I bet from a distance, the "black barrell" kinda blurs and it hard to notice. Yeah, this is for the peeping-Tom in someone.

There used to be a box camera that did that. The main lens on the front was just for show - there was a small hole on the side of the box with a mini-lens just inside. They sold it under the guise of what Tanchelyn said, "Many people start behaving unnaturally when you point a lens at them."

But they were mostly used by dirty old men, yeah...
-Lew ;-)