Perhaps you've noticed some interesting looking monitors hanging from posts around the city of Portland, recently. Initially, it would have been reasonable to believe they were just traffic cameras or possibly had to do with some sort of emergency response. Randy Billings of the Portland Press Herald had a different idea when taking a closer look at them. He wondered if parts of Portland are under 24/7 surveillance.

Good news: You can put away your big brother conspiracy theories right now, because the city of Portland wasted no time responding to Mr. Billings. Those devices aren't cameras at all. But, they are devices and they are listening.

The city of Portland installed 13 different devices citywide in hopes of figuring out just how noisy Portland is. How loud does the city get when concerts are taking place? What about when there's a wild night in the Old Port? How about first Friday and the foot traffic? What about the multitude of construction projects taking place in the city? How does that impact the noise?

The city will collect data over the course of three months and then determine if any changes need to be made to make Portland sound less busy. If you're wondering, here is where the city installed those 13 devices.

So there's no need to fall off the grid, fire up the HAM radio or get to work on that underground bunker. Portland isn't watching you... but they might be listening.

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