Is there an Intruder in your back yard? Note! Look for graphics at the bottom! This was originally a printed booklet and a called from a New York Time reporter today (2/18/98), inspired me to post it on the web. We was finding it difficult to find anyone opposed to Uncontrolled video surveillance... who is for privacy? For those coming from the search engines, click for the rest of my pages!

Maybe citizen groups should be organized to setup these systems in the front yards of United States Senators and see if the attitudes about privacy change!

Who's Looking at You?

An editorial look at Video Surveillance by Glen L. Roberts

Video surveillance is in today -- whether professional or private. The news is sprinkled with occasional stories, like the Florida police officer who was arrested for covert interception of audio communications. Why? Because he had a secret video camera taping the bathroom in a house he rented to several women! There was no law prohibited the video tapping -- but it recorded sound too -- bugging was outlawed in 1968.

The next few pages highlight some of the equipment available to the professional voyeurs -- as you can see they put Orwell to shame. These pages highlight just a few of the equipment options -- from one of many suppliers.

Just like the hidden bugs that intercept private conversations and broadcast them to a remote listening post, these provide pictures (and sometimes audio as well). Unlike audio bugs which can often be picked up on conventional police scanners... video is usually broadcast on much higher frequencies (the 2400 mhz band is common) and most won't find the signals accidentally.

Like all covert bugging devices the broadcast power is usually limited (for reasons of size, power consumption and no need to broadcast any farther than needed). Sometimes the range isn't enough -- then you just need a repeater (video/audio receiver and transmitter package that relays the signal).

A combination of these type video cameras and their many disguises, remote control zoom, pan, tilt, night vision attachments and repeaters offer everyone with the budget an unlimited field of view.

The Intruder type camera, hidden in a standard "electrical power transformer" offers the voyeur a completely undetectable view of a city street, individuals yard or other area within the pan/zoom/tilt of the top of a telephone pole. Who would realize the "electric company" employees aren't keeping the juice flowing, but taking someone's eyes from the inside of a van or the basement of city hall secretly into the neighborhood.

Unlike an Orwellian society where everyone is aware of the spying, Intruder's can be -- covertly -- hidden in plain sight -- while everyone watches -- and no one has a clue that the neighborhood is live!

When you want to see the inside of a location, something like the Enlightener can be used. Just like the Intruder its presence and installation offer no clue to its real purpose. The lamp disguise is just one of many available which include clocks, boom boxes, pictures and anything else imaginable. Of course, the lamp is perfect because its normally plugged in so there are no batteries to run down! Just plug it in and the room is live.

Some in the surveillance field have told me that the so-called pole-cams sell as fast as they can be made.

The civil liberty concerns over covert video have never been addressed in the same detail that bugging got in 1968 and wiretapping hearings in the 1970s. Look at the contrast: almost no one can legally engage in covert bugging -- vs -- almost everyone can legally engage in covert video tapping! That Florida police officer might have gotten off scot free had he disable the microphone on his video system!

We don't often read about the professional video bugging systems as described in this report. It just marches onward with little or no indepth debate on the civil liberty issues. Are we free to go about our business -- or do we have to prove our innocence by having our every move tracked and recorded in the basement of city hall?

There was almost a glimpse in the Akron, Ohio Beacon Journal. See page 13, for a duplicate of an advertisement published by the order of Pat Ashbrook, Purchasing Agent, and Donald L. Plusquellic, Mayor of Akron.

Few would give it a second look, it is rather dull: "1. Copy Machine, 2. Repeater System, 3. Computer and Accessories, 4. External Dual 8mm Subsystem." A closer look might raise a question or two. Unless the advertisement sparked enough interest for someone to request the bidding documents the questions remain unasked.

The following is a list of the equipment sought as the "repeater system" to be delivered to: Akron Police Dept, 217 S High St, Akron, OH 44308.

VIDEO IN BAND REPEATER WITH AUDIO 2451.5 Mhz - 2481.5 Mhz

BID A

(1 ea all items)

Antenna, Omni Directional 5.5 dBi gain

Cable, Antenna 15 ft male to female

Video receiver with audio 2451.5 Mhz

Video interconnect cable

Audio interconnect cable

Video transmitter with audio 2481.5 Mhz

Cable, antenna 15 ft

Antenna, Directional Radome, 12 dBi gain

Telemetry receiver 218 Mhz

Telemetry receiver antenna 1/4 wave

Cable connects for telemetry receiver/antenna

NEMA 4 weatherproof enclosure

Heaters for NEMA box

Thermostat for NEMA box

Power supply 115 VAC IN - 12 VDC out

Cables/Connectors

RECEIVE STATION FOR REPEATER SYSTEM

BID B

Video receiver with audio 2481.5 Mhz

NEMA 4 weatherproof enclosure

Power supply with heavy duty 115 VAC in - 12 VDC out

Heater

Theromostat

Antenna, directional 12 dBi

Cable, antenna 15 ft

Video lead-in cable 75 Ohms, 100 ft.

Audio lead-in cable 75 Ohms, 100 ft.

Telemetry antenna cable, 50 ohms 100 ft.

Telemetry receiver antenna 1/4 wave

Mobile repeater (pelican case)

VIDEO IN BAND REPEATER WITH AUDIO 2481.5 Mhz - 2451.h Mhz

BID C

Antenna, Omni Directional 5.5 dBi gain

Cable, Antenna 15 ft male to female

Video receiver with audio 2481.5 Mhz

Video interconnect cable

Audio interconnect cable

Video transmitter with audio 2451.5 Mhz

Cable, antenna 15 ft

Antenna, Directional Radome, 12 dBi gain

Telemetry receiver 218 Mhz

Telemetry receiver antenna 1/4 wave

Cable connect above two items

Pelican weatherproof case

Heater for Pelican Case

Thermostat for heater

Power supply heavy duty 115 VAC IN - 12 VDC out

Cabling connectors

IMAGE ENHANCING SYSTEM

BID D

Night mate image intensifier sensitivity to .00001 lux

Comiscar 300 zoom lens, 1" format, 15-180 MM spot filter ND 1500, galvonometrically operated auto iris

CONCLUSION

Does the equipment available and being purchased raise any civil liberty issues? Have we missed the public debate on what restrictions there should be on the use of covert video bugging equipment? Where is the line drawn? Where is the oversight to ensure the line isn't crossed?

The first question in this purchase of a repeater system is what video/audio camera / transmitter is to be have its range extended? The repeater system itself, is of course quite dull -- not to mention useless by itself. We want to see what it hooks up to! And, that might be scarey!

Smile! Candid Camera is no longer limited to Hollywood -- it might be intruding in your backyard.

Glen L. Roberts is host of Full Disclosure Live a world-wide talk show that focuses on issues relating to privacy, surveillance, technology and government. He has appeared as a guest on hundreds of radio and TV talks shows. He is also editor of Full Disclosure a newsletter on similar topics and author of a number of booklets.

Glen L. Roberts, PO Box 1533, Oil City, PA 16301. Ph: (814) 676-2345