In light of the release of CIA files identifying 24,000 American spies, such as Julia Child, we’ve gotten to thinking on how to best spy with discretion. Above all, vigilance and attentiveness are necessary. How can you know whether something is amiss without clearly knowing what the norm is? You must be aware of schedules, habits, etc. As we know from the College OTR feature on cheating without getting caught, however, vigilance alone may not be enough. There are some sneaky tricks and hoes out there.

There are certain signs of lying that you may detect, such as shifting the eyes, a slightly higher vocal pitch, more laborious breathing, perspiration, asking for questions to be repeated, use of phrases such as “to be perfectly honest,” decreased use of hand gestures, and increased use of second or third person pronouns. Of course decoding these signals can be like splitting hairs and drive one to unbearable neurosis, so if you really need to know if sh*t’s going down, there are many useful spying technologies.

You could use a GPS receiver to keep track of where someone is, a USB recorder for the phone to have conversations sent directly to your computer, or a Teddy Cam to see what is happening in a specific area.

Ultimately, however, we hope it never comes to this and that you can trust your friends, family, etc.