Hidden Cameras in DTV Converters? YouTube Hoax Fans Conspiracy Fears
Ever wonder what the government is really up to paying for all those digital TV converter boxes? Last week a Spokane, Washington man claimed he'd discovered the horrifying truth, and he produced a YouTube video to prove it.
In a 90-second video that's popping up on tin-foil-hat sites everywhere, 28-year-old software engineer Adam Chronister is seen cracking open his government-subsidized Magnavox converter, and revealing to the world the tiny video camera and microphone hidden inside.
"I had a friend who was trying to tell me that they put cameras in these things," Chronister narrates in a deadly-serious monotone. "So what I did was open it up to prove them wrong, and lo and behold ... this thing does in fact have both a camera and a microphone. " His finger points at a small lens attached to a transformer in the guts of the unit.
The video instantly went viral, tapping into a current of DTV conspiracy theory that's been building online since the government started issuing $40 converter box coupons last summer.
So far, the U.S. has spent $1.3 billion subsidizing the boxes that will keep TV lovers watching CSI when the last broadcasters shut off their analog transmissions in June. The huge government effort to put a -- mysterious, to many -- piece of technology in millions of American homes has spurred conspiracy theories ranging from a mind control experiments to mass telescreen surveillance.
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