PluggedIn: Potential victims use devices to sidestep voyeurs

By Mayumi Negishi

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.