PluggedIn: Potential victims use devices to sidestep voyeurs
TOKYO (Reuters) - Who's watching you?
The market for tiny surveillance cameras and microphones -- easily available around Japan at electronics stores -- is being fueled by husbands, wives, neighbors, voyeurs or people just out to make an extra buck.
Would-be victims are fighting back with new low-priced "bug" detectors.
On Amazon.co.jp, lower-priced detectors include a 2,980-yen ($28) sensor-cum-keychain that picks up surveillance devices. On the higher end, the retailer sells a 49,800 yen ($465) walkie-talkie-like device that can sweep a room for both digital and analog signals, and has antenna showing electronic signals in a room.
Online sales of such bug detectors have doubled at retailer Tokyu Hands Inc, according to spokesman Minoru Yajima, as people realize how easy it is to hide a camera.
"People are becoming afraid," he said. "They want to know if there is something to worry about."
Experts say that many of these anti-bug devices end up fueling anxiety. Often, common household items, such as a cellphone or a microwave is enough to trigger the detectors, which are more annoying than helpful, they say.
And even if a true bug is detected, one would probably have to call in a professional to find and remove it.
That didn't stop Masa Takasugi, a 28-year-old who bought a keychain with an electronic sensor at the Tokyu Hands store in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
"I saw an acquaintance whose picture was on a video I downloaded online," said Takasugi, who declined to comment on whether the acquaintance was a girlfriend. "I couldn't tell her that, but I thought I could give her this. I just want her to be more careful."
HELPING "BUGGED" FRIENDS
People like Takasugi, who know unwitting victims, represent a growing number of the 20,000 phone calls fielded in the past 12 months by Hisanobu Okada, a former Tokyo Metropolitan Police officer who now heads the Future Security Group, a company that sweeps for hidden cameras and bugs.
Okada said technological advances and willing female accomplices make it easier to photograph women in hotel rooms, changing rooms or bathrooms at restaurants.
On a casual stroll in Tokyo's Akihabara electric district, for instance, one can find tiny cameras that fit inside a watch, while merchants cheerfully explain how to set them up.
The sale or purchase of such devices is not illegal in Japan, although taking images without consent, as well as circulating such images, can be punishable under local law.
Cameras can be planted in a roll of toilet paper or a poster and take pictures through a hole as tiny as 0.6 millimeters in diameter. Some voyeurs have been known to leave hidden microphones in rooms they rent and vacate, said one attendant at Mimatsu Audio, a store by Akihabara Station.
"Before, it was usually detectives and investigators who bought the stuff, but lately, students and older women are buying," said the attendant, who declined to be named.
No statistics are available of sales of cameras and microphones for surveillance purchases, but Future Security's Okada estimates that at least 500,000 units are sold annually.
The population of "bugging hobbyists" in Japan is about 2 million, he added, catering to growing demand for images taken by hidden cameras.
Most victims don't report bugs to the police, because of the embarrassment, said Okada.
Users of bugs are either complete strangers that are almost impossible to trace, he said. Or they could suspect an adulterous spouse, or they could be a relative trying to get the upper hand in an inheritance spat.
But a little common sense and awareness would help most targets, he said.
Some tips to avoid bugs:
* Be wary of gifts from someone you distrust.
* Rotate objects in public facilities that could potentially hide cameras on an angle, such as in bathrooms.
* Don't leave people you distrust alone in your room.
* Pat any posters in a room before undressing, to see if a flat camera is hidden.
(Editing by Derek Caney)
