Consider this, my fellow tenant, no more than an introduction to the topic.
After I endured several years of a more typical and less virtual form of renter harassment, last spring it became clear that my situation had escalated from complaints to Parking Enforcement, Seattle Department of Transportation, and Seattle Public Utilities; from the more mundane crank neighbor running out to rattle her trash cans every time I went out to garden; from the sometimes humorous email to my landlords accusing me of moral terpitude... to eavesdropping and surveillance, on and off the Internet.
I won't attempt to do justice to this topic today, but in the four to five months since I heard a familiar voice say words to the effect of: "I turned down the mic. She's using the bathroom," I have lived my life in a Foucaltian "panopticon." The words of response, by the way, were, "Did they say we could do that?"
Indeed.
This escalation was apparently intended to finally get rid of a renter who made the mistake of insisting on her civil rights and on the nature of her lease contract as a two-party lease between herself and the owners of the home in which she resides, a contract that excludes her harassers.
The eavesdropping and surveillance became apparent as I began hearing people talking about things they should not have known, what I did that day in the real world, and what I looked at online. Apparently, as I've since learned, this is a common means for people to become aware of eavesdropping. In my case, this seems to have at least led to computer intrusions, port scanning and blocking, and cyber-stalking (including at this moment). The offline components have included continual eavesdropping, surveillance, and voice harassment delivered using multiple types of technologies. You can imagine what continual voice harassment might include.
The point is that the elevation in harassment and its extreme nature is firmly tied to and based on the computer intrusions. Think about it... if you are harassing someone out of their home, this is extremely potent and may well represent an update in the techniques used to illegally evict me, or you, from our legal homes. If you can mine someone's email like you're Google, you can find the names of their friends... and their enemies. You can read about what pissed them off and get some idea of how a harassing stranger might provoke them into an outburst which could be the pretense for a police call that could contribute to their eviction. If you can track their bank balances, you can exploit their fiscal vulnerabilities; you can also accuse them of writing bad checks or, over time, trick them into thinking they have more or less money than they do (details to follow). You can check their Amazon account to see what they spent money on last month. You can see if they pay their utility bills on time. If they're on unemployment, you can track whether they submit resumes for the required number of positions every week and accuse them of lying on their unemployment or job applications. You can also use this information to report them for violations and crimes they didn't commit to the unemployment people, the IRS, their own employer, and so on. Basically, combine cyber-stalking and surveillance with physical eavesdropping and surveillance, and you can even monitor their privileged communications with attorneys. Moreover, you can threaten them with defamation whenever they attempt to get help. All you need is a little money and maybe some shady detectives.
To keep things interesting, throw in some remote control manipulation of your victim's TV and radio (the better to scare the cat and distress the human who cares for her), mess with the transmissions of every radio in their house, and if they try to find security in a non-digital land line, phone phreak them. At any rate, you can at least dial into their wireless phone system and use it as an intercom system to eavesdrop on them in their bedrooms. Apparently you can also use phone phreaking to make a phone line into a party. If that's how it happens, it would certainly be cleaner than a physical tap.
In the months that have followed, despite the lack of privacy, I have tried to make some sense out of this experience. The techniques that are being used seem to be considered "mobbing." At least in good measure. And those harassing me have in fact used that word, though they seem to glom onto any words they think they might use to manipulate me, including the word "root kit" (the technical term for an Internet "bot"). But that's another story.
As I mentioned, I'll treat this post as no more than an introduction -- I have work and a life that I continue to try to live, albeit in the panopticon. But consider the thought of hacking, even full-on "mobbing," as a digital adjunct to the classic techniques of renter harassment. And if you're already way ahead of me on this and on the side of right, please use the Contact form and tell us what you know. Your knowledge could benefit a lot of people. And remember, guest articles are welcome, even from reformed harassers.
More when I next get out of my cage.
After I endured several years of a more typical and less virtual form of renter harassment, last spring it became clear that my situation had escalated from complaints to Parking Enforcement, Seattle Department of Transportation, and Seattle Public Utilities; from the more mundane crank neighbor running out to rattle her trash cans every time I went out to garden; from the sometimes humorous email to my landlords accusing me of moral terpitude... to eavesdropping and surveillance, on and off the Internet.
I won't attempt to do justice to this topic today, but in the four to five months since I heard a familiar voice say words to the effect of: "I turned down the mic. She's using the bathroom," I have lived my life in a Foucaltian "panopticon." The words of response, by the way, were, "Did they say we could do that?"
Indeed.
This escalation was apparently intended to finally get rid of a renter who made the mistake of insisting on her civil rights and on the nature of her lease contract as a two-party lease between herself and the owners of the home in which she resides, a contract that excludes her harassers.
The eavesdropping and surveillance became apparent as I began hearing people talking about things they should not have known, what I did that day in the real world, and what I looked at online. Apparently, as I've since learned, this is a common means for people to become aware of eavesdropping. In my case, this seems to have at least led to computer intrusions, port scanning and blocking, and cyber-stalking (including at this moment). The offline components have included continual eavesdropping, surveillance, and voice harassment delivered using multiple types of technologies. You can imagine what continual voice harassment might include.
The point is that the elevation in harassment and its extreme nature is firmly tied to and based on the computer intrusions. Think about it... if you are harassing someone out of their home, this is extremely potent and may well represent an update in the techniques used to illegally evict me, or you, from our legal homes. If you can mine someone's email like you're Google, you can find the names of their friends... and their enemies. You can read about what pissed them off and get some idea of how a harassing stranger might provoke them into an outburst which could be the pretense for a police call that could contribute to their eviction. If you can track their bank balances, you can exploit their fiscal vulnerabilities; you can also accuse them of writing bad checks or, over time, trick them into thinking they have more or less money than they do (details to follow). You can check their Amazon account to see what they spent money on last month. You can see if they pay their utility bills on time. If they're on unemployment, you can track whether they submit resumes for the required number of positions every week and accuse them of lying on their unemployment or job applications. You can also use this information to report them for violations and crimes they didn't commit to the unemployment people, the IRS, their own employer, and so on. Basically, combine cyber-stalking and surveillance with physical eavesdropping and surveillance, and you can even monitor their privileged communications with attorneys. Moreover, you can threaten them with defamation whenever they attempt to get help. All you need is a little money and maybe some shady detectives.
To keep things interesting, throw in some remote control manipulation of your victim's TV and radio (the better to scare the cat and distress the human who cares for her), mess with the transmissions of every radio in their house, and if they try to find security in a non-digital land line, phone phreak them. At any rate, you can at least dial into their wireless phone system and use it as an intercom system to eavesdrop on them in their bedrooms. Apparently you can also use phone phreaking to make a phone line into a party. If that's how it happens, it would certainly be cleaner than a physical tap.
In the months that have followed, despite the lack of privacy, I have tried to make some sense out of this experience. The techniques that are being used seem to be considered "mobbing." At least in good measure. And those harassing me have in fact used that word, though they seem to glom onto any words they think they might use to manipulate me, including the word "root kit" (the technical term for an Internet "bot"). But that's another story.
As I mentioned, I'll treat this post as no more than an introduction -- I have work and a life that I continue to try to live, albeit in the panopticon. But consider the thought of hacking, even full-on "mobbing," as a digital adjunct to the classic techniques of renter harassment. And if you're already way ahead of me on this and on the side of right, please use the Contact form and tell us what you know. Your knowledge could benefit a lot of people. And remember, guest articles are welcome, even from reformed harassers.
More when I next get out of my cage.
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