Here Is a Government Surveillance Device Disguised as a Baby's Car Seat

Image via Privacy International

Spend enough time investigating the global surveillance industry, and you'll come to realize that reality is far stranger than fiction.

A previous Motherboard investigation into the cache of documents leaked after the hack of Hacking Team revealed a huge network of companies reselling spyware around the world.

But the Italian firm, which makes the governmental hacking suite Remote Control System, is barely a drop in the bucket of the massive market for invasive—and often weird—surveillance tech.

Consider the comically-creepy “Babyseat,” a video surveillance device disguised to look like a baby's car seat. According to its brochure, Babyseat features a hidden camera with full pan, tilt and zoom capability, which can be remotely viewed and controlled in real-time via GSM mobile internet connection and records to a “discreetly mounted” Compact Flash card.