Digital Video Recorders? When it comes to having the possibility of using one’s position and power in the political arena, no matter how small or big, for a personal gain, the world is all the same, no matter which side of the fence one sits in.
So, at any latitude, at any level, you can hear about agreements reached under the table between majority and opposition, agreements which, instead of bringing about an advantage for the community, end up being profitable mostly for politicians of either side, or of both.
Generally this kind of agreement is reached silently, to avoid publicity and unpleasant political consequences. Sometimes though, it may happen that among the members of a chamber, or a local or regional council, there is someone who says no to this status quo and decides to expose these under-the-table agreements.
Something like this is what happened in a small Russian town, lost in the middle of the Siberian tundra. In that part of the world, corruption is unfortunately part of daily life, and opposing it means, too often, running a personal risk or putting one’s life in danger. All this was not enough to put down the local MP Sergei (not his real name) from his idea of making a corruption case known to the general public.
The question was about the opening of a waste processing plant near his town. The fact itself is quite a common thing which would not make the headlines, if not for the fact that, unbeknownst to the inhabitants, the plant was going to be used not only for common waste, but also to dispose of much more dangerous nuclear waste, of course without making the whole thing public.
How Digital Video Recorders used to expose cases of bribery?
To guarantee approval of this slight deviation from the official plan, both coalitions received promises of substantial sums of money, personal benefits or even luxury cars. This was being openly discussed during council meetings, with no shame whatsoever or any respect for the public.
To make this case public, Sergei equipped himself with a miniature video recorder, slightly smaller than a pack of cigarettes, concealed in the front pocket of his jacket.
A micro digital video recorder, in spite of its extremely small size, is capable of recording high quality video footage and clear sounds, without being visible at first sight, saving its recordings on a memory card, either built-in or additional, with a capacity of up to 32 Gb or more.
Recording can be easily started by casually pressing a button, without giving out any sign of activity and without raising any suspicion. Once the recording operation is completed, all you have to do is connect your digital video recorders to any computer thanks to the USB cable, and download your footage.
This is exactly what our Sergei did, and once he had his movies downloaded on his PC, he uploaded them on YouTube and made the link public in his town. Despite the fact that in Russia, people have a very lax attitude towards their politicians, and often turn a blind eye to corruption and bribery cases, getting to know that their hometown was to become the gravesite of tons of nuclear waste generated a widespread outrage, and several protests in the city ended up in having the project rejected. All this thanks to a local MP without a price tag on, and to his passion for technology.
If you want to give a go at taking video footage without being seen, not only to expose such cases, but just for work reasons, to take notes during a meeting, or for leisure (a day out with your friends, a concert and so on) and to have more information on how micro video recorders are working, you can visit the Endoacustica website.