Today's tech makes spying on others easy

New technology makes it easier to protect yourself from crime these days and easier to keep an eye on your kids, your home and even your spouse or partner.

There are more options than ever for personal spying and protection, as we found out at the Central Spy Shop on Highway 6 in west Houston.

From tasers to pepper spray to stun guns, the business of self-defense has never been bigger. Some of the best sellers at Houston's spy store are weapons hidden in every day products -- a blade in a key, a knife in a comb or lipstick.

Keely Parrish from the Spy Shop said, "When you open it up looks just like a lipstick. Slide it out, and you have a nice little knife right there."

Spying on others is big business too, with hidden recording devices in everything from thumb drives to pens to lamps and fake wall outlets. You put an SD card inside, charge the device, stick it anywhere on the wall and come back later to retrieve your footage.

Often the news dictates what they sell at the spy shop. Recently when a couple found a camera in their room on a cruise ship, they started selling more camera detectors, which can tell you if there's a hidden camera almost anywhere you go.

The most popular items for tracking cheating spouses or partners are magnetic trackers that attach to a car or tiny GPS units you slip in someone's purse or briefcase. With those you can track someone around the world from the comfort of your home.

But now with surveillance cameras on homes and businesses or secret recording devices carried by your friends, you need to assume that you're being watched and heard pretty much everywhere, all the time.