It is no longer news that Union Education Minister Smriti Irani caught a camera positioned to record inside the try-room and got an FIR registered against Fabindia in Goa.
Footage from the camera, including that of the minister, was found recorded on a computer at the store, alleged Goa legislator Michael Lobo, who lodged the FIR. Lobo said the camera was positioned in a way that the lens pointed right into the changing room and was not easily visible. “When we went through the recording, the entire video was recorded… Someone did mischief… Somebody has been watching the recordings,” the MLA said.
We women tend to be very casual, trusting and excited while shopping. But given the technology advancement and the misuse of such information in this age of anything going viral within minutes, we MUST train ourselves to be more careful.
I will help you how:
1. Turn Your Mobile Phone Into Your Saviour
- Enter the try room with your mobile phone and ensure mobile signal to make calls.
- Try to make a call inside the private room. If there is a “Hidden Camera” you won’t be able to make calls due to interference of fiber optics during signal transfer which blocks mobile calls.
- Making calls without any interference is the sign of a camera-free room.
(P.S.: Some problem may exist with the above test in case of low signal areas, so please don’t doubt the poor shopkeeper.)
2. Mirror Mirror On The Wall
It is not that easy to identify real mirrors just by looking at it. Most often these innocuous little things can land you in trouble by being a two-way mirror (i.e., they can see you, but you can’t see them).
- Whether an ordinary mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror or actually a 2-way one, just apply a simple test. Place the tip of your fingernail on the mirror. If you can see some gap between the reflection and your fingernail, then it’s an ordinary second-surface mirror. BUT, but, but….if the reflection is very close to the finger nail, then it’s definitely a two-way mirror. Raise an alarm!
- Try looking through it. This will cut down on the light on your side, and if it’s a two-way mirror, you’ll be able to see the other side.
- Turn off the private room lights and light up a flashlight or torch against the surface of the mirror, If there is an observation room behind the wall, then the light from the torch should make the observation room visible from the private room.
Voila, the snoopers will be caught and then you can follow the Smriti Irani way!
