The walls - and pens - have ears

By JULIET ROWAN and AINSLEY THOMSON REPORT

It may be illegal, but there are any number of ways to bug a conversation.

"If somebody wants to get a conversation, they'll get it," says de-bugging specialist Steve Willetts.

Telephones, buildings and computers can be bugged without too much difficulty, said Mr Willetts, director of Auckland de-bugging firm Corporate Security Services.

Surveillance is in the spotlight following a Sunday Star-Times report that the Security Intelligence Service monitored the phones and computers of high-profile Maori figures.

The agency allegedly did not have warrants, as required by law.

Mr Willetts said the most common ways to bug a phone were to place a device inside it or attach one to the telephone line or cable.

The possibilities for planting surveillance devices inside a room were "endless".

Power plugs, phone jacks, lamps and even marker pens with built-in bugs were popular.

Some bugged marker pens can pick up conversations 100m away.

But perhaps the most sophisticated way to bug a room is the infinity tap.

Infinity taps, labelled "the bug of choice" on one internet site, are placed inside phones.

What sets them apart from ordinary phone bugs is that they can pick up conversations in a room even when the phone is on the hook.

Ronald McQuilter, managing director of a security and investigation firm and president of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Investigators, said police and the SIS could also ask phone providers for help to monitor telephone lines.

Computer forensic investigative specialist John Thackray said bugging computers was illegal without a High Court order.

"Once you have the legal documentation in place and the authority, then it would be simple to bug a computer," he said.

The method used is called "ethical hacking" which essentially is exactly how hackers break their way into computer systems - only with the sanction of the courts.

"It allows you to go into systems and use various tools remotely and implant them or locally implant them and then just listen, watch and wait."

Mr Thackray said it would be possible to read a person's emails and see what websites he or she was visiting as well as seeing anything else the computer was being used for.

"There are various methods that can be used from keystroke generators to sniffing devices - there are literally hundreds of ways it can be done, but broadly speaking it is ethical hacking."