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SPYSTORE.ZIP
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1993-02-15
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196 lines
SPIES, THERE'S A STORE FOR YOU
Toronto shop offers night scopes
miniature video cameras, bugs and
letter-bomb detectors
By Mark Dwyer
Welcome to my nightmare. You see, I had this assignment to do a feature on
Spy-Tech, a store at 2144 Yonge Street, Toronto, (416) 482-8588,
that specializes in hig-tech espionage equipment.
The interview went just fine, as manager John Mowat displayed an impressive
collection of gadgets that would have blown away James Bond - cellular
phone eaves droppers, night scopes, X-ray letter-bomb detectors, even
an ultrasonic guard-dog weapon.
I get home, eager towrite the story, but overwhelmed by the information
onslaught, I fall into a deep sleep . . .
The Nightmare
As I walk into this unassuming store on Yonge Street I inform the
unassuming guy behing the counter that I'm in to do a story on his products.
He nods knowingly and says, "Yeah, I know. By the way, your deadline's
been moved up to Friday. We better get down to business."
Whoa. This guy knows my business, my name, my address, my wife's name,
her shoe size, our credit card numbers, our overdue bills, and the fact
that the editor moved the deadline up on this story. "So," he says,
barely suppressing a sly grin. "What would you like to know?" I am
in Spy Tech, the first and only store in Toronto that rents and sells a
complete line of surveillance and security devices to the public.
Managaer John Mowat obviously relishes living and working in the world
of Subterfuge.
"For starters," I said, "how do you know so much about me? Have we met?"
"Not exactly. But if you and your editor insist on doing business on
your cellular phones, you leave yourselves open to scrutiny," explains
Mowat, adjusting the knobs on the Uniden Bearcat scanner, which sells
for $795.
There for all his patrons to hear are both sides of conversations between
people using cellular phones and police radios. And it's all legal!
"Okay," I said, checking behind me, "how did you know what I look like?"
He hits the play button on a VCR, and there I am, in glowing phosphorescent
green, getting out of my car and heading into my house.
"I took these at 1:35 in the morning with the Night Invader H3T-1 High
Performance Night Scope with long range telephoto lens," he claimed
proudly. "Under a thousand bucks. Electro-optics technology magnifies
the starlight or existing light thousands of times to produce razor
sharp, high contrast image, even on the darkest of nights. Just hook
it up to a video or still camera."
This guy is having way too much fun.
"Ok, how did you know who the article was for?," I asked. "We never
mentioned the magazine over the phone."
"Easy," he said cheerfully. "Before you came home, I took an envelope
from your mail box and gave it a blast with our X-Ray Spray Letter Bomb
Detector. For a short period of time the envelope becomes transparent,
revealing the contents. Then the envelope dries without a trace. Your
boss doesn't pay you enough."
"No kidding, Sherlock," I agreed. "But my dog's a vicious killer. Didn't
he come after you?"
"He tried," Mowat said sympathetically. "But I laid the Dazer Dog
Deterent on him"
"So basically, you can have a whole lotta fun watching people without
them knowing."
Wake up Mark!
I wake up shaken, and search frantically for my teddy bear. Thank
heavens, I thought, no one's been spying on me with all the latest
equipment. But then I remembered that those gadgets aren't imaginary -
they actually exist, and you can buy them only at SpyTech!
"Sure," said Mowat during the real interview. "There are lots of serious
applications for this technology."
And he began to explain how in this day and age of rising crime and
rising paranoia, a store like Spy Tech doesn't just sell gadgetry, it
sells peace of mind.
A good example is the Miniature Spy Camera Module, at $595, which can
be hidden in virtually any situation.
Parents who employ baby sitters to watch their children can now keep an
eye on the baby sitters. The results are reassuring: Spy Tech's teddy
bears, which are equipped with camera lenses in the belly buttons, have
already been used to expose and convict three abusive baby sitters in
the United States.
Mowat also recommended that parents put them into children's rooms for
surveillance against drug use.
Employers, landlords and even individuals buy over ten million dollars
worth of equipment a year from the store.
Miniature microphones, transmitters, as well as microminiature pin-hole
cameras built inot ceiling tiles, clocks and filing cabinets can monitor
employee theft.
Spy Tech hopes to soon have a new line of simple drug testing kits
available, so that managers will be able to check an employee's uring
on-the-spot for cocaine, heroin, marijuana and alcohol to make firings
easier.
If you make more dough than does a writer for a magazine, perhaps being
kidnapped and held for ransom is of concern.
No worries, Spy Tech can provide you with an anti-kidnapping system that
features and ultra-micro transmitter, planted in a watch or other
jewellery, which sends out signals to the receiver/direction finder unit
even 20 kilometers away. A speech synthesized voice repeats the bearing
angle to the rescue team, so that no matter where in the world your
abductors take you, you'll be found.
Sure, anti-kidnapping devices may be a little high end for the average
person, so I asked John to describe Spy Tech's regular customers.
"We're getting everybody. The whole gamut of professions, classes,
people who want new toys, people who have seen the devices in James
Bond movies and want to come and play with them. We also get a lot of
people and companies who have a very serious need for out services."
Spy Tech also offers the services of private investigators and
professional body guards. Cabbies and bouncers are strapping on Spy
Tech's bullet proof vests, which at $495 are suprisingly light and
comfortable, and capable of thwarting any bullet or shotgun blast.
Not illegal to spy in Canada
As dazzling as today's surveillance technology is, Canada does have
invasion of privacy laws.
but the use of surveillance devices is still a grey area in the legal
world, because few cases have ever made it to court, and very few
precedents have been set.
While Spy Tech makes spying on people very easy, Mowat maintains that
his store actually helps people defend their right to privacy.
We're giving people the opportunity and ability to protect their own
interests. Nobody wants their conversations listened to or their
secrets overheard."
Law enforcement officers generally support technology that helps expose
criminal activity, but Detective David Girdlestone of the Central Drug
Information Unit of the Metropolitan Toronto Police is concerned about
who employs such technology.
"Our main worry regards the user. Who actually has a real, lawful
purpose for owning debugging devices? Who needs to listen into police
radio conversions or needs a bullet-proof vest? They're not illegal
to own, but what person wants it? To have this equipment could mean you
do have something to hide."
According to Dirdlesont, the drug world uses many of the devices Spy
Tech sells for concealing valuables, such as a soda pop safe cans.
"It doesn't take much to fit cocaine or a Rolex watch into a safe that's
disguised as a can of shaving cream."
But as far as private citizens are concerned, Girdleston says Spy Tech
does offer sound, legal solutions to security problems.
"For the shop owner trying to lower the cost of shoplifting by employees
and customers," he says, "these devices are very useful and effective."
So. If you suspect your spouse is playing around, if you suspect your
phone is tapped, if you suspect your employees are stealing or wasting
too much time in the washroom, ir you suspect ANYONE of ANYTHING, Spy
Tech has just the high-tech gadgetry you need to confirm your suspicions.
Or, like so many of us these days, maybe you're just paranoid. And if
that's the case, come into Spy Tech anyway. They have a lovely
selection of rear view sunglasses.
You just never know, do you?
Spy Tech
2144 Yonge Street,
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 482-8588