microphones in the street?

[Ally]

Took a photo of this, is this a listening device? It's about ten inches high. Friends claim it could be for wi-fi Internet but I've never seen another one anywhere in Leeds.

Opinions most welcome.

[iro]

there are microphones al over the uk to pick up literal 'chatter'. this has been planned for a long time. soon we're going to have to literally zip our lips unless we are in very secure spots.

these things are incredibly powerful (you only have to think of those big audience booms that record crowd noise in gigs). Together with the potential for the inhome surveillance as all laptops now have built in microphones that can be remote triggered if your clever enough

added to that the newest laptops and monitors have webcams with active microphones built in! Apple is pioneering this with their whole range equipped as such 'video conferencing right out of the box'. I dont think for a minute that apple are doing this sinisterly - as it is what the market is asking for... but the potential for that system to be hijacked by the feds through your internet cable is so easy and available you'd have to wonder why they wouldnt if they didnt.

i have such an apple device and i put a little piece of plastercine over the cam when im not using it and i have the mic disabled with an alert when it is abled one way or the other - so im hoping that will suffice. no firewalls can protect you from this backdoor creeping - especially on a windows machine (a window into your home)

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore?family=iMac&cid=AOSA30 000023951

[Emmanuel]

This is shocking! I thought this post was to be about a idea of interviewing people on the street to gather the opinions and get people talkig about real truth issues.
Alas no, another terrible addition to our big bruv stat...
we could throw water on them, a waste of a good mic i know....

[Disco_Destroyer]

Can you post where it is maybe via map? Or destroy it see what comes up in the press

[Bicnarok]

whats the point of randomly hearing people taling on the street if you don´t know who it was. Ok they may incorperate the voice and some video camera somewhere. And with todays computers, and the secret ones the spooks probably have are more powefull to filter the data won´t be much of a problem.

A few years ago I remember reading about a 10 Ghz chip running stable, water cooled. Surely the advancements must have come up with powefuller chips, then why are there only 4 Ghz on the market?

[Ally]

Picked up via PP. From what I photographed seems like they're doing it already, not just 'considering' it.

[telecasterisation]

I would say the image supplied is not that of a microphone.

Firstly, if it is incredibly sensitive, the way it is positioned would pick up the slightest wind noise and the instant it started to rain you would need an incredibly sophisticted system to filter out all the subcutaneous and unwanted audio remnants. Not to mention, it is not positioned well to avoid rain and weather damage. Simply turning it up the other way would reduce the need for the type of water-proofing its current position would demand.

My understanding is that such street microphones are far better concealed, not just to protect them from some herbert with a hammer on stick, but from the elements too.

[conspiracy analyst]

in the Olympics if we ever get that far, they will introduce every anti-terrorist measure they can think of.

Roadblocks to chek drivers id, fingerprinting at stations, id cards with antennaes, e-mail spying, internet tracking etc.

This will all be billed onto the Olympics.

Thats why the budget is spiralling out of control. The facilities will be nonsense, prone to collapse withing 2-3 years of building them everything else will be installed for a longer time.

Although they originally were created as an event for peace, they will eventually become the standard against freedom of movement, if the Athens Olympics is anything to go by...

[Ally]

[Patrick Brown]

I also doubt that pic is showing a microphone.

I would think a PZM type mic would be a good choice as their pretty rugged and omni-directional.

[Ally]

[flamesong]

[Ally]

[Ally]

[flamesong]

Radio aerials come in some very odd shapes, they are designed for optimal propagation - not style. Some of the ground UHF aerials used in the navy looked to me quite gothic and would not look out of place atop a church.

If it is a microphone, like I said, it will be making some nice recordings of birds and aircraft for either the RNIB or Aircraft Illustrated.

[flamesong]

Yes, you are right to ask for a source. I'm afraid I can't provide one but I remember seeing photographs of dismantled boxes online and taking mine apart and seeing the same circuitry.

[Ally]

I even pointed the 'mic' out to a cop who was strolling by when I was looking at it one time.
I said, "you're not happy filming our every move, now you want to listen to our every word. What's happened to our civil liberties?"

He replied all deadpan, "What civil liberties?"

I kid ye not!

[wepmob2000]

The four antenna are probably a device to stop birds perching on whatever that thing actually is.

[Hazzard]

Microphones have infact been used in the US for sometime now. They were installed as a measure to find the direction of gunfire. Ehem.....if you believe that you are a fool.

But I would not doubt that they are being put up all over our streets now aswell.

[mobypaterson]

where in leeds is that ?? i want to go and check it out

[Ally]

[Ignatz]

[telecasterisation]

I simply don't get the logic of street microphones. Once it is public knowledge that they exist - who is going to start discussing a bomb plot or hijacking outside a KFC? Al-qaida get a leading expert in nuclear fusion on-board, who then opens his briefcase outside Argos in Stockport and openly goes over the plans??

Barmy.

[Patrick Brown]

Has anybody noticed the halo around the mic? We need more photos and eyewitness statements before we can be sure it even real!

[Johnny Pixels]

It's funny because it looks like a giant microphone, so it must be a giant microphone.

[conspiracy analyst]

Now discussed in todays Observer!!

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1962937,00.html

[Ally]

[Ignatz]

[Fallious]

I just knew Ally would fit right in here.

[kc]

Have you rang the council and asked them? Looks like the sort of thing that needs planning permission. You might get a slightly more informed response than just hanging around a street corner pointing at the skies and shouting "They're listening! They're LISTENING!!!"

(although I'd pay good money to see it)