While it was easy to spot cameras twenty years ago due to their large size, this has become increasingly difficult during the last decade. Cameras have become much smaller and consume a fraction of the power they did some ago.
Due to this,installation any imaginable place is possible. This paper will show methods frequently used for hiding cameras as well as how to detect them
Code:

http://www.franken.de/users/tentacle/papers/hiddencams.pdf



This post has been edited by KuBi: Dec 16 2005, 09:50 PM

Wow this sure is the first paper I've seen on this topic. Nice find buddy. Do you have any idea where I cud get one of these babies? just kidding.

Interesting paper. It makes me wonder whether I actually have one of these gadgets around me.

I live in Britain and there are loads of complaints about the government's plans to put CCTV cameras everywhere, literally. They want every single square inch of the country covered, supposedly to make it easier to catch criminals. There have also been stories of people setting up loads of CCTV cameras around MPs' homes just to get their reaction and make a point.
This paper does make you wonder if there is someone, or something, watching you .

I believe that there are many cams around myself, but I just don't know where they are .

This is truly an incredible find. They say that you can even hide them in LED lights! What is the world coming to?! This is a great topic and the article is well researched, with pictures, and contains wonderful information on how to find cameras. I may just have to try this out

What just really bugs me is that it is a breach of our privacy and rights. You can hide these things in anything that has a hole the size of a pinhead. Even in bathroom vents! I can tell you right now, I will be a lot more on the lookout for cameras

thanks for that paper I'm living in Germany and I've always wondered what those three green LEDs on cash machines are for since they serve no obvious purpose (by the way, they're running some flavor of WinNT according to the blue screen I've seen on one). But now that I've read that there might be a cam hidden behind one of those I know where the dome cams with the label "To protect your privacy we take pictures of you, especially while using cash machines" have gone or better: the cams are gone, the labels are still there...

anyways, here are some more useful hints to protect your privacy on your own:

1) Always have some stickers with you to stick over a lens or something you think might be a lens (it's possible to get some cheap "anti-CCTV"-stickers [most groups don't want more than they spend on printing] but any other sticker works just as well)

2) If you don't have stickers or fear that those will be removed too fast, one of those small color spray cans like sprayers use will work even better, though there won't be any message to other people, they'll only see someone having tested their new can. The best cans for this are barely larger than a hand. By the way, you don't have to stand around in front of the cam for too long, you can just as well spray a little dot on the lens while walking along...

3) You think you might be recognized if someone has a look at the cam's tape to find out who disabled it? a hooded shirt and a piece of cloth to cover your face might do the trick, sun glasses are a nice feat but not necessary [yet? in movies like Minority Report they identify you by scanning your iris].

4) If you need to do something rather extreme: Cut the cable. This obviously does not work on wireless cameras. And you should be careful not to get yourself electrocuted, if I had to choose between no privacy or being electrocuted, I'd rather give up my privacy...

Remember: I'm not asking you to break any laws. While you might get away with #1 and #2, #4 is definitely damaging someone else's property. In some situations even #3 might be illegal. If you like laws, you probably shouldn't try to protect your privacy. But hey, if you obey laws, you probably don't even care about your privacy since you've got nothing to hide.

well, those hints obviously only help t fight the beginnings [like some people here in Germany do] and not in places where there already is a pretty tight network of <strike>spy</strike> security cams... though there are about no politicians who understand that it's pretty much impossible to prevent a crime by simply observing it - and the latest arguments in favor of worldwide CCTV networks is that you can stop terrorists from blowing themselves up with those cams...

anyways, if you can't stop the flood of cameras ... print yourself a "CCTV Superhero"-T-Shirt

I've still got the image I've created to print on those transfer-an-image-from-a-foil-to-a-shirt-Foils but I've got problems connecting to my image hosting site right now :/ (it's basically just a camera I copied out of a "CCTV in operation"-sign from a CCTV cam-vendor's site with "CCTV" above the camera and "Superhero" below it, both in Comic Sans MS [I like that font if it's not for a pretty serious issue...]

I'm not worried about being spied on. I make sure that all my private acts are disgusting enough that either whoever would be watching would be quick to turn off the camera, or the camera itself would blow out.

Here in the US, something such as that would be a major invasion of privacy. One could find themselves filthy rich via a lawsuit if they discovered a camera in their house.

I'm not too concerned about hidden cameras. It probably wouldn't be very easy to break into someone's house then look for a place to put the camera then install it. It would probably be quite expensive as well.