Hidden Cameras

You've seen them almost everywhere. In shopping malls, banks and even educational institutions. It was brought to the limelight with spy movies with a spy camera as small as your fingernail. The hidden camera is no longer something foreign in society. However, with it comes the question of the right to one's privacy. Is the line crossed with such gadgets? Or is it acceptable in the name of security and surveillance?

Here in Singapore there are some families who use it to spy on their domestic helpers. They sometimes use a nanny cam to spy on their domestic helper a.k.a nannies for little junior at home. Whether they are cleaning the house or just slacking off in front of the television. Whether they are playing or scolding their baby. In this situation, I would say that it would be acceptable as the safety of their home/family members is in question. Who knows what their domestic helper may do. There are cases of babies who died when left in the home under the domestic worker's care. There was also a famous case where a mother and her child died in a fire at home. So it is a good idea to know what's going on at home. It is easy to "Yes madam" when the employers are at home, but it is another thing when they are at work. As one have said, "A person's character can be seen by what he/she does when no one's looking." How true it is.

However, there are some cases where I feel it isn't ethical to use the hidden camera. Let me state an example.

Some perverts may use it in dressing rooms or gym locker rooms for voyeuristic purposes. Unknowingly, the victim falls prey to the schemes of the voyeur. It's a scary world. Well, as the world progress in terms of the technology available to the layman, privacy is being threatened.

Interestingly, there's something called a Spy Finder Hidden Camera Detector. It is supposed to detect any hidden camera/nanny cam/spy camera around the user. Here is the product description from the website:

Spy Finder is an easy-to-use Hidden Camera Detector. Simply look through the viewing port and scan any room to reveal the exact location of concealed Wireless and Wired Cameras. Use it in dressing rooms or gym locker rooms to protect yourself from prying eyes. Give your loved ones peace-of-mind knowing their privacy has not been compromised.

BrickHouse Security recommends the Spy Finder, the only device that works well and fits in your pocket, giving you portable protection. This Hidden Camera Detector is so simple to use many of our clients buy an extra one for their mother or wife.

The Spy Finder Hidden Camera Detector/Locator is the most reliable, user-friendly technology on the market, allowing you to make sure that you are not being watched. It uses optical augmentation; a phenomenon whereby light reflected from a focused optical system, such as a Video Camera, is reflected along the same path as the incident light. If a Hidden Camera is illuminated and viewed with the Spy Finder, then a strong reflection from the target camera will reveal its position to the user.

The Spy Finder takes advantage of this phenomenon by using a ring of ultra-bright LEDs arranged around a viewing port. When a user scans a room looking through the viewing port, a Hidden Camera appearing in the field of view will brightly reflect the light from the LEDs.

To scan an area, simply look through the viewing port and depress the button to activate the LEDs. Slowly scan areas where Hidden Cameras are suspected and look for bright-reflected spots. Remember, most Hidden Video Cameras use Pinhole Camera Lenses, so the spot you are looking for could be small.

If you see a suspected camera, move your vantage point slightly. If the location of the reflection moves as you move, then this is not a camera. If the location of the reflection does not move, then it is highly likely that you have discovered the optics of a Hidden Camera.

Surprisingly, the same website has another product. It is the StealthCam Hidden Camera. Now here is what the website has to say about this product:

The Perfect All In One Hidden Camera System:

* Impossable To detect (No Wires or Wireless Signals)
* Play back full screen, full motion video on TV
* Simple to set up and use quickly

No wires or even wireless connections to complex Video Recorders. Theses cameras have built in DVR systems that record direct to a Secure Digital card.

View the recorded video on TV or PC with no extra software required

With our new patent pending stealth recording technology in our StealthCam, we have eliminated the requirement of additional recording equipment for a covert system. Sporting Mpeg4, 30fps, Motion detection, and Time & Date stamp, the hidden camera records directly to a SD card for storage and it can easily be played back on your PC. Capable of being built into different styles and featuring a knockout price, Stealth Cam is the only all-in-one solution.

Now you may wonder which product will best the other. The detector or the stealth camera. I guess technology has its own contradictions at times. Interesting...

Tags: Hidden Camera, Nanny Cam, Privacy, Spy Camera, Technology