Perfect for couch potatoes who are addicted to reality television, the Nest Box is a birdhouse with a built-in hidden infrared camera that will wirelessly transmit audio and video to your TV.
At first glance this phony CCTV might be a convincing theft deterrent, but I would imagine that all the birds and poop covering it might be a dead giveaway. [manufactum via Boing Boing]
Its wings are covered with an array of bright LEDs, its head, a video camera. You see that it sees you, about to commit some misdemeanor. But it’s too cute—there’s no way you’re in trouble.
Guess what’s happening in China? Beijing’s CCTV headquarters, the Rem Koolhaas building, is at a major fire risk. Fireworks, from the last day of New Years celebrations here, could be the culprits. Updated
Are these people out of their spanking-loving, English-disciplined, bloody psycho minds? Judging from these news, yes they are: Schools in Britain are now installing CCTV and microphones in classrooms for four-year-old kids.
For some, the all-seeing CCTV camera is a bit off putting. Its uncaring eye records all, making even a simple trip to the ATM an adventure in privacy rights for our more conservative-minded citizens. In Japan, they understand this, and in typical Japanese fashion they’ve started hiding surveillance cameras in “friendly” Daruma wish dolls to lessen the blow.
All internet cafes in the main 14 city districts of Beijing have been mandated to install cameras to take pics of people as they enter the store, which are they uploaded to a city-wide database under watch of the Cultural Law Enforcement Taskforce. Shop owners have apparently said that their customers don’t care, but apparently an online version of the People’s Daily showed 72% respondents opposing it because it violated their rights.
Following in Britain’s footsteps, it looks like the Japanese government is looking to install CCTV cameras in every conceivable public place in order to keep an eye on the populous. But since it’s Japan, they’re doing it in a uniquely Japanese way: via their ubiquitous vending machines.
Britain is absolutely covered in closed-circuit TV cameras, ensuring that anyone walking through London is easily tracked by a shadowy group of law enforcement officials in some dark room somewhere. How unsettling and Orwellian! Well, one enterprising Brit decided to see just how long it would take for the cops to show up after parading around in front of the cameras in an 8-foot-tall alien outfit. Spoiler: not very long. [Undercurrents via Urban Prankster]
