By now we’re all used to seeing security cameras perched on rooftops, on street corners, in lobbies, and countless other locations in big cities. Even in smaller towns. But what if there are cameras out there, watching you, that you can’t see? Oh, there are. Thanks to a startup called Placemeter, there are cameras all over New York City, staring down at you from people’s apartments. And you’d probably never know it.

Placemeter’s "Meter" program offers individuals in NYC up to $50 a month to install a camera on a street-facing window in their apartment to record what’s happening outside.

It’s looking to get a view of stores, restaurants, and bars. And lots of people.

On the front end, the system is super low-tech. Placemeter says participants use a suction cup to place an old cell phone to their window. Any old Any Android, iPhone, or iPod Touch with a camera will do.

Placemeter can provide the cell phone if a person doesn’t have an old one handy, but it will deduct one month’s payment for supplying it.

From there, the phones connect to the Placemeter app which feeds the images and data the phone captures back to Placemeter.

It is run through the company’s image-recognition algorithms, which can discern between pedestrians, cars, and storefronts.

“Placemeter?s technology and camera networks are not used to track individuals,” the company says on its website. “We will not use our Meters? data to identify any pedestrians through our video streaming…ever.”