’s gaming venue.</p> <p>Screenshots obtained by MP Andrew Wilkie and shared with Fairfax Media reveal how staff employed predatory tactics like rewarding players with gift vouchers when targets were reached, and compiling data on personal habits.  </p> <p>One staff member notes after a shift: “Started slow, picked up after 9, coffees, drink shouts and toasties trying to keep them in, a lot of promo tickets going out.”</p> <p>Mr Wilkie told <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Fairfax Media</strong></em></span></a>, “It used to be an unwritten thing, you’d talk to patrons in a genuine sense, but now those genuine interactions aren’t what they used to be. We’re actually writing it down so that we can get people to stay for as long as possible, to put as much money into the machines as possible.</p> <p>“You’d record that stuff so that any new gaming staff can easily get up to speed with our VIP customers, who we want to keep gambling for as long as possible, so you can easily strike up a conversation with them and build rapport really quickly.</p> <p>“You know the ins-and-outs of their life. You’re writing down what they do, when they sort of …what time they normally come in, the teams they barrack for and then you can go and have a conversation with them very, very easily because you’ve got that background information.</p> <p>“It’s the predatory tactics that's being deployed. It’s unethical and essentially you are looking over people’s shoulders, and documenting what people are doing and they don’t know that you are doing that. They think you are having a general chit-chat with them, but you are actually profiling it.</p> <p>“I’m not the only one that feels uncomfortable about it, a lot of my friends that work in the industry feel very uneasy about it, but they are told to do it by their bosses, so that’s what they do. You have to keep your job.”</p> <p>Woolies owns 12,000 poker machines across Australia through a majority share in ALH.</p> <p>ALH provided a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>statement to Fairfax Media</strong></em></span></a>, saying it was concerned with the gaming practices revealed in the pubs highlighted in the investigation.</p> <p>"We have commenced an investigation to ascertain what occurred as we take our responsibilities in providing responsible service of gaming and alcohol most seriously," the spokesman said.</p> <p>What are your thoughts? Does Woolies have a case to answer for?</p>

Retirement Life

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Can you solve Britain’s spy agency Christmas card brainteaser?

<p>Britain’s intelligence and security agency – GCHQ – has released a Christmas card with a twist this year. Instead of the usual festive greetings of snowmen and Santa Claus, GCHQ has given out a baffling brainteaser.</p> <p>This year spy agency director Robert Hannigan sent out a complex grid-shading puzzle inside his traditional Christmas cards.</p> <p>Those who successfully uncover an image in the grid will go onto the next stage of tougher challenges. Mr Hannigan asks players who complete all the stages to submit their answer to <a href="http://www.gchq.gov.uk/pages/homepage.aspx" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">GCHQ website here</span></strong></a> by the end of January.</p> <p>Print out a version of the <a href="http://www.gchq.gov.uk/SiteCollectionImages/grid-shading-puzzle.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>puzzle here.</strong></span></a></p> <p>How to play:</p> <ul> <li>Each square is either black or white. Some of the black squares have already been filled in for you.</li> <li>Each row or column is labelled with a string of numbers. The numbers indicate the length of all consecutive runs of black squares and are displayed in the order that the runs appear in that line. For example, a label "2 1 6" indicates sets of two, one and six black squares, each of which will have at least one white square separating them</li> <li>Complete the grid with a black pen</li> </ul> <p><img width="620" height="701" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03522/Capture_3522150b.jpg"/></p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/funny-things-grandkids-say-part-4/"><em>The funniest things grandkids kids say</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/sacrifices-grandparents-make-study/"><em>The many things grandparents sacrifice for their family</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/interspecies-animal-friendships/"><em>15 unlikely friendships that will melt your heart</em></a></strong></span></p>

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Would you spy on your grandkids technology use?

<p>To spy or not to spy on our children? That’s the question being asked by a new wave of technology monitoring apps.</p> <p>An app, called Teensafe, which already claims one million users in the US, as well as telco giant Telstra’s new offering, Mobile Protect, are just two popular services Australian parents can choose from. These apps, which let parents monitor their children’s online activity through their own computer, scan social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and even provide instant alerts when children stray into dangerous territory. They can also be used to tailor the child’s phone so it can block unwanted calls and texts and controls the times when kids can use their phones.</p> <p>With more than 68 per cent of Australian children aged 12 to 17 with their own smartphones – many spending hours in a day on them – the new apps look to assuage parental fears and concerns over what their children get up to in the sometimes murky online world.</p> <p>Research by AVG Technologies show that parents are deeply concerned about cyber risk with 41 per cent of Australian parents admitting to already using Facebook to keep tabs on teenagers without their knowledge. A third of parents worry children could ruin future job prospects with inappropriate internet use while 22 per cent feared their kids were sexting and more than a quarter had seen abusive or explicit comments on their children's accounts.</p> <p>However, experts, including the Australian police, are warning this technology could hamper trust between parents and children. Detective Inspector Jon Rouse from the specialist child protection knows the dangers of the online world all too well. While he warns the threat of online predators is real, he believes parents should communicate with children and teach them risk associated with social media rather than solely relying on spying technology.</p> <p>“Surely as a parent, your role is to engage with your child and have a loving, caring, trusting — and the key word there is trust — relationship with your child,” Detective Inspector Rouse told ABC.</p> <p>“Immediately you embark on this kind of a path and it breaches that trust, and I think it would take a certain kind of relationship with a child where you would be resorting to this as the solution.”</p> <p>Dr Joe Tucci, head of the Australian Childhood Foundation, agrees and sees inherent problems with such monitoring apps.</p> <p>“I think it undermines the trust that parents and kids need to have in order to have a positive relationship," Dr Tucci told Sydney Morning Herald. "As kids get older, parents need to be like a lighthouse for their children. When things are going rough, parents are the people you need to be able to go to, and talk to. That trust is critical as a foundation for that open, honest communication. These sorts of apps undermine that. They basically say we can't trust our young people... we have to intrude into their world.”</p> <p>Telstra cyber safety manager, Shelly Gorr, said while the service was a great way to help protect children, it is no way “the be-all and end-all for child safety.”</p> <p>“I would advocate very strongly that parents don’t just rely on a technological tool, they still need to be parents as well,’’ she said.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2015/06/stay-safe-on-public-wifi/">How to stay safe on public wifi</a></strong></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2015/03/reading-tablet-in-bed-harmful/">You’ll think twice before using your tablet in bed after reading this</a></strong></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2015/01/prevent-facebook-hacking/">How to prevent your Facebook being hacked</a></strong></span></em></p>

Technology

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Facebook will tell you if government is spying on you

<p>In a move to make sure your account is more secure (and ease any worries you may have), Facebook has announced it will notify you when they believe your account “has been targeted or compromised by an attacker suspected of working on behalf of a nation-state​.” In layman’s terms that means governments and their agencies.</p><p>If that happens, Facebook will send you a message like this:</p><p><img width="493" height="151" src="http://ghk.h-cdn.co/assets/15/43/1445271773-1facebook-notifica-3476498b.jpg" class="swap-image embedded-image--image lazy-loaded" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></p><p>Alex Stamos, Facebook Chief Security Officer, wrote in a Facebook note last Saturday, "We do this because these types of attacks tend to be more advanced and dangerous than others, and we strongly encourage affected people to take the actions necessary to secure all of their online accounts.”</p><p>To access this feature, turn on Login Approvals. This prevents others from signing into your account on a new device by requiring a code, which is only sent to your cell phone. Anyone who wants to ensure their account is more secure can turn on this feature at any time in their privacy settings.</p><p>To turn it on, go to Settings &gt; Security &gt; Login Approvals&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Related links:&nbsp;</strong></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2015/08/internet-terms-to-know/">The internet terms you should know</a></em></strong></span></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2015/07/how-to-ebook-reader/">8 things you can do with your eBook reader</a></em></strong></span></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="/lifestyle/technology/2015/07/spying-technology-on-children/">Would you spy on your grandkids technology use?</a></em></strong></span></p>

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