Controversies Surge, But So Does Digital Spycam Technology

No one is neutral about it, seemingly, and the controversy surges ever onward about digital spy cameras in private business and public spaces, but it also seems as though the hotter the controversy, the hotter the next steps forward for digital spycam technology, says The New York Times.

Terrorism jitters and falling prices add to the atmosphere, the Times reported April 21, and sales of digital surveillance systems and the services needed to get them installed and online grow likewise - expected to hit $8.5 billion by the end of 2005, up from $5.7 billion in 2002, the paper added.

And the trend seems bound to continued acceleration, in light of IBM's March announcement that they were offering a new package of consulting and system-design services for digital network-based spycams, perhaps thinking, the Times suggested, that retailers, corporations, and government agencies would dump the older analog systems and get entirely digital as the costs of doing so fall.

"Corporations need to reduce costs and become more effective," said Michael Maas, an IBM vice president for marketing, told the Times. "Digitization of security does that."