Re. hidden cameras, what do you have to do before using a public washroom?

No alternative. Privacy is the price we pay for “staying connected,” which we are increasingly realizing is a two-edged sword. Me, I don’t care if they look at me in a public bathroom. Just doing what comes—or rather, goes—naturally.

“When she looked under the sink, the woman saw a cell phone propped up by paper towels with the camera pointing toward the toilet.
She immediately notified employees who contacted the sheriff’s department.
“The deputies discovered that the cellphone was running in a video-recording motion, said Lt. Joseph Fender with the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.”

She made a big mistake when she notified the employees. She needed to hire a countersurveillence expert for one hour ($300) and set up her own camera to catch the pervert. The evidence she obtained could have been used for blackmail against the perv, or a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the store, or public shaming campaign against the guy so he will never be able to reproduce.
Unfortunately the perv is still out there and will just step up his game.

Fight fire, with fire. Very hot fire.

It seems like there are two choices here. I know which one I would pick.

The first choice is paranoia. Look everywhere and anywhere. When you go into the bathroom, look under the seat, look at the ceiling, look at the paper holder. When you go into an elevator, look up and try to find the camera. When you walk into your friend’s house, see if you are being taped.

The first choice will make you a nervous wreck, and because you will likely never find anything anywhere, you will become crazy with paranoia.

The second choice is to do nothing. Wash your hands and leave. Worry not about what crazies are out there – because they’re not significant or relevant to your life. Did this camera affect her or her son’s ability to pee?

The woman’s mistake was profound. What she should have done is detached the iphone in question, turned it off, and put it in her purse. Later, at home, turn it on, copy all the files to your own PC (for evidence) and wipe it back to factory. (This is the “finders keepers” philosophy.)

If the owner of the phone (who presumably was the voyeur) called the number to check on his phone, well, let’s just say that’s a conversation that would be fun to have in the presence of a policeman.

I would have just bagged the phone, removed and destroyed its sim card, and been happy about my new phone.

Creepy, but not enough to freak me out – I’m a guy and guys tend to be a little freer with Willy. I seriously doubt the 5 yo boy in the women’s room was the target, so that eliminates the ultimate creep.

Realistically, I think the woman handled the whole thing very well. I might have called the cops first and let them tell the employees (or I might not).

I don’t see mention in the story of the phone being an iphone or any other similarly desirable model. My guess would be disposable, and they had to connect to a laptop or secondary user in order the position the phone using paper towels (which will dampen and compress in short order).

I’m guessing rogue employee or manager that will be caught red handed. Not a in the list of top 100 things to worry about in a public restroom, IMO.

I think I would have just taken it home and taken a hammer to it.

For $10 you can get one of these devices.

I’m sure you get what you pay for and a slightly more expensive one would work better, but for as often as most people would use it, $10 really isnt bad for a couple of times a year.

Thanks @cheebdragon for the link. Thanks all.

Is there is no detecting device that alerts the businesses as soon a perv installs it?

@flo Do not rely on that type of device. It will not work if the camera is recording for later pick up.

It is very difficult for a place of business, especially one that offers free wifi, to detect something like this. If the camera is not connected to their wifi it can sit and record passively until the battery runs out. Unfortunately, you cannot find them by normal means.

@LuckyGuy Very good to know.
Re. “Unfortunately, you cannot find them by normal means. What would be not normal means?

@flo There are multiple methods that “normal” people cannot afford to use. Movie theaters use anti-pirating equipment that bathes the audience in pulses of IR looking for the optical signal reflected from the recording element. the person holding a video camera aimed at the screen would be caught instantly.
Another method uses RF detection. The room is scanned for any RF energy within a certain range. The unit listens and records indefinitely but only alerts and stores pulsed energy. Think of it as motion detection for radio waves. This gets the systems that sit quietly for hours and then randomly wake up and transmitting what they see.
This system has the option of adding jamming to deny service for a certain time.
There are others that search for any energy in the common IF ranges.

IMO the best way to counteract this type of offense is to catch and record the perv red-handed and then use the court of public opinion to destroy him. The next perv considering it will think twice.

@LuckyGuy you would think they would realize that it’s not the audience that’s pirating those movies, it’s usually the theater employees. My friends did that shit all the time when they worked at the theater.

@LuckyGuy Got it.

@cheebdragon Back in the analog video days theater patrons would do it too. Did you see the Seinfeld on this subject? Kramer invites a shady friend to join them at a sneak preview of a movie. It turns out he is a bootlegger and sells the videos. If I recall the guy demands that Jerry video parts of the movie while he is busy. Funny.

Occasionally, in the real world, there is a request that no pictures be taken, be it in a museum, a show, or whatever. It is trivial to find and photograph violators – and they do. It is rare that they go after the violators but the data and evidence is recorded if it is ever needed.