{"id":66561,"date":"2026-08-06T06:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T04:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=66561"},"modified":"2026-08-06T06:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T04:52:10","slug":"the-discovery-of-microphones-and-cameras-in-machines-at-spanish-military-installations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/08\/06\/the-discovery-of-microphones-and-cameras-in-machines-at-spanish-military-installations\/","title":{"rendered":"The discovery of microphones and cameras in machines at Spanish military installations"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Spain, the existence of irregular acts that jeopardize the security of our Armed Forces is becoming normalized.<\/p>\n

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First came the hiring of the Chinese company Huawei for strategic infrastructure projects of the Ministry of Defense<\/a>, something unthinkable in the vast majority of NATO countries but not in Spain, with a government openly allied with the Beijing dictatorship<\/a>. Now comes a new case that is receiving very little media attention, perhaps due to the attention generated by the Moroccan assault on Ceuta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Monday, August 3, the Union of Enlisted Military Personnel (UMT)<\/strong>, a professional association registered under number 8\/2013 in the register of professional associations of the Armed Forces, denounced the appearance of microphones and cameras in vending machines at military installations in Spain<\/a>. The UMT stated that these are \"vending machines located inside military installations\"<\/em> that include \"payment modules with video cameras and microphones capable of continuously capturing image and sound, installed without prior notice, without informational signage<\/strong>, and without the consent of those affected.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

The UMT notes regarding this case: \"The discovery was initially noticed by partners and personnel assigned to the area of \u200b\u200bthe Sub-Inspectorate General of the Southern Army (SUIGE SUR).<\/strong> The first measure taken on the ground was as unusual as it was revealing: covering the camera lens with adhesive tape, leaving the microphones operational.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

On February 16, 2026, the association submitted a formal set of thirteen questions<\/strong> to the Undersecretariat of Defense and the Armed Forces Personnel Council (COPERFAS), \"demanding, among other things, the scope of the deployment, the census of potentially affected individuals<\/strong>, the timeline, whether the required Data Protection Impact Assessment was carried out (Art. 35 GDPR), whether the potential breach was notified to the Spanish Data Protection Agency (Art. 33 GDPR), and what recourse those affected have to exercise their rights. After requesting an extension in March, the Ministry sent its response on July 16, 2026.<\/strong>\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite having responded to that request, the UMT denounces that the Ministry of Defense's reply \"was classified as \"official use,\" preventing military personnel and citizens from knowing the true extent of what happened.\"<\/em><\/strong> One must ask what reasons there are for preventing Spanish citizens from knowing the details of what occurred, given that it is a matter that could affect the security of those facilities.<\/p>\n

Regarding the case, the UMT warns: \"The response indicates that the reported situation was real and that the Administration has adopted corrective measures as a result of this association's actions<\/strong>, which even extend to its future procurement procedures. However, essential issues<\/strong>\u2014the prior impact assessment, the chronology of the exposure, the determination of responsibilities, and the channel for those affected to exercise their rights\u2014remain unanswered, and the verification that the devices did not collect data relies on certifications from the companies themselves, without an independent audit<\/strong>.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Francisco Jos\u00e9 Dur\u00e1n Ba\u00f1os, president of UMT, commented on this case with these words: \"That devices with cameras and microphones were able to operate within premises belonging to National Defense<\/strong> without anyone mentioning it in the contract specifications is a major security and data protection failure<\/strong>. We welcome the measures that have been taken, but the military personnel and their families have the right to know what happened, for how long, and who is responsible.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

The UMT has stated that \"it will keep open all available legal avenues<\/strong> \u2014a complaint to the Spanish Data Protection Agency, a request under the Transparency Law, a complaint to the Ombudsman, and referral to the Observatory of Military Life\u2014 until it obtains a complete response, independent verification that no data was captured or transmitted, and the determination of responsibility<\/strong> for the omission of the required controls.\"<\/em> The association has also called on military personnel to report any vending machines with payment modules that incorporate a camera or microphone without visible signage to the UMT.<\/p>\n

---<\/p>\n

Image: umtespana.es<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Spain, the existence of irregular acts that jeopardize the security of our Armed Forces is becoming normalized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11415,19631,11550,10398],"tags":[27609,11462,10557,27608],"class_list":["post-66561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1-plana-english","category-bloque-6-defense-eng","category-defense","category-spain","tag-francisco-jose-duran-banos","tag-spain","tag-spanish-army","tag-union-de-militares-de-tropa-umt"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-13 09:57:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}