Camden council last night apologised for the “robo-camera” that takes pictures of residents and threatens them with prosecution.

A video of the camera in action, taken by LC blogger Jim Jepps, was posted here over the weekend.

National newspapers followed up the story, forcing the council to backtrack rather abruptly.

Jim Jepps was interviewed by the Guardian yesterday

In a statement the council said:

All flash cameras have the capacity to deliver voice messages when activated but in this instance it appears that voice messages were inadvertently activated when the camera batteries were replaced four to five weeks ago.
…
We do not want to stop residents from enjoying their open spaces and communal areas and under no circumstances would we want voice messages to be used in areas where they may be disturbed. The voice messages will be deactivated as soon as possible.

Original video

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

   Council u-turns over 'robo-camera' threat http://t.co/9ZzT3uT8

2. Jason Brickley

   Council u-turns over ‘robo-camera’ threat http://t.co/rLMRivSS

3. sunny hundal

   Council abruptly admit their hair-raising ‘robo-camera’ was a bad idea http://t.co/69IKmljE – @Jim_Jepps victorious!

4. Duncan

   Council abruptly admit their hair-raising ‘robo-camera’ was a bad idea http://t.co/69IKmljE – @Jim_Jepps victorious!

5. Inna Mood

   Council abruptly admit their hair-raising ‘robo-camera’ was a bad idea http://t.co/69IKmljE – @Jim_Jepps victorious!

6. Roger Bliss

   Council abruptly admit their hair-raising ‘robo-camera’ was a bad idea http://t.co/69IKmljE – @Jim_Jepps victorious!

7. leftlinks

   Liberal Conspiracy – Council u-turns over ‘robo-camera’ threat http://t.co/nKH528KE

8. Janet Graham

   Council u-turns over 'robo-camera' threat http://t.co/9ZzT3uT8

9. Janet Graham

   Council abruptly admit their hair-raising ‘robo-camera’ was a bad idea http://t.co/69IKmljE – @Jim_Jepps victorious!

10. Kennelmouth

    @libcon My god this is horrible SiFi come true. A Must-Watch I'd say. http://t.co/kR10fq7g

11. Andy S

    Council abruptly admit their hair-raising ‘robo-camera’ was a bad idea http://t.co/69IKmljE – @Jim_Jepps victorious!

12. McGinOxford

    Council abruptly admit their hair-raising ‘robo-camera’ was a bad idea http://t.co/69IKmljE – @Jim_Jepps victorious!

13. finchfuck capital

    THIS WASN'T A WIND UP? WHAT http://t.co/jooRTdmd

14. Today’s Robo-Round Up (3)

    […] also have Liberal Conspiracy on the […]

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