• May 24, 1976
• Vol. 5
• No. 20

Lookout

Dan D. Patrick, 28, is the president of Counter Measure Security Systems, a six-employee firm in Ann Arbor, Mich. that he started a little over a year ago. It specializes in finding and removing electronic eavesdropping bugs from industrial and political offices. Patrick says he is "morally opposed" to such devices and believes they should be prohibited on grounds of invasion of privacy. "When you feel your privacy is in danger, it affects your life," says Patrick. He became interested in antibugging work after reading The Electronic Invasion, a book about the proliferation of eavesdropping devices. Developing his skills with part-time jobs for lawyers and private detectives, Patrick decided to go full time after the number of ads for surveillance equipment in magazines convinced him of the immensity of the problem. His firm uses equipment worth more than $50,000 in a "sweep" of an office, and Patrick claims he has never had a dissatisfied customer. He is also steadfast in his refusal to work for clients outside the law—like bookies. Patrick wants to keep his company small so that he can be certain of the trustworthiness of all his employees. Some skilled debuggers occasionally become buggers. "It's a dirty business," says Patrick, "and we would like to see a time when we would not be needed!"

Amy Hobby, 11, began experimenting with photography last summer while on a family trip to Washington, D.C. "I started taking pictures a little," she says. "Then I started taking more. By the time school started in September I was really taking a lot." She progressed so fast that her school, Trinity Preparatory in Orlando, Fla., appointed her staff photographer in the public relations office, a job normally filled by a junior or senior. (Amy, who is in the sixth grade, took the self-portrait, left, with a timer.) Her father, William, a patent attorney, is also a national prize-winning amateur photographer. Together they go out on photo expeditions and share a darkroom at home. "In at least two instances," says her dad, "her pictures were a lot nicer than mine." After winning Best in Show at the Cocoa Village Autumn Art Festival in Florida last year, Amy (who is 4'8½" and 74 pounds) was invited to enter another contest but was subsequently turned down because of her age. Her boss at Trinity, public relations director Edie Hall, is more than pleased with the young photographer's work. "I have to deal with Amy on an adult level because this is no game. When I tell her I have to have a dozen prints by Wednesday, she delivers."