These are great ideas.
I have some additional thoughts around technical eavesdropping in noisy public places.
Reality check first. My understanding of the rules about 4 years ago was that characters were expected to install cameras and microphones if they wanted to ICly See and Hear what is happening in a room.
At that time cameras transmitted spoken words. Staff expected players to self police and ignore what their characters Heard through a camera if there was not a corresponding mic.
At some point between then and now staff decided that cameras could do both audio and video. Because of that, mics saw a lot less use.
Based on that understanding, @crashdown's Idea of tying tech surveillance and the mutter code together is awesome. Even as proposed, if implemented without any adjustments, it would be an improvement.
If the underlying code issue that made having cams and mics in the same room has been fixed, finding a way to give them a cumulative effect would be epic.
To put some numbers behind it to make it easier to discuss, let's consider
A cam by itself has a chance to pick up 25% of what is spoken.
A microphone has a chance to pick up 50% of what is spoken.
A cam + mic has a chance to pick up >50% of what is spoken.
On a related tangent, there are systems in the game that allow better perception of mutters. A mic equivalent of that would be super cool. Upgrade per mic, and make individual devices more valuable? Upgrade per hub, removing the hassle of database bloat and managing each device? Balance the risk of loss with price? Device mods cost less than hub mods?
On a parallel train of thought existing game systems could be applied to cameras in a similar manner.
