After draping a white sheet over himself to baffle surveillance cameras didn’t exactly go to plan, YouTuber Chris the Producer has taken a different tact: slapping a giant TV on his back.
“This is the only device,” he says, “that allows you to legally evade America’s surveillance system.” For my part, I can neither confirm nor deny that statement.
The setup involves a chest-mounted action camera, a tactical backpack with frame mounting system, and a “massive TV” which is fitted to the backpack in front of an industrial battery pack that sits between the two. The camera streams to the TV at the back, displaying just whatever is in front of you:
“It’s essentially a giant backpack with a camera on one side that live streams to the TV mounted on my back, therefore obscuring my body and face, making me entirely invisible.”
I’m not sure about that “entirely invisible” part, but if it “works pretty well on dogs” which are “basically the same thing” as surveillance cameras, then who am I to say?
If you want to make one yourself, he does break down the cost:
- GoPro with chest mount and cords: $400
- TV (stolen from family): $250
- North Face backpack: $110
- Super-heavy New Yeti 1500 battery pack: $1,500
According to the appropriately succinct video description, this “kinda set me back a bit but I did evade surveillance cameras for a few hours.” The YouTuber does note the ideal setup would be to have it double-sided, however, so you don’t have to keep your back to the cameras. That’s what bumps up the cost to about $3,000.
What do you think, worth the money? I’ll probably stick to just avoiding leaving my apartment instead—the big brain solution. Cameras can’t see what isn’t there. Just doing my part to combat the ever-encroaching panopticon. Wait, what do you mean they’re encroaching digitally, too? To the fields we go, I guess.
