One Laptop Per Creep

If you've been following Brad Fuller's blogs on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) movement, you're probably as intrigued as I am by the creative potential of these tools.

Today, though, I received a press release touting a more sinister use of laptops. The Spy Laptop, from an Indian company called SpyInvent, is built around a remote-controlled pinhole camera that lets you "know if your manager is floating a parallel business in your office right under your nose."

The Spy Laptop. Click to enlarge.

I initially laughed at the paranoid pitch, but then recalled another e-mail from an Indian businessman who was worried someone would swipe his pocket voice recorder and steal his ideas. (I pointed him to a Panasonic model that encypts the recordings, but also suggested he could simply leave a message for himself on his voicemail.)

Do you think this paranoia is a sign of an emerging market? I know I'll look twice at desktop waterfalls now.