Tin foil hats
A silly internet rumour,
which claims that the US government is installing digital TV boxes into every
household in a bid to spy on everyone, is actually gaining some
publicity.
The rumour started in February when someone posted a YouTube clip
of a Magnavox digitial converter being taken apart, revealing a tiny camera and
a microphone inside. It was all a gag but it made sense to those who believe
that the government really does want to watch them downing buckets of potato
chips while watching American Idol.
The idea is being pushed by radio host
Alex Jones who claims that digital home surveillance plans have been in the
works for years. Using the YouTube footage as evidence he predicted "the
ultimate Big Brother scenario whereby the majority of Americans and Europeans
will have Orwellian telescreens watching their every move."
The logic of the
argument is that the government is too keen on getting punters to have crisp
clean TV images and is spending billions to make sure it happens. The fact
that the government has flogged off the radio spectrum that the analogue signal
occupies does not seem to have occurred to them.
Jones is famous for
believing that airplanes did not crash into anything on September 11 and it was all
a CIA plot to send America into Iraq. Between YouTube and Jones we think that
this could go the way of the rumour that digital barcodes were the mark of the
beast and contained the number 666 in them.