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Former Lockheed Skunkworks Engineer Auctioning a Prototype "Spy Rock"
ilikenwf writes "For a cool $10,000,000.00, the prototype of a surveillance rock full of spy gadgets could be yours! More importantly, server backups from the gentleman's time at Lockheed are included, being the real valuable in this auction, as it contains schematics and such. The seller seems to think that the current xBee radio products are actually based on his work with Lockheed. The proceeds will go towards legal action the seller is apparently taking against his former employer." This may be the most unusual eBay product description I've ever encountered, and one of the most interesting, too.
even though this guy designed the hardware, wouldn't the documents and hardware be considered Intellectual Property of Lockheed?
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
Does the rock also keep tigers away? Because if so, SOLD!
Something tells me that version 2.0 of these skunk-work projects will show up at your doorstep if you show serious interest in this offer.
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
Sounds about right for a second hand webcam in a Styrofoam rock.
Because a Rasberry Pi, slightly outdated cellphone, wireless router, digital TV tuner card or USB device, flash memory, styrofoam, and spraypaint aren't exactly that expensive as OTS component resources in regards to being able to roll your own. Outside of custom software and knowing how to put the hardware together, it should be possible for under $1000 easy.
It is a pity that the poster has never actually read the description of the auction, otherwise they would have found that:
"The pictures depicted from this auction show some of the early prototypes from the project; however, it should be noted that none of that hardware will be included in this auction as I had a non-intentionally set fire :) that transpired at my house in the storage area where my prototypes were, that destroyed most if not all of the prototype hardware from the initial project development with Lockheed. Those pictures were taken during the development process at one of Lockheed's SCIFs located in Northern Virgina, as is evidenced by the yellow caution tape you see on the floor there in the first few pictures. The last picture was one of the sample images generated from a RockCam installed across the street from one of the engineer's house."
and
" 1) Microhard Spectra 910 900MHz serial line radio with power supply (this was a prototype 900MHz radio that I believe went on to become the current generation of ZigBee-based XBee radios; 2) A collection of PC104-based enclosures and motherboards, with various interfacing such as serial ports, USB ports, etc; 3) A Mobile Wireless Technologies RM1000g AVS vehicle transponder with WWAN and GPS tracking support; 4) Novate wireless prototyping board; 5) GNU X-Tools cross compilation software; and 6) A CD filled with backup materials during several years of the company (the most valuable part of this auction obviously)"
So still some nice hw and docs, but certainly no "spy rocks" included. RTFA, guys!
A bridge perhaps?
It's spelled Lockheed
This started the war in iRock
Table-ized A.I.
Lockheed does a lot more than just aviation design, and it is also fairly typical for government contractors to sub out work to outside companies, especially if the top tier contractor doesn't have the internal expertise or can't pay the expertise enough to join Lockheed.
They apparently delivered at least one of them to Russia free of charge already. Some years ago, there was a purportedly documental story on Russian TV where an employee of the British embassy was shown using a "spy rock" clandestinely in Moscow. The veracity of that was widely dismissed because of the ridiculousness of the idea. Some of these spy operations sound like gratuitous toying with cloak-and-dagger stuff.
My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
an old 3g phone with android and no apps, but one app for spying is enough.
There, $50 of hardware needed, nothing else.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Will be interesting to see if there is really someone who buys before the auction ends. In effect, he/she will fund the legal campaign of his/her opponent ...
You know it's time for the next revolution when your rulers' names end with roman numerals.
I am auctioning this off for the stated price to fund a legal team in DC dig into my dismissal from the company and to determine where the AWA intellectual property went after the demise of AWA.
And what is the interesting part of the auction? A backup CD full of AWA intellectual property. If someone sues him over selling that CD and infringing upon their IP, then he knows who currently owns the IP, and he can in discovery find out how they obtained it—providing the evidence needed to file his own lawsuit.
It sounds like a bit of a gamble, though: What if, say, the customer lists and the patents went to different places? Then the owners of the former could sue him, but he would not get the information he's looking for.
Was RT story mentioned further down on http://cryptome.org/2013/07/rockcam-spy.htm ?
Interesting notes about 'imagery data being relayed between the rocks, so that conventional signals intelligence methods would be unable to view the encrypted image/video streams." before the UK story.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The point is to make Lockheed or whoever else pay him his 10%.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Then make some explosive shells, and sit them out in the wilderness for 60 years. Weathering will make some of them look like rocks. You really shouldn't pick them up, or even touch them, due to 60 years of erosion screwing with the triggering mechanism; so you won't actually be able to use them for anything.
But you'll have exploding rocks.
You probably have a good imagination, it would seem.
This guy has a plan and it has nothing to do with actually succeeding with the auction... for the intended audience (maybe just one person) this is a shot across the bow, in a public forum, and the most important information (to the right person) is what is not said. 90% of this story (if it's not a hoax, which it probably is) will never be told, which may be the whole point here.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target