Were You Completely Mesmerized At James Bond’s Spy Gadgets? Did You Know You Too, Can Have Them?  Times have certainly changed. It used to be the gadgets, tools, and weapons in the James Bond 007 movies were stuff of imagination. Well, not anymore. You can realistically purchase the spy gadgets that are used by James Bond in his movies. You can even make some of them.

Spy gadgets can be so subtle and untraceable that even spies themselves won’t know when they’re under surveillance. In today’s technologically advanced world of gadgets and tools, video surveillance tools and audio bugging devices are easily hidden. Audio bugs are now being found in iPods, baby monitors, power strips, cell phones, watches and calculators. Audio bugs are now so advanced they are able to penetrate walls and pick up a conversation on the other side.  A scary thought to be sure!

Visual surveillance spy gadgets have come just as far in the past decade undoubtedly due to the influence of James Bond and his 007 gadgets. Video surveillance tools are little tiny cameras which are easily hidden in an unsuspecting object. For example, parents may want to put their nanny under surveillance and they may put an audio/visual bug in a stuffed animal. Parents and corporations can now track their employees internet usage. This is called key logging software and corporations are using this more frequently to make sure their employees aren’t abusing company time. Key logging can be used as a spy gadget when utilized to determine where an individual was getting valuable information by tracing their steps on the Internet.

Of course there are major privacy concerns regarding key logging and tracking employees internet usage and in many cases you simply have to draw a line somewhere and try to be reasonable.  For example, if you have desk workers who are working online, is it right for them to be using an instant messenger all day long and sending hundreds of instant messages to their friends?  Of course not.  But on the other hand, what if you have a hard working employee who checks his personal email maybe twice per day for less than 5 minutes total during down time?  That is much more reasonable and realistic and you pretty much have to allow for such events.  It is all about balance and finding what is reasonable.

Some of the really cool spy gadgets are things you would never think possible, in items you would never suspect. For example, parents can now track their childs whereabouts via a GPS system in the child’s cell phone. At any time the parent can go onto a website specific to the GPS system in the child’s phone and see on a map where their child is. Or, a jealous spouse could track where their spouse is. Employers can track where their employees are. The mafia could track where their guys are. There is also audio and visual surveillance equipment that can now be hidden in a lighter. The lighter can be set up nonchalantly and record all the movement and sound within its sights.

Did you know you can walk into a hardware store, or shop online for a lock picker? This is an actual lock picker that is designed to pick locks.  Sometimes it is tough to tell if this stuff is more for the good guys or for the bad guys!  But of course it is all about who uses these gadgets and what they use them for.  You can use cell phones to talk with friends or you can use cell phones to coordinate crimes.  Just because you can use the technology for evil does not make it inherently evil.  Cell phones are not evil.  However, they can be used to assist in doing evil things.  In the same way, spy gadgets are not necessarily as evil as people might make them out to be.  It is all in how they are used.  Certainly this technology is used in the military and in trying to protect our country from external threats.

Think you’re ready to make your own super cool spy gadget? If you can, get your hands on a GPS and a tiny box, put the GPS into the tiny box, sealing it securely. Attach a magnet to the box and stick it to the car of the person you want to trace. You will be able to monitor the position of whatever you are tracing (in this case the car).
James Bond and his super cool spy gadgets are no longer just for imagination and playtime. You too can be the James Bond of your own world with many of the same spy gadgets as 007.