|
 |
You are > Home > Mystery over ‘Big Brother’ surveillance cameras solved
|
Friday, June 03, 2005
Mystery over ‘Big Brother’ surveillance cameras solved
By Jennifer Long
WE’RE all well and truly sick of watching ‘Big Brother’ after just a few days of the new reality tv series, but evidently he’s far from sick of watching us!
For the camera-shy among you, who wouldn’t dream of entering the BB house, we hate to break the news that Big Brother was, in fact, on a spying mission as people went about their business.
In recent days, members of the public walking in and around the city centre have been taken aback by the presence of CCTV-like cameras apparently filming their every move.
The cameras were erected on top of or linked to street poles.
New Street, Newgate Street, Barrack Street, Mayor’s Walk, Ballybricken and the Glen area were among the areas they were spotted in by curious passers by.
This aroused speculation that the cameras might be fake and were perhaps an elaborate publicity stunt promoting an event or product.
Last October, a PR firm, employed by Little Red Kettle Theatre Company, sparked major controversy when it nailed real pigs’ heads to stakes and placed them around Wateford city overnight, shocking morning commuters. The stunt was designed to promote the theatre company’s latest production of “Lord of the Flies”.
MUNDANE PURPOSE
However, after much research the Waterford News & Star has solved the latest mystery. But readers will be disappointed to learn, the cameras were put in place for a much more mundane purpose than a publicity coup.
The lenses were, in fact, spying on the thousands of vehicles trundling through the city’s busy streets. Twenty-four of the cameras were erected at different points throughout the city as part of a traffic survey for Waterford City Council.
The survey was conducted on two separate days over the past week, last Saturday and yesterday (Tuesday). Just as we went to press last night, our staff members caught two men in the act of removing the cameras. They owned up to being representatives of a company conducting a traffic survey for the City Council. Earlier, however, the City Council, the ESB and the gardai all said they had no knowledge of the cameras when contacted.
“The gardai were certainly not notified of cameras going up and certainly it would be something that would require authorisation,” a local garda spokesman told the Waterford News & Star.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
