Dutch Governemnt spying on citizens trough Telecom Junction Boxes

According to Omroep West (a dutch local tv station) people discovered a telecom junction box that was stuffed with professional spy equipment at Orange Square, The Hague. The junction box looks exactly like the districts cable operator Ziggo use.

Equipment that was discovered inside includes a camera and recording equipment. According to the broadcaster, there was a hole in the junction box which could be used to film the area.
In a reaction to Omroep West cable distributor Ziggo said they have nothing to do with it. The box is not even on the list of units they own and use in that area. Specialist Dick Offringa says he believes it to be espionage material from the government. The junction box is now removed. Whoever placed it is unknown. The AIVD (Dutch CIA) wont confirm or deny they have anything to do with the box.

Omroep West reported earlier that local teens are being recruited in that area, to fight in Syria.

talking about these things... whats it called in english?

I don't know the correct term for them. I've always referred to them as utility or sub panel boxes.

I wouldn't doubt it the yours and most Government using them. It's pretty clever actually. You could set it on the corner and observe everyone unknowingly.
As cameras are getting incredibly smaller and clearer I think the world will see more of this. As of now camera's usually can be spotted which makes it a target to destroy. In the near future I can see hidden camera's becoming the norm so they can't be found easily.

reply to post by Rick26

They are called junction boxes. These are main cable junction boxes, meaning that's where the secondary cables to users are connected to the main cables. EDIT: But please refer to the post below this one for better info from a member who works with them. End Edit

Here's an article from the UK about a British Telecom (BT) Junction box that's located in a rather bad place. A pic of the box is shown. BT Junction Box Blocks The Door to New Store

As for the report in your OP, all I can say is that it doesn't surprise me. All over the place, "they" are finding ways to keep track of the population. And if they can't do what they want legally, then they find other ways.

EDIT: reply to post by TheLieWeLive

Yes, I've also heard some referred to as utility boxes (and even cabinets) but that seems to be a more general term. "Junction box" is apparently more specific for cabling.

~Mike

reply to post by Rick26


They're called Jumper Wire Interface box or Cross Connection Box. They make the connection from the Central Offices cables to your neighbourhood terminals. I've never encountered any cameras working with them everyday. But over the years I've seen a lot more red circuit protector than before, they're red markers that tells technicians we're not allowed to test or disconnect because it's high voltage or protected. Couple of years ago there was almost none of those, and now the boxes are full of it.

reply to post by JustMike


Thanks. Edited.

Yeah they will always find a way im sure. Its just kinda freaky, there could be camera's everywhere. A junction box is not the first thing to think of when thinking about Big Brother.

reply to post by MrMaybeNot

Even better info! Excellent to get input from a pro on this one. I learned something new today. I just knew them as good old junction boxes, but it's good to be more precise. Thanks!

Any idea why they're using so much more red circuit protector these days? I mean, does it make sense from a technical standpoint, or does it strike you as suspicious/strange in any way?

Not saying it's ok to spy on citizens but because i live there too i think that this particular case is brilliantly executed from government's point of view because (muslim immigrant) teens do like to hang around those boxes, sit on them, smoke, talk etc. so if you want to know what teens are talking about, a camera set up in one of them is a good place to start

Dutch Governemnt spying on citizens trough Telecom Junction Boxes

The Dutch are behind, our intelligence apparatus can do it through our appliances

reply to post by JustMike


I have no idea why there's more circuit protectors, my first thought was the new smart meters. Most of them are wireless but some are hard wired, but that's just a guess.

reply to post by MrMaybeNot

Thank you. I was just curious.

Getting back to the central theme of the OP, with the camera technology available now it would be possible to put cameras practically anywhere as they can be "lipstick" size or even smaller and still give quite good image resolution. So the only problem is to be able to hook them up if "they" want to capture a live feed. So those boxes are fine for that.

However, here is a thought: It would also be possible to set up cameras that are not directly wired into a system, but instead have their own battery pack and a memory storage device along the lines of a flash storage system. These could still be made quite small and could be placed unobtrusively then collected later. They could even be set up with short-range Infra-red motion sensor technology so they only start recording if something is within range, over a certai size and moving. With enough memory, such devices could even sit for a week or more and then be collected and replaced with others -- or even just the memory card/s removed, copied to device and then replaced.

Such a device could be embedded inside a fake brick, inside a wooden window frame or even in a fake bird's nest. (No, I'm not joking.) There are many ways to hide a small camera device. It could simply be placed inside a parked car and left there. Not where thieves would see it, but somewhere they won't normally look for a camera. The funny little doggy on the dashboard? Yes, that would work fine.

How long the device sits in place could just depend on who they want to watch.

It's all quite doable. And the trouble is, no-one would need to know. Even if a device is found, if it's not wired in to anything it's almost impossible to determine who might have put it there, allowing "them" to deny all knowledge of its existence. And it also would not be hard to set them up with an anti-tamper program that will wipe the memory card if you don't input a code before trying to extract it. No need for a keypad, either. It could be done via a wireless device or bluetooth which sends the code to the device from within a few metres.

Easy to do. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if it's already being done.