Up close and personal

“Bikini affair”: cameras peering at bathers

"All-round view", not only in the canteen: four all-round cameras were apparently too much for the guests of the bathing area - and also for the head of the town.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg )

Unmissable and - in a bikini and swimming trunks - particularly disturbing: no fewer than four cameras unsettled visitors to the canteen of the Poysdorf swimming pond in Lower Austria. The leaseholder had also installed the "all-round eyes" in the outdoor area. When the "Krone" reported complaints from guests to the mayor, he did not hesitate: dismantling on the same day!

Surveillance cameras are hard to avoid these days. But there are places where you don't want to be in sight of an electronic eye - one of them is the swimming pond in Poysdorf.

New canteen tenant: municipality didn't turn a blind eye
The popular leisure area was taken over by a new tenant this year. Whether in a bikini at the drinks counter or in swimming trunks at the regulars' table, the sunny disposition of the guests took a sudden turn for the worse when four cameras were suddenly installed. "What's more, they are positioned so that the viewing direction can be rotated," one Krone reader expressed his displeasure.

And indeed, a comparison with previous years' footage showed that the conspicuously white "all-round eyes" do not exactly inspire confidence in an area with bathers.

The sunny disposition of the guests at the Poysdorf bathing pond ...(Bild: Andi Leisser)

... was rather clouded by four camera eyes.(Bild: zVg)

Tenant: "Cameras only for surveillance at night"
The new leaseholder emphasizes that the cameras are only switched on outside of operating hours: "I have also made this clear on signs. The predecessor already had problems with vandalism and even theft due to night-time visitors to the pond."

Municipality had it checked - and acted immediately: dismantling!
Confronted with the matter by the "Krone", Poysdorf's mayor acted immediately: The cameras were dismantled on the same day - after all, the property is owned by the municipality. "As a swimmer myself, I wouldn't want that either," David Jilli told the Krone. There are also strict legal regulations.

"We have also had the intervention checked by law - and last but not least, as the landowner, we have to ensure compliance." However, a solution is being sought with the tenant to monitor the canteen in future, at least inside, with fixed cameras.