Hyderabad: The A. Revanth Reddy ‘cash for vote’ episode revealed the elaborate use of smart phone cameras by the TS Anti-Corruption Bureau to capture the entire incident. But though it was quite simplistic, there are much more sophisticated methods available at cheaper rates.
Apps to turn phones into spy cams are easily available and are free too. Even normal spy cams are easily available on e-commerce sites for purchase and they are cheap.
Apps available for Android and other mobile platforms turn the phone camera into a secret filming spy cam and it appears as though the user is not using the phone at all or is in fact using the phone for other purposes than filming.
Two conversations between Telugu Desam Kodangal legislator A. Revanth Reddy and nominated legislator Elvis Stephenson were recorded by the ACB through multiple spy cams clearly showing the two of them.
One of the spy cams appeared to have been worn by Stephenson. Earlier this year, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had also planned launching a spy cam app for mobile phones that directly uploads recordings to the government server.
Plenty of cheap apps are available for Android, iOS and Windows platforms that turn the phone into a spy cam. All that is to be done is to just point the phone camera in the intended direction.
These apps, available for free, start filming in the background, while the user may use the phone or use it for other purposes. Or like in this case, just start recording and point the camera in the right direction.
Also spy cams in pens, buttons and watches are all available cheap. A button camera with a USB slot and as much as 64 GB memory comes for just about Rs 2,000 on online commerce sites.
A pen camera with about 4 GB of space can be bought for less than Rs 1,000. And it is not just pens and buttons but spy cams in electric plugs, key chains, USB drives, clothes wall hooks, spectacles, Dettol bottles, wall clocks, ties, trophies and so forth. All of these are quite affordable while some are dead cheap.
Recordings from any of these gadgets can be used as evidence in the court of law as Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act provides for electronic evidences to be produced in courts. However, while these can be used for sting operations and uncovering corruption, they have a downside as well since they can be used to film gullible victims.
