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Wal-Mart Sells Home Spy Gear
Anonymous Coward writes "Always wanted to play with the toys James Bond, the CIA and Dateline get to use every day? Now you can surf over to your friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart Online and pick up a spy-cam (complete with audio) disguised as a Smoke Detector at everyday low prices. Or pick from a variety of pinhole and infrared CCD cameras. Walton, Sam Walton... "
Amazing! Wal-Mart seems to have a wide selection of video security gear. I think I'll get one of these for my limousine. Hmmm...
Ah, but they did have this in Revenge of the Nerds, and that made it that much funnier...
:)
...now I need to get one of these for my own *ahem* recreational use...
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
That was Fats Domino (the singer of the subject song, not the pervert).
Free Mac Mini. Yes, I'm
All electronics has something like this for a bunch cheaper (the sony camera) . . .
I couldn't tell if you were experimenting with poor-man's cryogenics or looking for the orange sherbet.
I have been working steadily for the last several years, covering my body with an extra several layers of fat and hair. This is my camo; it hides what I don't want seen. If anything embarrassing ever DID come to light, I have the advantage of being able to run away, either hibernating or floating somewhere.
Hair recession roundabouts the top of my head distorts and scatters light rays, further confounding any video devices.
Keep your newfangled electro-magneto whiz-bang gizmo's -- give me Cookies & Cream ice cream.
Pardon me, I must go comb my ears.
Neato.
(the paranoid coward)
Hmm... Sliver....
-- The Funk, The Whole Funk, And Nothing But The Funk
A friend has a fisher-price child monitor w/an IR camera so he can see his daughter in her dark bedroom ... it cost him ~$200 U.S. It works real well, and it also works in the daytime ... Although i also know that the US-CDN exchange rate is pretty high ... ;-)
"Those who would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin,
umm "Contents" not recorded. Meaning you can't record the surveillance. In other words if you have camera going to a bunch of tv's with some guy watching them, but those signals are not recorded its perfectly legal (which makes sense as such would only be a space shifting device so that the guards don't have to be everywhere). So no we don't need to assume we are being recorded unless stated in friendly letters on the door that for our safty and security we are being watched!
--Your former friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart employee, now your friendly neighborhood MIS Manager.
-------------------------------------------------
50 carraiges at 40 pounds each up a 5 degree grade. F sub N equals that of a compact car. Push, boy!
*grin* I like this place. More things on the list to buy.
This sig is false.
Usually those places have stickers somewhere near the entrance saying "Smile! You're on hidden camera", or a legal warning saying the same thing.
I do know that video survellance is inadmissable as evidence in any federal court unless the subject knew of it beforehand.
--
db wonders why daveo always refers to himself in the third person in all his posts...
--
Dave Brooks (db@amorphous.org)
http://www.amorphous.org
I've seen these little buggers advertised all over the place recently. $150 for a wireless color camera... interesting.
Heh, they could change their add up a bit:
*ad music*
...Spying on you everyday
That's the WalMart way!
Nose -Common Sense isn't.
This, along with their decision not to sell preven, the morning after pill, although selling viagra is fine. Also wal-mart is a massive megaconglomerate that thrives on moving into towns, creating massive lakes of blacktop for parking, and crushing helpless mom-n-pop stores (and the occasional sucky k-mart). And almost everything they sell is crap, although they have good deals on oreo cookies. /. loves monopolies :) )
I believe it was jon stewart who said wal-mart was a "solid investment in your portfolio of evil." Personally I'm inclined to agree. If possible avoid wal-mart and go to your corner mom-n-pop shoppe or something, and help keep the economy free of monopolies (and I know
not anonymous, just lazy, Asterix (mhess@email.unc.edu, don't spam me)
These spy cams will get pulled from the shelves as soon as a story appears about how they were used to spy on women/kids/etc. There was a local story in the paper about this guy who would videotape little (preteen) kids in their swimming outfits at waterparks and public pools and then sell the tapes. Police could do nothing since it was not illegal to videotape clothed kids in a public location. Well, as soon as word got out, the cries of "Something must be done" began and not we have a new law that ends this practice in the city. I expect the same will happen with these spy cams at walmart.
db wonders why daveo always refers to himself in the third person in all his posts...
Perhaps he has been looking at himself through a pinhole camera all this time?
I had a friend who worked at WalMart who told me
that the most of the ceiling cameras in the
store are fake (complete with blinking LED and
occaional movement) and occasionally floor
personal will call for a security gaurd over the
PA system "Security: code orange, section 3"
for no reason other than to keep potential
shoplifters paranoid.
Look at this or for more choice here. :-)
Text is in Dutch but i'm sure you will get the picture
You'd have a self-contained webcam. With a little ingenuity, and some more power, maybe a wireless solution could be cooked up? Like a car-top webcam. Wouldn't that be nice. (My car is parked at 42nd and Vine. My car keys are on the roof in plain view of the camera)
Wah!
I thought it was a federal crime (in the US) to record audio without permission, but video is fine.
I wonder if they also tell their would-be spies that using such equipment in some states is illegal (without telling the party being spied on).
--
daveo looked on the page but their seems to be a lack or infomation reguarding wheather it uses a tape, or passes the vidio receptions to a monitor. $243 seems a little sttep. now how could those 2 wires, both black and white, be properly concealed with out any notice? that seems too be impossible, it could'nt blend in with any thing.
-DAVEO
With duct tape?
And do you have to carry around a 12v power supply?
Oh well, at least the video output's female.
George
They should have more choice. I'd definitely go for some plastic explosive inside toothpaste tubes, or small rocket launchers!!
"Code free or die!"
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
So I can start to tie one of these in with the X10 stuff I just recieved. Hmmm that infrared camera might make a nice security sensor.
I can see it now. Neighbors dog in trash - fire the water cannon.
I've never used any CCD stuff before. I wonder if this stuff is straight forward? I guess I'll go a searching....
Almost everything I can find for sale in Target appears to be made in China . . .
Smallest webserver
Wah!
At least, that's the first legal usage for this that came into my mind -- planting cameras in, say, dependents' rooms and so forth. Doesn't seem quite the moral thang to do...
That, and monitoring the staff for those who resort to maid services, nannies and other hired help, for when they do things like swipe a check off the bottom of your checkbook or otherwise go treasure-hunting.
woo, i think roblimo is so much more cooler now that i've seen his limo page.
Lots of stores do. I don't know if they do it in the US, but at the nearest Wal-Mart, they'll tape your other shopping bags, purses even, with their green Wal-Mart stickers. I'm surprised people haven't stood up to this - I mean, god, treat me like a F*n criminal or what? I haven't been there in a year. I'm not that desperate to save a few cents. My dad worked there once as a dock loader. It was the most hellish job he ever had.
I bought one of those, and it is surprisingly good. The camera is color, and fairly high-resolution. Since the wireless doodad is high-frequency (2.4 Ghz, I believe), it gets a really clean signal (as long as you aren't trying to use two transmitters too close to each other, even when you switch their frequencies). The only problem with the wireless sender is that it is rather bulky (definitely not designed to hook to a camera).
It has already been useful; we leave it pointed at my two-year-old while she's playing to make it easier to monitor her, and she's yet to have any idea it's a camera (it doesn't look like a camera at all). With the camcorder she's much more likely to try to do something to it. We have one of those black-and-white baby monitors, and it's a piece of crap in comparison (though we'll still use it for night surveillance when my second daughter is born in a few days). Color cameras typically stink at night.
Smarthome.com sells infrared lights to use with cameras; does anybody know if those are useful with a color camera which isn't designed for night?
Well I tried to post these URL's http://www.conrad.nl/cgi-bin/ConShop.pl?TK_PAR[USE R_ID]=0207083800932589618&TK_EV[SHOWPAGE ]=&TK_PAR[PAGEID]=14284&TK_PAR[MEDIUM]=89 and for more choice http://www.conrad.nl/cgi-bin/ConShop.pl?TK_PAR%5BS UCHTEXT%5D=ccd&TK_PAR%5BUSER_ID%5D=02070 83800932589618&TK_EV%5BTEXTSEARCH%5D=1 :-)
Text is in Dutch but i'm sure you will get the picture
You forgot to mention keeping all employees under 40 hours so they don't have to pay 'em any benefits (or so I've heard... I could be completely wrong.)
I can't stand those damn ads with the happy smiling face knocking down numbers. I always envision that happy smiling face shutting down local stores and cracking the whip in a sweatshop.
This is absolutely true, 3 years ago I was a cashier at a walmart, I dunno if the cameras were fake, but I never found the security room in the building, and coulden't think of a place they could stick one. I was told by my superviser that if we see someone we think is shoplifting, we should get on the PA and say some crap like "Security, camera scan cosmetics" or some BS like that. Pretty funny stuff.
So yeah, i guess if yer gunna shoplift, do it at a walmart, just obey the eternal law of capitalistic justice, "Don't get caught!".
-Ben
bensmith@biz1.net
All you need is a video capture card ($40 from eBay), a composite video camera, a cable modem or DSL connection, a web server, a device driver, and a few lines of code. Program the driver to take a snapshot every second, and dump the image to a JPG on the web server. Write an HTML page that does an auto-refresh on the JPG, and Presto! instant remote monitoring of your home. Then, if you have the time, you can write an image processing app that compares two successive frames. If there's enough of a difference, it saves the frame to disk. So if someone actually does break into your house, it will record it.
Timur Tabi
Remove "nospam_" from email address
I mounted a camera in a bird house on the front of my house.
It takes a picture every 10 seconds and I store the footage.
I can view it on one of my six televisions that are all mounted on my living room wall.
You know, these could be used for home security.
You perverts...
Dear fellow, I feel rather obligated to point out to you that if you continue with such posts, our moderator friends are quite liable to ensure that you start with a default score of -1, rather than your current default of 0. Just keep that in mind. Good night.
---
DNA just wants to be free...
I used to be a support mgr at a smaller WM. The security room was in the same room that the accounting people were in (and the safe).
I put a few of the cameras in the store.
The problem areas usually have them installed. Also, almost every cash register overhead is real. But for the most part, many are fake.
The store tended to play it safe rather than risk being sued.
The infrared camera is cooler! I think $200 is the cheapest I have seen them (course haven't been looking very hard.) Wonder if you can hook it up to a computer? Anyway, $200 and you can see when there is no light! I wonder what type of sensors they use? Probably not very sensitive but still cool -- and at Wal Mart of all places!
Yes, not as much american-made merchandise but they do have that 'giving back to the community' policy, donating stuff to local schools, etc.
:-)
Where I live there is a Target right next to a Super-WalMart. I go to the WalMart for groceries and pharmacy, but try to go to Target for most other stuff. (They have a better selection of incense and cd's.)
The Divine Creatrix in a Mortal Shell that stays Crunchy in Milk
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
Maybe I am, but let me ask you this:
:P
What if corporations with cash had the idea of buying the best adspace on the net (also known as Slashdot articles)? I know Mr. Malda has the moral integrity to umm, not do that, but what about Andover? Maybe I'm paranoid. But there are loads of better places to get 'spy gear' and supposedly Wal-Mart has had this stuff for a while. You decide
I hope you've got the wrong person. I actually kind of like Blueberry Hill (I live right off the loop), although I've never used the bathroom there, now that I think of it.
The other half is when I read the (much anticipated) comments. It's been fun! :-D
>the CCD property of being able to see in the near infrared range
This would be good enough if I could find a (bright) floodlight that emits only near-IR or longer light, but the light's output must be 100% outside the visible range.
I wonder how many Slashdot posters are AIs..? Does anyone admit to writing an Eliza-like posting script? :-D
Anybody know if these infrared cameras actually work? Last time I priced true infrared cameras they were about $80,000 CDN.
Still pretty neat gadgets though.
As defence against this intrusion into privacy is at least very expensive, if not impossible, I am quite sure that we all will develop a kind of exhibitionistic don't-care-if-you-tape attitude. That's the cheapes solution for some aspects.
And I wouldn't be surprised if rooms with granted privacy become the exception instead of the normal in the future.
A great occasion for companies or unused temples by the way. Who knows what crazy offerings will result. Take the oxygene bar as a response to air pollution. Maybe one has to shell out some bucks in the future to have a nice private talk.
Hey, I'm gonna run out and buy two of them thangs. One to monitor the bug zapper, and the other to watch...
Beat you to it. The Redneck Bugzappercam , so grab a six pack, sit back, and watch bugs die a spectacular death in a shocking display. Should I provide a streaming mp3 of them getting nuked?
I need a switch from my parallel port and a perl script so the pinhole cam I was showing off earlier in the day can be seen.
I thought that strong EM fields had been linked to cancer... (You know all the power line stories) I guess you could die a slow agonizing death in peace with the knowledge that no one is watching you.
And since we're not dealing with reality: you should try making yourself invisible. Then you don't have to worry about any one spying on you and you can spy on all the girls lockerrooms that you want.
-----
My sig has a broken link in it.
Due to the problem of determining consent given, taped phone conversations are nearly useless in court.
This has no bearing on wheather or not recording is permitted at all. Remember the Pamela whatever sex video. She tried to prevent its dissemmination and failed. Nor could Laura Schleischenger(sp? aka Dr. Laura) block the dissemination of nude pictures over the web.
So if you tape an insurance company telling you lies and illegal stuff, don't threaten to go to court... threaten to release it to the web! Bad word of mouth is far more harmful than bad court decisions to big companies.
ultra-conservative wall-mart has probably installed transmitters in these devices so it can monitor people's homes. whenever they see/hear people doing something "unamerican" like listening to un-censored copies of CDs purchased at stores other than wall-mart, they'll trigger the poisonous-gas releasing mechanism also encased in the smoke detector shell. i can't wait to get mine!
???
Hey, I'm gonna run out and buy two of them thangs.
One to monitor the bug zapper, and the other to watch for any varmits tryin' to steal the wheels off my house.
This is basically the kind of script Randy wrote in Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson).
This would work if you have a kind of image encoding where the magnitude of the difference (from subtraction) accurately reflects the magnitude of the difference we would percieve by looking at the two shots. For instance, if each image is encoded as a big long number, and the two numbers subtracted, you would get a very big result if the only pixel changed is the one in the upper left. This is an example of a scheme that wouldn't work.
With a good encoding scheme, this would work very well.
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Depends on the state, and on the situation. Generally when you are in a public place or on heavily-travelled private grounds (e.g. a convenience store) you can't reasonably expect there to be privacy, and therefore covert surveillance is perfectly legal.
In some states, you can covertly record a conversation even if it's not on your property, provided there are at least three people present (including yourself). Same general idea. No reasonable expectation of privacy.
I am not a lawyer, etc, etc. If you get your legal advice from Anonymous Cowards, you're a moron.
Most modern black and white cameras are very sensitive to the red/infra red range. A lit cigarette looks like a spotlight at the camera in the dark. If your company has a no smoking policy and you have cameras, watch out.
Color cameras do not seem to benefit from infrared. I have a ccd b/w and it responds in a most excellent way from infrared led's. The b/w also does a pretty good job under moon light. The color does not see this spectrum and is miserable for night viewing.
I also have a image multiplier (got this one at walmart in the hunting department!) that multiplies light 15,000 times. Its great for scoping wildlife out in the woods and other telephoto lenses will fit it. Just don't use it to try finding your way out of the woods in the dark. I tried and discovered the field of vision was narrow and I tripped over every damn thing in the way!
every major retail outlet uses tactics such as this to try to deter the a$$hole shoplifters.
having spent all my pre-tech job years in retail i saw the lengths that establishments went to to halt what some think of as a victimless crime, and at least some of them were just as concerned with internal theft as theft from "customers"
just my piece of life-experience
Remember to suggest to CmdrTaco that he add a "Too Much Information" moderation category. Also, buy milk.
I remember seeing a site a few months ago where someone was using an older quickcam (the B&W model) with the infared filter taken out of it. That camera coupled with an ordinary remote control for lighting gives surprising results. The remote actually throws an IR beam similar to a flashlight when viewed through the camera.
Any electronics surplus catalog will have a wide selection of video camera parts. You can get 'em cheap and mount 'em in any housing you want.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Coming soon to a Wal-Mart near you...
part # TP-101 TEMPEST(r) kit for home computers
part # ED-273 ECHELON brand Dictionary(tm) software.. just install it and help the NSA read everyone's mail!! only $29.95!
hehehe
I run a new england B&B....
Let's see, a camera-enabled smoke detector for each bedroom. A pinhole camera for each washroom, and another for the shower!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... gotta go polish my sausage now. Be back in 10 minutes.
Walmart: Where Echelon does its shopping.
---
Put Hemos through English 101!
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
I've always been given to believe that it was legal to tape a phone conversation as long as one involved party was aware of that fact.
---
Put Hemos through English 101!
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
They are destroying our American freedoms with their Frankenstein weather-control devices, be-OTCH! They sell merchandise at-cost because they do not care about American capitalism. Walmart stores are just fronts for the weather-control devices in the back storeroom. Target is a true American company and proud of it.
Hmmm... What about BugBear3001, 3002, etc...
Your censors & freinds will never be able to shut up people like him by lowering the score. They usually shut up on their own if they don't get the response they want (ie. If they don't get any response at all, rather than the one you game him).
I say head back to Wall Mount for more!
**>>BELCH
With a spark gap radio disruptor, sure. EZ to build too. *VERY* illegal if it is too strong (It'll ruin ALL radio/TV signals for MILES). You _WILL_ be fined for using one, and you could go to jail (in very extreme cases). Buuuut, if you're serious, talk to any (older) war vet. with electronics experience. They used to use these devices to ruin enemy radio transmissions. [Note: I might not be 100% correct about this. I read about it in Pop. Electronics a while ago... Although I do know ruining people's TV/radio will get the FCC after you.].
Anyways, if the signal is going through a good quality cable, and not being broadcast through the air, you probably don't have much chance.
I'm not sure about this, but I think the only thing a magnet is going to do is ruin any TVs nearby (I don't think they affect CCDs. After all, AFAIK they are just LED/LDR combos...).
Moderation Totals:Offtopic=2, Flamebait=7, Troll=12, Total=21.
Are you for real or a failed attempt to create an AI?
Actually my life is quite exciting. Your image of it is simply limited by your small mind.
Granted if all I did was technical stuff like mount cameras around my house then yes it would be boring. I do alot more in life than geek-out. You on the other hand probably won't do anything interesting because you are either (a) too stupid, or (b) are worried about looking boring or geeky.
Order em through Radio Shack.
Small cameras start at $79.
I Don't Work Here
where i work (at a grocery store) we have a bunch of fake cameras but then there is atleast one real pinhole camera that we have found that is constantly watching one of he drawers
Wal-Mart has been selling these for quite some time now. I noticed them probably about a year ago when I bought my 35" TV on-line with satellite speakers and subwoofer for ...$450!!!!!!
Go Purdue!
I can almost hear Chuck Berry singing now. If you'll remember, he installed hidden cameras in the womens bathrooms of some restaurant he owned (incidentally, he owns a nice one here in my home town of St. Louis, but I'm always afraid to go in the bathroom). He may be an old pervert, but he's (still) one talented man.
-Ben
bensmith@biz1.net
Black and white pinhole cameras sell for about $50 apiece. All you need to supply then is an RCA cable, a microphone, and a power supply, then take ANY smoke alarm (they're not very expensive), remove the cover, then secure the camera inside of it and VOILA, instant spy camera. Now, if you want to get more fancy, for an extra $100, I can integrate a video/audio transmitter into the case as well, then have a reciever anywhere within 300 meters. So for about $180 this could be assembled by anyone with enough electronics knowledge to successfully hook up your average stereo system.
Of course, this is Walmart we're talking about. This is a CONSUMER product, and of course, there is a high consumer demand for surveillence equipment in the home. After all, this is about the extent that it could be used legally. Nobody will likely use these in a commercial environment when there are better choices available and its illegal to use them in almost any other circumstance. So if you're going to break the law anyways, why rely on a consumer product that would probably be easy to identify.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
It would have made the movie less funny. There are certain things you can do with a hole in the girls' shower wall that just don't work with cameras.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Great, now we can look forward to webcams and hidden cam sites dedicated to women who have exceeded the tensile strength of their spandex.
Why was this marked OffTopic? Seems like a pretty linear conversation, and privacy law seems pretty in-line with spy equipment.
I think Walmart selling surveillance equipment is ironic, considering the fact that they don't permit you to take photos or even notes inside the store for price comparisons...
Am I the only one who's noticed that SlashDot is completely dominated by corporate news these days? Look at the articles posted here today, for example:
1) QNX
2) NSI
3) AOL/Sun/Netscape
4) Game Consoles (Sony/Nintendo,...)
5) AOL
6) Telstra
7) Westwood
8) USPS
9) Perl (finally!)
10) WalMart
Boring.
One, or arguably 2 articles out of 10 dealing with something *other* than what the corporations are up to. What I want to know about is what *we* up to -- where are the stories about the latest developments in free software projects like GNOME or KDE, etc. I'm sick of seeing stories about the latest IPO from some tech-related corporation. I want "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", not news for businessmen.
A disgruntled long-time fan of Slashdot.
I wonder if it would be possible to create a distortion field that would make any audio sound like garbage [you know what i mean] and video look like snow.
How about generating a massive electromagnetic field? Something similar to a continuous electromagnetic bomb detonation. Of course you wouldn't want the distortion field to be so strong as to format any HD sitting around.
Figure that if you got some massively polarized magnets (like the ones at auto junk yards) and then minuturized the whole deal so it would fit in your pocket . . .
It could happen! Maybe . . .