Wow, this is good to know... -lile ---------------------------------- : Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 20:28:22 -0400 : From: dartvax!coos.dartmouth.edu!mozart (Sting) : Subject: P: Scary... : : This is pretty scary, I think...I had to read it twice before I could accept : that it wasn't a joke... : : CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- At some Dunkin' Donuts, the walls have : ears. : So the next time you settle down over coffee and a cruller to : trade gossip with a friend, keep in mind that hidden microphones : may be recording the dirt you dish. : Manager Tony Wright insists he's not being nosy. It's just : another way to increase security and keep employees on their toes, : he said. He would never listen to customer conversations, he said. : ``Do you think I would waste my time?'' said Wright, who manages : five Dunkin' Donuts in Concord. : Use of concealed recorders is widespread at fast-food : restaurants, convenience stores and other businesses, according to : one company that sells them. : But unlike anti-shoplifting mirrors and surveillance cameras : seen throughout retail America these days, hidden microphones are : news to most of the public, judging from interviews Thursday at two : microphone-equipped Dunkin' Donuts in New Hampshire's capital. : ``Knowing this, I would never have a conversation in here,'' : said customer Frank Bowser, a private investigator who was : discussing a case with a partner. ``I think the general public : would be in an uproar to know that every time they come in for a : cup of coffee and a doughnut they could be heard.'' : Other customers, including Nick and Thalia Hondrogen, said they : were more offended by cigarette smoke than listening devices. : Nonetheless, they were surprised. : ``It's like spying. It sounds like Nazism or the KGB. It's not : American,'' Hondrogen said. ``Many times you say things to close : friends you don't want overheard.'' : The systems also were news -- unwelcome, at that -- at Dunkin' : Donuts corporate headquarters in Randolph, Mass. : Any system powerful enough to record customers' conversations : would be ``highly inappropriate'' and a violation of company : policy, spokesman Bill Chiccarelli said. : Still, store owners are using them. Security systems dealer Jeff : Meuse told the Concord Monitor he has installed systems in 500 : Dunkin' Donuts in Massachusetts in the last five years; of those, : 300 had audio monitoring. : Shops that have the monitoring systems display small stickers on : their doors saying, ``Audio monitoring on the premises.'' : All but the loudest customers are safe with many systems. At one : Dunkin' Donuts, Wright demonstrated that a customer standing at the : counter below the single mike in the ceiling had to speak loudly : and distinctly to be heard above the din of coffee grinders, staff : and general restaurant noise. : The systems can be far more sophisticated, however. Lewis Weiss, : chief executive officer of Louroe Electronics Inc. of Van Nuys, : Calif., said his company's systems can pick up conversations within : 30 feet. : ``Unfortunately, this is going to be the future until we get to : the point where there is minimal crime in this country,'' Weiss : said. ``Until then, store owners are going to have to have these : devices to protect their employees and their customers.'' : The American Civil Liberties Union grudgingly accepts : surveillance cameras and audio equipment at store and restaurant : cash registers, providing customers and staff are notified. : ``We would prefer not to see them at all, but if and when it : does happen, we would strongly (want) there to be actual and : functional notification,'' ACLU spokesman Milind Shah said in New : York. ``Often a sign on the door is not enough.'' : Federal law requires stores to post signs informing customers : they might be monitored, and customers should take notice, Weiss : said. : ``There is no invasion of privacy in a public store like a : Circle K or a Dunkin' Donuts because you can't carry on a private : conversation there,'' he said. : ----- End Included Message -----