Most news articles focus on voyeurism, but of course, it’s not just peeping Toms to worry about. It could be an employee looking for an edge up, a jealous executive, any adversary planning an attack or disruption. Anyone who wants to take advantage of another’s situation has high tech spy technology available on line, literally at their fingertips. Micro video recorders, audio eavesdropping, tracking devices, all available for a few dollars from on line sources.
TIP: If you see a device you are not sure of, one tell tale sign could be if the device has a USB port on it. A key fob, calculator, even sun glasses, if they have a connection plug for a computer it could be suspicious. On more advanced devices you may not see such connections, though. The more common covert video and audio recorders have a USB port for both charging and for downloading the recorded material.
Technology lets peeping Toms take spying to new level
By Scott Daugherty, The Virginian-Pilot, ©
Digital cameras are everywhere. In phones. In purses. And, thanks to some peeping Toms, in restrooms.
Police and victims’ rights advocates are warning the public to be more aware of their surroundings as voyeurs find themselves increasingly able to buy better, easier-to-conceal cameras for less money.
Spy cameras that cost hundreds of dollars a few years ago can now be purchased online for as little as $15. One pending criminal case in Chesapeake involves a camera that looks like a car’s key fob.
Inexpensive key fob video recorder.
“The technology just keeps getting smaller and cheaper,” said Ilse Knecht of the National Center for Victims of Crime. “It really enables people who might not have engaged in this in the past to get out there.”
It is unclear how often people use cameras to illegally photograph others. The federal government doesn’t track such criminal activity. Also, by their very nature, spy cameras are not supposed to be noticed.
From speaking with victims and reading news accounts, Knecht said she believes there has been a surge of such “video voyeurism” crimes in the past five years.
It is a misdemeanor in Virginia to photograph or film people without their consent in places they would have an expectation of privacy – such as restrooms, locker rooms and tanning salons. The law also applies to so-called “upskirting” cases, where a person uses a camera to take a picture from beneath a woman’s dress.
Police rarely charge people with this crime in South Hampton Roads, according to state Supreme Court data. Only two were charged in 2012, five in 2011 and one in 2010. The cases included a hidden camera in a tanning salon and another in a room used by a child at a family friend’s house, documents said.
One Virginia Beach man was convicted of putting a camera on a long pole and filming his pregnant neighbor in the shower, prosecutors said.
Earlier this year, another man was convicted there of using his cellphone to try to take a picture under a shopper’s dress at a Wal-Mart.
There are two unlawful-filming cases pending in Chesapeake General District Court, one involving a hidden camera in an employee restroom at a dialysis center and one accusing a man of using a cellphone to take photos up a woman’s skirt in a grocery store.
If police find a hidden camera, detectives generally are able to identify who installed it, according to court documents filed in multiple cases. The camera usually captures the installation.
While it is difficult to spot a camera, Knecht said it is not impossible.
“A large part of it is just being aware of your surroundings,” she said, explaining people need to remember the cameras are “small and can be anywhere.”
Look for people standing too close in public places and unusual devices left in private rooms, officials said. There have been cases where cameras were found in air vents.
“You don’t want to be completely paranoid, but be aware,” Knecht said.
Key fob video recorder sold at popular electronics store in Manhattan.
Covert video wrist watch.