Countersurveillance technology aims to maintain the privacy of people, places, and activities. At TL6-8, it encompasses electronic countermeasures (ECM): tools to detect and defeat electronic surveillance (pp. 210-211) and unauthorized transmissions. Governments are the field’s major players, but most Fortune 500 companies keep a countersurveillance team on retainer and routinely sweep sensitive areas for bugs. Thus, this is also a lucrative civilian business. For other ways to keep secrets, see Encryption (pp. 210- 211) and Disguise and Smuggling (pp. 214-215).

Privacy is ultimately a matter of personal and communications discipline, but hardware can lend a hand.

Invisible ink is an old trick. Lemon juice, onion juice, and many other kitchen recipes produce perfectly good secret ink that becomes visible when heated. Modern versions are only visible under UV light.

Using invisible ink in a pen requires finesse: too much pressure makes visible indentations, while too little pressure results in writing that’s permanently invisible. The GM should make a DX roll in secret for anyone using improvised equipment or writing a long message. Failure means the recipient can’t read the note. Critical failure means the letter is readable with a simple Vision roll – but the writer doesn’t notice!

In the age of typewriters, agents used sheets of what they called “carbon.” This works like mundane carbon paper but produces a copy in invisible ink. Modern spies can fill standard computer printer cartridges with secret ink.

A bottle of invisible ink or a few sheets of “carbon” is $10, neg. An invisible-ink printer cartridge is $150, neg. LC4.

Spies who must dispose of sensitive written messages quickly often make use of specially treated paper. Some varieties turn to ashes in a puff of low-temperature flame almost as soon as lit. Thin paper can be made edible or especially susceptible to water; in either case, water turns the paper into unrecognizable goop in seconds. $1 for 10 sheets. LC4.

This portable device detects and locates radio transmitters and microphones. Countersurveillance agents who find a bug may case it, waiting for an inside man to change the battery. Alternatively, they might announce a sensitive meeting in advance and then watch the area as surveillance crews arrive to monitor the event.

To locate a bug, the detector’s operator must win a Quick Contest of Electronics Operation (Surveillance) with the person who hid the bug. This involves sweeping the room with a 2’ handheld antenna, and takes about a minute per 100 square feet scanned. Good- or fine-quality gear costs 5¥ or 20¥ as much and gives +1 or +2 to skill, as usual, but is briefcase-sized or larger. $500, 1 lb., 2¥S/week. LC4.

A room lined with metallic mesh will defeat transmitters. Windows may employ shielded glass to provide similar protection, use special glazing to foil laser mikes, and have blinds or mirroring to counter visual observation. Soundproofing thwarts audio surveillance – including ears at the door. Filtered telecomm jacks and electrical outlets defend against bugs and wiretaps.

Such features are invisible to the naked eye and collectively give at least -5 to electronic intelligence-gathering attempts made on the shielded area. At the GM’s option, some technologies may fail automatically. Per square foot of wall, ceiling, and floor area: $50. LC4.

This gadget alters the user’s voice to be difficult or impossible to identify. It snaps onto most phones, cell phones, and radios, and has jacks for recording equipment. At TL7, it turns the speaker’s voice into an anonymous, mechanical monotone. At TL8, it can obscure his voiceprint but leave him sounding human: a male voice can sound female, an adult’s voice like a child’s, and so on. $350, 1 lb., 3¥S/week. LC4.

A jammer neutralizes communications and surveillance devices by emitting a signal that compromises the target systems’ ability to gather intelligence and/or transmit and receive.

A radio jammer emits a barrage of broad-spectrum radio-frequency “noise” that hinders radio communications (cell phones, tactical radio, etc.), wireless bugs and tracking devices, and radio-controlled hardware (notably remote blasting machines and remotely piloted vehicles). Its presence but not its location is obvious as soon as it’s switched on. Police and soldiers use such devices against radio-detonated bombs. Cinematic spies employ them to prevent guards from summoning help by radio.

Anyone who wishes to operate radio gear within range of a jammer must win a Quick Contest: his skill with the Electronics Operation specialty for his hardware vs. the Electronics Operation (EW) skill of the jammer’s operator. At up to 10¥ the jammer’s range, he must make an unopposed Electronics Operation roll to use his equipment, even if no roll is normally required.

Area Jammer (TL6). This large jamming station fits in a cargo truck or a van. It requires an operator. Range is 1/2 mile. $5,000, 100 lbs., external power. LC2.

Area Jammer (TL7). Range is a mile. $5,000, 50 lbs., external power. LC2.

Area Jammer (TL8). Range is two miles. $5,000, 25 lbs., external power. LC2.

Expendable Radio Jammer (TL8). This device doesn’t require an operator. When switched on, it hops between common frequencies hundreds of times a second. Its effective Electronics Operation (EW) skill is 18. Range is 50 yards. $500, 5 lbs., M/2 hrs. LC2.

This device creates “white noise” that defeats laser mikes, audio bugs, tape recorders, etc. It includes a generator and four speakers.

White Noise Generator (TL7). $150, 4 lbs., 3¥S/4 hrs. LC4.

White Noise Generator (TL8). $150, 2 lbs., 3¥S/4 hrs. LC4.

This jamming system specifically blocks all cell-phone calls within 15 yards. A system with a 30-yard range has double cost and weight. $500, 5 lbs., external power. LC2.

RF Bug Detector (TL9): Detects and locates radio transmitters and microphones. This requires a Quick Contest between the operator’s Electronics Operation (Surveillance) skill and the Electronics Operation (Surveillance) skill of whoever hid the bug. Locating a bug involves sweeping the room with the device (range 1 yard). The detector has a range of one yard, and takes 10 seconds to scan 100 square feet. $200, 0.1 lb., A/10 hr. LC4.

Multispectral Bug Sweeper (TL9): A countersurveillance radio frequency detector integrated with IR sensors and sensitive microphones. Adds +2 (quality) to Electronics Operation (Surveillance) skills when used to sweep for transmitters (infrared, sonic, and radio), comm taps, microphones, recorders, sound detectors, and other bugs. It can scan automatically with its own skill of (TL+5). It can check or monitor comm lines, or everything within a 10- yard radius. It folds up into a small briefcase. $10,000, 5 lbs., C/10 hr. LC3.

GUT Bug Sweeper (TL11^): An advanced system that can also detect transmitters using gravity-ripple or neutrino comms. $20,000, 5 lbs., C/10 hr. LC3.

This is a pocket-sized “pink noise” generator, which prevents audio surveillance device from picking up anything but static within three yards of the device. It will jam the listening ability of a programmable bug, but not its visual sensors. It has no effect on laser mikes, and a bug of a higher TL can filter out the noise. $600, 0.25 lbs., B/24 hr. LC3.

This microbot swarm (p. 35) is equipped with emissions sensors. Each square yard of bughunters can sweep one square yard per minute to locate nanobugs, comm taps, surveillance swarms, or other surveillance devices. They have Electronics Operation (Surveillance) at TL+2 for this function only, or give a +2 (quality) to a director’s skill. $4,000/square yard. LC3.

This sonic generator creates a spherical interference pattern that blocks all normal sound waves. No one inside the field’s boundaries can hear any sound originating outside the field, and no sounds within the field are audible to anyone outside it. The generator can only be used in an atmosphere, with the diameter of the field increasing with atmospheric density. In a standard atmosphere, the bubble has a four-yard radius. A privacy bubble will block audio bugs, but not laser listening devices. It also gives DR 15 against sonic weapons fired across its boundaries. $5,000, 4 lbs., C/8 hr.