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"I think we're still on that topic, still trying to figure out what computers are, how they change us, why we use them."
- Neal Stephenson

Monitored In-Home Security Camera  
  Security cameras mounted inside your home that are monitored by a person outside your house, and not a member of your family.  

In the world of Todos Santos, the vast arcology that forms the centerpiece of the novel, residents don't mind being in public spaces that are constantly monitored by the guards. In fact, they don't mind that the inside rooms of their homes are also monitored by guards, as shown in this excerpt situated in a guard room full of monitors.

"...I guess I wouldn't want cameras in my bathroom, either."

"Oh, we've got them there," Blake said. "But they don't go on without authorization - there's one now."

The TV screen flicked to show a kitchen. A small boy was pulling things out of cabinets, scattering flour on the floor... Blake reached forward to a button under the screen... "Ma'am, this is Central Security. Somebody pushed the panic button in the kitchen and I think you'd better have a look..."

He waited. On the screen above, a woman... came into the kitchen, looked down in horror, and shouted "Peter!"

Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera. "Thank you, Officer," she said.

Technovelgy from Oath of Fealty, by Jerry Pournelle (w/L. Niven).
Published by Timescape in 1981
Additional resources -

Compare this use of surveillance with the telescreen from George Orwell's classic 1948 novel 1984.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Oath of Fealty
  More Ideas and Technology by Jerry Pournelle (w/L. Niven)
  Tech news articles related to Oath of Fealty
  Tech news articles related to works by Jerry Pournelle (w/L. Niven)

Monitored In-Home Security Camera-related news articles:
  - In-Home Surveillance For 20K Brit Families
  - Airbnb Has Surveillance Device Suggestions
  - Government In-Home Surveillance - Yes! Say Third Of Under-30 Adults
  - FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers

Articles related to Surveillance
China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
Perching Ambush Drones
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking

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