Smile! Candid Cameras on the Rise

They're easy to hide, cheap to buy, and simple to use. Evolving technology makes them more useful than ever. They can ease personnel costs, reassure parents who employ baby-sitters and boost security.

Is it any wonder surveillance cameras are tucked away seemingly everywhere?

Recent arrests -- of a photographer accused of videotaping a mother and children changing their clothes, and an airport employee charged with hiding a camera in the women's bathroom -- highlight just how common these devices have become. And just this week, three Nassau women are among five former employees of a Manhasset cardiologist who charged in a suit that he secretly took pictures of them with the video camera.

The decreasing cost of surveillance -- a video system can be installed for under $1,000, and cameras can cost as little $200 -- as well as the simplicity of connecting them to the Internet have driven the cameras' popularity, experts said. An industry group estimates that $3.2 billion was spent on surveillance devices in 2007 -- not including home security. That was a 35 percent increase from 2006 alone.