As copyright issues were being debated on Capitol Hill last week, a little-known Alexandria company was playing Internet detective, using its technology to scour the World Wide Web for pirated movies and music, as well as the illegal use of trademarks.

Cyveillance, a year-old company that just changed its name from Online Monitoring Services, has moved into a town house in Old Town and increased its staff to 27 people as it tries to build a reputation as the ultimate Internet snoop. The move comes after the infusion of $3.1 million in venture funding led by Lazard Technology Partners of New York.

Cyveillance's clients are entertainment giants, including the Motion Picture Association of America and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, as well as such diverse businesses as Time Inc.-New Media, the National Basketball Association and the Software Publishers Association.

They employ Cyveillance to determine whether their information, likenesses and products are being stolen over the Internet and misused for commercial purposes, and to identify who is using the material and how. Cyveillance shows customers evidence of the theft but doesn't delete it. Sometimes the client just sends a warning letter; at other times, it files suit, said Cyveillance chief executive Brandy Thomas.

Christopher Young, president of Cyveillance, had just returned from visiting potential client Dreamworks SKG, the Spielberg-Geffen-Katzenberg production house in California, where he showed executives how many copies of "Saving Private Ryan" were on the Internet to download for free.

"This is the kind of stuff that keeps people like Steven Spielberg up at night," Young said.

For a large pharmaceutical company, Cyveillance discovered Web sites selling drugs without prescriptions, Thomas said. The company also has found instances of companies falsely claiming to have partnerships with large corporations. Publishers are particularly interested in finding articles and photographs that are illegally reproduced on the Internet.

The company advises customers which offenses are worth pursuing and which to leave alone, based on who's cashing in on the illegal use. "We can say, 'Here are 25 sites and here's where you're losing money,' " Thomas said.

STEVE WALKER, a new example of the local technology multimillionaire, has begun spending the $60 million he made by selling Trusted Information Systems Inc., his Glenwood, Md., company, to Network Associates Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., in April.

In addition to a red water scooter he bought this summer, Walker's latest investment is $100,000 in Husky Labs, a software firm in the sleeper tech town of Shepherdstown, W.Va.

Steve Walker & Associates, a Glenwood company with nine employees, is a hybrid of a venture capital firm, a technology consulting business, and -- as the money is all Walker's -- a private $5 million "angel" investment fund.

Walker said he's close to making four more investments, all in the Washington area. He said he feels as if he's seeing the tech community for the first time, as he spent the past few decades focused on his own business. When he came up for air, he said, he found some great new businesses had emerged.

"There are dozens and dozens of great little companies out there," Walker said. "I was isolated in my little corner of the world."

Start-ups take note: Walker is looking to make small investments -- in the $100,000 to $150,000 range -- in early-stage companies.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE AGENTS are the hairdressers of the technology community. They know all the secrets -- who's moving where and when, which companies are expanding, which are shutting their doors and even which are "shacking up."

And, with the area's technology boom continuing, it's become difficult not only to find office space in certain key tech areas such as Tysons Corner, but to recognize a prime spot and new trends in building and leasing.

For a quick education, many local tech executives are getting on the bus.

The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce is holding its second annual Dulles Corridor Bus Tour on Nov. 12, this year more focused on tech companies.

Three buses will take 140 high-level executives on a tour of real estate hot spots in the area. The guides on each bus, who just happen to be commercial real estate agents, will identify new projects, indicate which companies plan to move into buildings that now are just vast pits and explain market trends.

The tour starts at the Sheraton in Reston, then continues through Herndon, down the Dulles Toll Road, through Dulles Town Center and into Loudoun County, ending at the Hilton at Dulles International Airport. Points of interest along the way will include America Online's headquarters in Dulles and MCI WorldCom's new campus in Loudoun. The buses will also drive by many smaller developments along the way.

"Unless you're an inside real estate person, you don't know who's going to be in these buildings," said Tracey White, executive director of the Reston Chamber. About 75 percent of the bus riders are expected to be tech executives, said Linda Mallison, vice president of the technology advisory group at real estate firm Transwestern Carey Winston of Vienna, who is chair of the tour. "Technology is the engine of growth for the region," Mallison said.

Mallison let us in early on technology real estate's term of the moment: "shadow space," or office space that people hear will be available before it's officially on the market.