
How to find hidden cameras (2002) [pdf] - lainon
http://www.tentacle.franken.de/papers/hiddencams.pdf
======
exikyut
Only some of this information remains relevant today to someone interested in
"finding hidden cameras". For example, I found page 10 very interesting to
read about; what is presented there would probably make for a very fun
hackathon project or similar.

As for the info on RF detection, nope. Few things use PAL/NTSC now, mostly
devices bought by people not doing research buying the tales spun by the
cheaper spy shops. If you find something using analog video, I'd treat it as
suspicious. If the device isn't obviously doing spy things, it's probably some
completely forgotten-about system not connected to anything anymore.

You'd be better served doing analog Wi-Fi RF analysis - whether just figuring
out "why is there a gigantic 2.4GHz/5.8GHz/etc signal specifically in the
corner of this room", or even seeing whether the camera firmware is vulnerable
to the WPA2 attacks. And that's hoping the device uses Wi-Fi; if it uses a
LAN, your best bet may be an EM/RF finder (which AFAIK start at $900+ for a
basic good one) to try and pinpoint the camera electronics, and hope you don't
get distracted with random benign things like in-wall thermometers, chemical
sensors, and whatnot.

As for modern camera size, I just did an image search for "phone camera
module" and then "tiny camera module" and found items quite a fair bit smaller
than what's shown in this PDF.

\- This is apparently 1x1mm, and a cursory but careful examination suggests
it's _not_ optical:
[http://www.awaiba.com/product/naneye/](http://www.awaiba.com/product/naneye/)

\- A bit more looking found this slightly more accessible random option:
[https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1-12-CMOS-tiny-
indust...](https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1-12-CMOS-tiny-industrial-
endoscope_60366618523.html)

\- I also found this generic "MC900A" camera that's very small, self-contained
and spits out NTSC/PAL: [http://spy.tips/shop/super-mini-520tvl-high-
resolution-audio...](http://spy.tips/shop/super-mini-520tvl-high-resolution-
audio-spy-camera-9-59-512mm-0-008lux-mc900a/) (this is one of the random
results, googling the model will find tons of this)

\- A bit more searching found the TS5828 5.8GHz A/V transmitter; this is not
_tiny_, but it most definitely is very small.

One of my rainy-day-when-I-have-more-money projects is to get a tiny camera
like one of the ones above, a transmitter like the one above, and a tiny
rechargeable battery, and see how compact I can make the result. I'm putting
it off until I have more money because I know I'll obsess about it until it's
_really, really small_...

FWIW, what I just described does already exist as a finished product. Here's a
2.4GHz version:
[https://www.selfdefensegearco.com/MiniWirelessSpyCamera.htm](https://www.selfdefensegearco.com/MiniWirelessSpyCamera.htm)

~~~
rblatz
This one really creeps me out [https://www.amazon.com/Screw-Head-Mini-Hidden-
Camera/dp/B014...](https://www.amazon.com/Screw-Head-Mini-Hidden-
Camera/dp/B01493DMX0)

How often do you really pay attention to screws?

~~~
bringtheaction
> How often do you really pay attention to screws?

I’d like to imagine someone install one of these in the middle of an otherwise
clean white wall, where it’ll stick out like a sore thumb :p

~~~
TeMPOraL
I spent a short moment now looking around the office for the best spot a
would-be creep could install a hidden camera. I realized two things:

\- There ain't that many things with visible, people-facing screws these days.

\- Even if you found one (e.g. a back of a LCD screen), you'd have to _match_
the screw in size and color, or it would stick out.

I guess this method is best used when you control the entire object in which a
screw-camera is to be embedded.

~~~
rblatz
Somewhere on Amazon there is a screw camera that has a product photo of the
camera installed on what appears to be a bathroom stall door. I can’t find it
right now, but it totally blew me away that they’d be so blatant.

------
lifeformed
Nowadays, you don't need to hide them anymore. Everyone is recording
everything and uploading it to everyone.

I wonder how many videos I have appeared in as a background character of
someone's Facebook video. All that data is waiting to be processed one day so
the schedule of my whole life is pieced together statistically from the
mountains of raw data accumulated over the decades by companies.

~~~
montyf
I was thinking about this today as I went through my browsing history from
half a year ago. I'm not too worried. If anyone had access to that data they
still wouldn't know what I was up to, what adventures I had, or even anything
significant about me as a person. Cross-referencing to any posts I had made
wouldn't help much, especially as I'm a big troll and write whatever nonsense
I want. Maybe they would know some of my preferences back then, but those have
changed by now. I think the problem is a lot of people lead ritualized, static
lives, carrying around the same identities and ego structures for years and
years. Such people are easily predictable, and controllable.

------
RyJones
You may use night vision gear to detect the ones with IR illumination.
[https://youtu.be/gEWniEhtE2k](https://youtu.be/gEWniEhtE2k)

~~~
nurettin
Or you could use a camera of your own. Remember 90s when all tape cameras
would show blips of light in front of IR remotes?

~~~
mholt
My Pixel 2 camera seems to reveal IR light (at least, IR in high
concentrations) in captured images when reflected off a dark surface. (Not
sure if relevant. But I was surprised to notice that.)

------
shkaga
Interesting. Recent Airbnb problems with hidden cameras makes me wish for a
product that could detect hidden cameras (non cia level). Is that in any way
possible?

~~~
m3rc
Gut reaction, no it's impossible. But other problems I thought were nigh
unsolvable have turned out to be not so I'd love to be proven wrong.

------
lopmotr
I'm disappointed at the slow progress of consumer security cameras. They show
a tiny CMOS cube camera from ~2000. Today I can't find anything that small or
that cheap online (didn't look too hard) and certainly not in the local bricks
and mortar surveillance camera shop. Why aren't tiny cellphone-like cameras
with integrated wifi or LAN everywhere? Why are non-hidden ones still
outputting analog TV signal?

~~~
MindTwister
People who fly FPV order these cameras all the time.

This one is about $8 [https://www.banggood.com/600TVL-8_0MP-14-2_8mm-CMOS-
FPV-170-...](https://www.banggood.com/600TVL-8_0MP-14-2_8mm-CMOS-
FPV-170-Degree-Wide-Anlge-Lens-Camera-PALNTSC-p-984345.html?rmmds=search)

How about this one for $22 with a 5.8GHz transmitter
[https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-TX01S-NTSC-
Mini-5_8G-40CH-2...](https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-TX01S-NTSC-
Mini-5_8G-40CH-25MW-VTX-600TVL-13-Cmos-FPV-
Camera-p-1139788.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN)

------
bachaco
Cameras are getting so small and with such a good resolution that the safest
thing to do is to assume that you are being recorded the 100% of your time.
Again, privacy is a thing of the past. I am sorry George
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox-
shlDXKO4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox-shlDXKO4)

~~~
jackhack
The panopticon is complete, and the entire world, the prison. When the
prisoners feel they are always being observed, they will stay on their best
behavior.

------
baybal2
Google nonlinear junction detector

~~~
wu-ikkyu
How much do those things cost?

~~~
duozerk
I don't know, but Wikipedia has a good example of a NLJD countermeasure
introduced in the 60s:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_junction_detector#Co...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_junction_detector#Countermeasure)

(specifically the CIA's SRT-107:
[http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/srt107/index.htm](http://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/bugs/ec/srt107/index.htm))

As an aside, the entire website for that second link is pretty interesting.

------
pfarnsworth
Can't you use infrared cameras like the FlirOne and just search for things
that are weirdly hot? Most cameras should generate a lot more heat than its
surroundings.

~~~
icantdrive55
That's the best idea I have heard so far.

Better yet, would be a law passed that outlaws photographing people without
their consent, at least while at work. I heard France has strict laws that
protect privacy.

I've never liked my picture taken without my consent.

~~~
pc86
Assuming your work takes you anywhere outside, or in a vehicle, or in any
public area, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy.

You can't reasonably expect someone photographing a public place to announce
to everyone they're about to take a photograph, or get a waiver from everyone,
or blur the faces of everyone who they can't get to sign.

------
tw1010
Naive question: are entities allowed to film you on private property without
any kind of warning or sign that they are doing so?

~~~
jdavis703
In the U.S. it depends on state laws, and in the absence of any state laws
wether you had a reasonable expectation of a right to privacy. If there's a
hidden camera on the factory floor, that's probably fair game. If there's a
hidden camera in a bathroom stall, that's probably illegal.

------
IshKebab
Interesting, but quite infuriating use of the not-really-a-word
"intransparent".

~~~
rurban
It's a proper word in german though

------
Bitcoin_McPonzi
I used to be in the R&D department for a large company that included a major
movie studio. They wanted to develop a system that would find people filming
the screen in theaters.

The system worked by exploiting the fact that all cameras at that time,
including phone cameras, had a IR filter over the sensor that was a retro-
reflector at IR wavelengths.

Behind the screen at three separated places were three IR sources and detector
cameras.

If the detector cameras at the same points as the sources saw a bright dot
from any two of the three locations that was coming back from the illuminator
(the light was modulated so we could determine if it was ours) we knew we had
a camera!

The system worked, but deployment in theaters never happened in a big way,
other than a few theaters used for screenings in LA.

~~~
veridies
Wouldn’t that also pick someone up who had indiscreetly pull up their phone to
check a text message?

~~~
dboreham
If it's the kind of screening I've been to (e.g. Disney D23) then you are
instructed not to take your phone out for any reason during the screening.

------
nukeop
Surveillance cameras in malls and shops are often installed in places where
they are easy to spot because they are an effective deterrent. Even if they
are nothing more than decoys. I wouldn't expect many surveillance cameras to
be hidden away from the view because their main function is to discourage
crime from happening, not recording it.

~~~
dewey
[https://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/people-keep-finding-
hi...](https://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/people-keep-finding-hidden-
cameras-in-their-airbnb?utm_term=.gr28wQbKmK#.olr8kGW7N7)

~~~
nukeop
There are many reasons not to ever use Airbnb, this is just one of them.

~~~
RhodesianHunter
I'm not sure what this has to do with Airbnb in particular. It seems like
something that would be an equal risk however you went about renting a place.

~~~
icebraining
Arguably it's less likely in a hotel, although apparently not in a motel:
[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/gay-talese-
the...](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/gay-talese-the-voyeurs-
motel)

------
Pica_soO
Could you train a neural net to look for suspicious objects with optimal
viewing conditions on rooms?

