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Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

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Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#121

Post by gamblor956 »

User23 wrote: post #96
opportune wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also true for the Caltrain, coffee shops, and nicer restaurants between SF and SJ. And SFO, SJC, and SEA airports; I think I hear some salesman loudly talking about a deal almost every time I fly out of those places on weekdays.

Fun fact: Using knowledge gained in this way isn't insider trading[1]. Conceivably a person could even sell tips based on information heard in public places to traders. During the golden age of Wall Street, this was extremely common. Traders or their lackeys would visit businesses (or the bars near them) and pump employees for info. [1] Not a lawyer, not legal advice.

It is insider trading if you get it by soliciting the information.

It is not insider trading if you get it by simply overhearing a public conversation.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#122

Post by rasz »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #88
cheschire wrote: post #3

I wonder if they give a class in juggalo paint at the farm, and other means of bypassing facial recognition programs. The tenure of a field operative these days must be incredibly short

Facial recognition countermeasures can be considered in some ways obsolete in an era of stance and gait recognition.

Elastic band and a small sharp pebble strategically placed in your shoe take care of that.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#123

Post by dylan604 »

blantonl wrote: post #83
opportune wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also true for the Caltrain, coffee shops, and nicer restaurants between SF and SJ. And SFO, SJC, and SEA airports; I think I hear some salesman loudly talking about a deal almost every time I fly out of those places on weekdays.

Yup, and I guarantee you foreign states send nosey-nellies to all these venues to do nothing but snoop on this stuff.

So, the guy at the end of the bar that everyone just passes off as the town drunk might actually just be a very cleverly disguised spy? I want that as my cover when I join a spy agency.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#124

Post by fencepost »

beamatronic wrote: post #29
kps wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moore's Law says you now bug every restaurant table in DC.

Crowdsource. Pay people to run an app when they go around DC, that records constantly from their mic, and uploads it to the cloud along with their location. I’m sure someone has already thought of this!

Highly variable by state, and probably a problem even in many one-party-consent states since the person doing the recording would generally not be a participant in recorded conversations. Many states and countries have laws on eavesdropping.

See also this 2012 item: https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/imported/RECORDING.p...

Edit: "In the District of Columbia, an individual may record or disclose the contents of a wire or oral communication if he or she is a party to the communication, or has received prior consent from one of the parties. The District’s voyeurism law prohibits secretly taking images of people in private settings and distributing them without consent. The District also contains several obscure city rules regulating the activities of commercial street photographers." Both significant criminal and civil penalties might apply.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#125

Post by crummy »

User23 wrote: post #96
opportune wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also true for the Caltrain, coffee shops, and nicer restaurants between SF and SJ. And SFO, SJC, and SEA airports; I think I hear some salesman loudly talking about a deal almost every time I fly out of those places on weekdays.

Fun fact: Using knowledge gained in this way isn't insider trading[1]. Conceivably a person could even sell tips based on information heard in public places to traders. During the golden age of Wall Street, this was extremely common. Traders or their lackeys would visit businesses (or the bars near them) and pump employees for info. [1] Not a lawyer, not legal advice.

In France, at least some authorities think it is insider trading:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-29/deals-...

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#127

Post by pstuart »

bitlax wrote: post #81
unlinked_dll wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Radically centrist in that they go out of their way not to be liberal or conservative in an attempt to stay unbiased, sometimes to the detriment of the programming.

Well they aren't liberal or conservative so much as establishment Democrat. And they regularly engage in bias by omission in their reporting.

the bias is "don't upset the apple cart".

I think the complaints about it being liberal are only valid in the context of not being rabidly right-wing.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#128

Post by formercoder »

User23 wrote: post #96
opportune wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also true for the Caltrain, coffee shops, and nicer restaurants between SF and SJ. And SFO, SJC, and SEA airports; I think I hear some salesman loudly talking about a deal almost every time I fly out of those places on weekdays.

Fun fact: Using knowledge gained in this way isn't insider trading[1]. Conceivably a person could even sell tips based on information heard in public places to traders. During the golden age of Wall Street, this was extremely common. Traders or their lackeys would visit businesses (or the bars near them) and pump employees for info. [1] Not a lawyer, not legal advice.

This is a pretty grey area. Would not recommend trading on the info.

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#129

Post by joezydeco »

User23 wrote: post #96
opportune wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also true for the Caltrain, coffee shops, and nicer restaurants between SF and SJ. And SFO, SJC, and SEA airports; I think I hear some salesman loudly talking about a deal almost every time I fly out of those places on weekdays.

Fun fact: Using knowledge gained in this way isn't insider trading[1]. Conceivably a person could even sell tips based on information heard in public places to traders. During the golden age of Wall Street, this was extremely common. Traders or their lackeys would visit businesses (or the bars near them) and pump employees for info. [1] Not a lawyer, not legal advice.

What's even wackier is that in commodities trading, insider information was allowed.

The loophole was a key plot point in the movie "Trading Places" and when the 2010 financial overhaul rules were passed, this section was nicknamed "The Eddie Murphy Rule".

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/07/09/200401407/epis...

Re: Eat, Drink and Be Wary: Ex-CIA Officer Reveals How Eateries Are Key to Spycraft

#130

Post by theNJR »

OJFord wrote: post #46
pjmorris wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife likes to sit in what she calls 'the Mafia seat', the seat in a restaurant that is best-protected by walls, etc, from behind, and that gives the best view of the rest of the room, so you can see what or who is coming. She's not in the mafia or allied professions, AFAIK, but I'd wager that similar metrics are used by the professionals.

Sounds like what many people (perhaps your wife is one of them) subconsciously prefer and tend to, which as I've been informed on HN before (I am one of them, I'm aware I have such a preference but it's not consciously deliberate) is Zen's 'command position'. I believe it came up before in the context of office desk arrangements. In office or restaurant, wherever, I find it very uncomfortable to have things going on…

I love learning a phrase for the obscure preferences that my wife always makes fun of.

Of course she also makes fun of my obscure phrases.

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