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You might want to think twice about leaning against a lamp post the next time you have a private conversation.

That innocuous-looking light fixture could be capable of listening to what you say. Not only that, but it may also be live tweeting every single sentence.

This terrifying scenario was recently played out at an art exhibition in Manhattan when a lamp-turned-spy began covertly listening in on conversations.

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Covert operation: This innocuous-looking light fixture could be capable of listening to what you say. Not only that, but it may also be live tweeting every single sentence

The Conversnitch lamp - its current location unknown - has been active for several months and has its own Twitter account @conversnitch where it posts snippets of what it has heard.

Currently the account has fragments of conversations about topics such as a failed job interview, a strained relationship and tensions at work.

The technology, unveiled yesterday, is the brainchild of New York-based Kyle McDonald and Brian House who wanted to make people think more about privacy issues in society. 

Conversnitch tweets overheard discussions in public places

Revealed: Currently the Twitter account has fragments of conversations about topics such as a failed job interview, a strained relationship and tensions at work

Strangely, the idea came to them just before NSA surveillance was revealed by Edward Snowden.

'We hope that Conversnitch helps people remember the feeling of frustration and powerless we used to have before we got used to Snowden announcing a new secret NSA mass-surveillance program every week,' Mr MacDonald told MailOnline.

'Surveillance programs like Optic Nerve, where GCHQ intercepted millions of video chat sessions, have destroyed our ability to forget.

'We were curious what happens when that very digital kind of ever-present surveillance is brought into the physical world.'

The technology isn't sophisticated. Conversnitch only took a few hours to put together and cost less than £60 ($100) to make using off-the-shelf equipment.

This included a Raspberry Pi mini-computer, a microphone, an LED and a plastic flower pot. The device screws into a standard bulb socket from where it also draws power.

The system can upload any secretly captured audio via the nearest open Wi-Fi network, and sends it to Amazon's Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform.

Does this look familiar? The Conversnitch lamp - its current location unknown - has been active for several months and has its own Twitter account @conversnitch where it posts snippets of what it has heard

No lamp is safe: You might want to think twice about leaning against a lamp post the next time you have a private conversation after two New York-based designers revealed how easy it is to listen in on conversations

Mr McDonald and Mr House pay the users there to transcribe the audio and post lines of conversation to Conversnitch's Twitter account.

The creators admit there have been some problems on the Turk end, with Tweets deleted when they began to suspect the Turk workers were making up quotes.

But the pair hope Conversnitch will get people thinking about their privacy, as well as potential that they could be recorded at anytime and anywhere.

'Certainly the next step from every government surveillance agency will be to move from collecting digital records to physical ones,' said Mr MacDonald.

'We already see some of this with face recognition databases and surveillance camera databases, but they are mostly without power until they are paired with automated analysis.

'What happens when people are not only listening to your conversations, or watching your actions, but can comment on or favorite them?'

The kit: The system is made up of a Raspberry Pi mini-computer, a microphone, an LED and a plastic flower pot. The device screws into a standard bulb socket from where it also draws power

Exposed: The designers hope Conversnitch will get people thinking about their privacy, as well as potential that they could be recorded at anytime and anywhere