We all know that the state has its prying eyes everywhere, we are well aware of all the CCTV cameras and networks that can be used to track you where ever you go, but are we always aware of the abstruse, covert, hidden prying eyes that target specific individuals and/or groups? Surveillance is one of the state's weapons of control, it needs to know where you are, why you are there, what are you doing there, and if you have permission to be there. The following is an interesting article from Act For Freedom Now, warning us to be ever vigilant and aware that big brother is here and alive and well.
Late September we put an end to our doubts concerning the presence of a monitoring device pointed at the Anarchist Library La Discordia in North-East Paris. A device (shaped like a “cardboard folder”) was found in the Montessori school “Plaisir d’enfance” right opposite the library in a storage room on the first floor, overlooking the window. On Tuesday, October 6, we decided to go to the school and contact the management. On insisting, we ended up getting an appointment with the school administrative and financial director. She denied it at first, but when cornered, she finally acknowledged (hinted at) the existence of the device in her school (and consequently the authorization / collaboration of the management).
After lengthy “negotiations” with her and her superior, and great delaying tactics on their part (to be able to “call her contact”), after classes we ended up gaining access to the storage room. Taking our responsibilities, we quickly decided to forcibly remove the device. We soon realized that everyone in the school was aware of its presence. We managed to get away quickly despite some “resistance”. The school show-off came out to see where we went to facilitate (yet again), the work of the cops. We also learned that the device had been in place since at least the second week of July 2015.
Some Technical Considerations
The device was in a rectangular casing, loud (fans) about 40x25x25 cm in hard plastic, plugged in (without batteries). The casing had a hole of about 4 cm in diameter for the camera, with three cables coming out at the end, two of which were tipped antennae (probably sound sensors) and a third a small square sensor. Upon opening the box we discovered advanced technological equipment. A wireless router with two SIM cards (Bouygues), GPS, three cell inputs, one stereo input. A processor. A telephone device with an Orange SIM card (which means that the data was not stored but transmitted live). A camera with two zoom levels, remote controlled. And other types of materials that we are not able to identify (but that you will find on the downloadable photos below). We are providing some pictures, inviting those capable to share their expertise on subject: 1 and 2.
To conclude
These devices are designed to monitor, but have the secondary objective of scaring us and teaching us to limit ourselves. But it doesn’t work. Our practices are not motivated by fear or repression, but by our ideas. Anyway, it is logical to suspect that this kind of “attention” (banal enough in the end) will still affect La Discordia like all the other places considered subversive by the State.
For example we know that other monitoring devices have been discovered in various parts of France (Montreuil, Cévennes, Lille, etc.) in recent years. But we only know that “among comrades” while we consider it important to make this information public so that it can benefit everyone, rather than retreat into stupid counter-productive panic reactions.
To the ISB and friends: if you want your stuff, you will find it in pieces at the bottom of the Ourcq canal at the level of rue de Nantes. Happy fishing ! (we’ve always dreamed of seeing floating pigs).
Books, not cops!
