The sinister Santa ‘spy cam’ to make children behave
Surveillance society even invades Christmas with...
PARENTS have long warned their children that Santa knows whether they have been naughty or nice.
And now the threat has been given a high-tech – and some say sinister – update, with what appears to be a home surveillance camera installed by an army of elves keeping a watchful eye from the North Pole.
Or at least that’s the notion behind the Elf Surveillance Dummy Security Camera, a fake but all-too-convincing gadget that mimics the type of devices found on public transport and in buildings.
The dummy – which has a recommended retail price of €6.95 according to Irish retail magazine, ShelfLife – is being marketed as the smart way to keep children in check. It even has a flashing red light to warn misbehaving children that elves are watching their every move.
‘Official Elf Reports’ also record children’s activities and categorise them as ‘naughty or nice’. The manufacturer describes the camera as a bit of ‘light-hearted fun’, but privacy campaigners last night raised their concerns.
Renate Samson, of UK pressure group Big Brother Watch, accused the makers of being Orwellian. ‘Childhood is a time for being both naughty and nice, for learning about how society works, what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s not a time for thinking everything you do is going to be filmed and someone is going to punish you for it.
‘This kind of gimmick makes light of surveillance but it’s not a joke.’
Parents offered mixed reviews of the prop on Amazon. One wrote ‘Makes life easier’, while another added: ‘It’s quite inexpensive, so you can save your money for a child psychologist a few years down the line.’
Another device on the market involves baubles that double as fake cameras, warning children: ‘Santa is watching.’
A spokesman for PMS International, which makes the elf camera, said: ‘There is no sinister intention behind the products. Families who take part in the elf phenomenon enjoy this Christmas ritual enormously.’
‘This gimmick makes light of surveillance’