Dictograph pioneered franchise security and even had a "Video Surveillance Center" before it was technologically feasible.
The center consisted of a wall of wooden outlines of TV monitor screens with photographs of client locations pasted in the screen spaces. To add realism, the photos had horizontal TV scan lines superimposed over the picture.
A poster-sized photograph of this wall – complete with an official surveillance person eyeing the wall carefully – was placed at client locations to let employees know that they were being watched. Hollywood, but it worked.
In fact, usually only one of the client location cameras was hooked to a local monitor. The rest of the cameras were empty shells with a big red blinking tally light on the front.
The future is here, and so are new video surveillance franchises, like
MonitorClosely.com
and SightMindFutureWatch – "Neighborhood Watch Alarms" A sales technique to convince entire neighborhoods to sign on with one provider. The hook... When trouble is spotted on one system, all the neighbors will be instantly alerted.
How do I know about the fake video wall?I was one of those official surveillance persons.
And, I kept the secret, until now.
