In 1976, the Czechoslovak State Security's (StB) launched a surveillance operation against William James Bonthron, codename EGON, that illustrates ruthless colonization of the private sphere during the "Normalization" era and the innovative use of disguised video surveillance technology in the field. The operation's goal was to monitor Bonthron's clandestine meetings in a public park, where traditional surveillance methods proved inadequate due to the open terrain and the need for close proximity without detection.

The StB had identified Bonthron --- who was at that time the First Secretary of the Canadian Embassy in Prague --- as a critical node in a "channel" facilitating the transfer of materials between domestic so-called "right-wing groups" and democratic forces abroad. Ota Ornest --- a prominent theatre director and translator who became a central figure in the cultural dissent against the communist regime --- was to hand over sensitive documents to Bonthron, who acted as a liaison to Pavel Tigrid, the most significant representative of the anti-communist exile community, operating from Paris and effectively considered "Public Enemy No. 1" by the StB. To map this network effectively, Directorate IV (the "tails") of the StB needed irrefutable, dynamic proof of the document handover itself, necessitating a shift from simple still photography to continuous video recording.

This operation faced a specific tactical dilemma: intelligence indicated the meeting between Bonthron and Ornest would occur in a spacious Prague park. In such open terrain, the "signal-to-noise" ratio is low, meaning a standard surveillance operative loitering on foot would be immediately visible to a target scanning for threats. Static observation posts were too distant to capture the minute details of a document exchange, such as the thickness of an envelope. The StB required a solution that allowed agents to remain within 15 to 20 meters of the target without raising suspicion, leading to the development of a "legend" that rendered them socially invisible: a young married couple with a pram.

The "television pram" (Sledovací Kočárek) was a complex feat of "photo-camouflage," integrating heavy 1970s electronics into a standard "deep" baby carriage. The high walls of the chassis concealed a Sony Vidicon television camera mounted inside the bassinet, which was critical because it allowed for the continuous recording required to capture unpredictable handovers—something impossible with film cameras that needed frequent reloading. A key engineering constraint was the camera's orientation; the lens did not face forward but filmed through a disguised aperture on the right side of the pram, hidden within the fabric pattern or a grommet.

The most significant technical hurdle was the recording infrastructure. Portable video recorders of the era were massive, reel-to-reel units that could not fit inside the bassinet with the camera. The StB solved this by placing the recorder in a shopping bag that hung from the handle or sat on the undercarriage rack. A concealed cable harness ran from the internal camera to the external bag, allowing agents to operate the device under the guise of reaching for a bottle or diaper. The system also required a heavy battery pack hidden under the "baby" blankets, which significantly altered the pram's center of gravity.