The Surveillance Apparatus That Surrounded Britney Spears

[pnwmom]

Source: The New York Times

"Britney Spears’s father and the security firm he hired to protect her ran an intense surveillance apparatus that monitored her communications and secretly captured audio recordings from her bedroom, including her interactions and conversations with her boyfriend and children, according to a former employee of the security firm.

"Alex Vlasov, the employee, supported his claims with emails, text messages and audio recordings he was privy to in his nine years as an executive assistant and operations and cybersecurity manager for Black Box, the security firm. He came forward for a new documentary by The New York Times, “Controlling Britney Spears,” which was released on Friday.

"Recording conversations in a private place and mirroring text messages without the consent of both parties can be a violation of the law. It is unclear if the court overseeing Ms. Spears’s conservatorship was aware of or had approved the surveillance.

"Mr. Vlasov’s account, and his trove of materials, create the most detailed portrait yet of what Ms. Spears’s life has been like under the conservatorship for the past 13 years. Mr. Vlasov said the relentless surveillance operation had helped several people linked to the conservatorship — primarily her father, James P. Spears — control nearly every aspect of her life."

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/arts/music/britney-spears-conservatorship-documentary.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20210924&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=headline&regi_id=143355918&segment_id=69906&user_id=9394c14500233220daf04a352739c03f

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Conservator or not, this stuff better not be legal.

[Mr. Evil]

1. I'm not a fan but,

Britney deserves her privacy just like each and everyone of us wants and deserves. I admire her perseverance and her ability to stand up and tell her corrupt dad to fuck off. She worked it, she earned it, it's her fucking money!
That's my opinion.

[pnwmom]

2. I agree. And conservator abuse is a more common problem with elderly people,

and they're lucky to have Britney shining a spotlight on this issue.

Also, everyone else is allowed to spend money in dumb ways. But because she's rich and lost money, her dad was able to get himself appointed her conservator. He never cared about her. All he wanted to conserve was her money.

[Mr. Evil]

3. All he wanted

was to conserve her money for himself! Fucking bastard! The really sad part is that it's her dad that killed the family. Kentwood people are nice, Britney included. I lived half my life in Baton Rouge. The ones I've met from there; just good people.

[PoliticAverse]

5. Yeah, she was his "golden goose". n/t

[Jilly_in_VA]

20. And the disabled

Did anyone read the VERY LONG article I posted Friday from BuzzFeed News? It was startling and appalling, even to me....and in my nursing career I saw more than a few instances of conservatorship/guardianship abuse.

[cstanleytech]

4. The courts made a huge error in allowing the conservatorship to continue for this long and

after sufficient money was placed in a trust for her children to pay for their care and education it should have ended.

[Demsrule86]

6. I don't think there should ever been a trust for any reason...Daddy wanted his poor daughter

to support him... disgusting. Name me one man who was ever required outside of divorce to put money in any God Damn trust for his kids? And her Dad doesn't even see the kids...they have a restraining order against him. Personally, I think he has been helping himself a little too much to her money and may find himself under surveillance too...in jail. He caved apparently as soon as an audit was announced by her new attorney.

[pnwmom]

7. I think that court-appointed attorney is suspect, too, and maybe even the judge who appointed him.

What a racket, this conservator business is.

[Jilly_in_VA]

21. All of them

every last one, should be investigated. I think Daddy Dearest paid off the judge....from HER money. He should be sent back to that trailer park on the bayou that he originated from. Grifter.

And I'm not even a fan. I just know abuse when I see it.

[cstanleytech]

8. A modest trust overseen by the courts (but not her dad) for the children would imo

have made sense actually.
A short period after that had been setup though the conservatorship should have expired and she should have been free of her father to make her own decisions regarding her work and her assets.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. The Dad Police

Easy to see how her privacy and freedoms were violated, but also how such a star is vulnerable to everything a free society can throw at a person from people seeking part of the glamor, fame, fortune with benign intent as well as more sinister motives. She likely had not the perspective to take these precautions herself.

[The Jungle 1]

10. There is no way that kind of surveillance can be legal.

Did she know and agree to it. If not then people need to go to jail.

[TxGuitar]

11. None of this

Would have happened to a male.

[Bmoboy]

12. Exactly what is supposed to be wrong with Britney?

Specific medical psychiatric diagnosis?

Specific psychiatric diagnosis?

Intellectual disability?

Spends too much money?

[Hortensis]

17. :) Crickets. I've wondered also, but...nothing. You'd think at least

those with the gift to see right into her father's head and know all about him could see into hers as well. Whatever. Seemingly her medical files are opaque to all.

[mn9driver]

13. Her dad knows he is in legal trouble.

At first glance, his recent petition to end the conservatorship and give Britney her life back seems like evidence of decency…

But it is now becoming obvious that he is just trying to avoid going to jail. Too little, too late, I think.

[left-of-center2012]

14. Does a story on Britney Spears qualify as LBM - 'Important news of national interest only'?

[vsrazdem]

15. Yes. A story about a woman who has been financially preyed upon and

psychologically abused IS of national interest. I wonder how many people who are not megastars are psychologically abused and imprisoned all in the name of conservatorships.

[pnwmom]

19. There was widespread conservator abuse discovered in Nevada a few years ago, of elderly people. n/t

[dlk]

16. Stories that demonstrate the many ways American women face a double standard don't count?

How will it ever get better if their situations are routinely discounted and minimized, or swept under the rug?

[pnwmom]

18. Yes. This is a story about abusive conservatorships that only happens to involve a famous figure.

This has happened to many others, particularly elderly people, who aren't in a position to get their cases this much attention.

[Withywindle]

22. I hope the spotlight on this one high-profile case will raise awareness of the issue.

And outlaw this kind of predatory behavior in the name of "protecting" someone.

[Devil Child]

23. Yes n/t

[truthisfreedom]

24. How much of her money did he take?

Do we know?