WHAT IS IT?

 

Active surveillance is the practice of placing an individual or group under close observation through the use of listening devices, hidden cameras, and human operatives. It is an expensive and complex method of surveillance, and to do it right requires several trained operatives, high-tech equipment, and a lot of time. If you’ve managed to merit this kind of surveillance, congratulations! You’ve pissed off some extremely determined and capable people.

Your phone may be tapped, and your house, car, and office will be bugged with listening devices and cameras. Your car will be tagged with a GPS transmitter. Teams of operatives will follow you everywhere you go. They’ll point powerful listening devices at your home.

This kind of surveillance is common in movies. Film heroes often spot tails or find bugs with little difficulty. That’s because they are well-trained superhumans with uncanny powers of observation. You are not. In real life, a well-executed tail is extraordinarily difficult to spot, and defeating every form of observation that could be deployed against you requires diligence, time, and skill. You give up valuable intelligence every moment you fail to spot a tail or detect a bug. Your one advantage is that you need neither specialized training nor expensive equipment to beat even a highly trained surveillance team.

It’s important to remember that if you’ve been placed under this kind of surveillance, nothing you do short of faking your death will end the effort. All you can do is remain aware and committed to defeating your observers day after day. Until you address whatever offense you’ve committed to inspire this kind of effort against you, you better get used to dudes in suits hanging around at the top of your street with parabolic microphones.