surveillance cameras and the beauty of internet

Post by **etimh** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:30 am

Patrick wrote: Hmmmm...that's odd. With the cameras that Ive viewed, they are being controlled by someone else. They zoom, pan and tilt to the wishes of some unknown entity. If I try and click on the pan options etc, nothing happens.

Some don't have any controls but I was just on one--some kind of desolate, brightly lit plaza--where I was definitely controlling the zooming and the panning. Here:

http://webcamera3.vaasa.fi:82/view/index.shtml

Dumb, but fun nonetheless.

And how could someone have a link in their house completely open to the public? Is it like the old JenniCam or are these people unaware of the public aspect of it?

Tripping.

Tim

Post by **johnnhud** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:10 am

My God! I started to click around on these things and was amazed. Why are they unsecure? Why do people put them where seemingly nothing is going on? Why does the 5th link down on page 5 of the search connect me to my living room where I can see myself looking at the camera?

I think I may have opened some type of paradox!

Post by **ossioskari** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:12 am

etimh wrote:some kind of desolate, brightly lit plaza

http://webcamera3.vaasa.fi:82/view/index.shtml

desolate? ha, that's the main square of one of the major cities here in finland (which here means like 50000 people).

anyways, i definately think that most of these cams are not intended for public viewing. why would a shopping center/supermarket in zÃƒÂ¼rich want to have their surveillance system accessible to anyone interested? http://81.63.177.234/view/index.shtml someone is controlling it through the opening hours, but at nighttime you have full control, and you can even switch cameras from the 'source' button. the zooms on these things are unbeliavably good, you can spot a cigarette butt off the floor etc. read the labels on products and so on.

Post by **Rollef** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:17 am

Why do people put them where seemingly nothing is going on? Why does the 5th link down on page 5 of the search connect me to my living room where I can see myself looking at the camera?

LOL!

Post by **Patrick** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:52 am

Oh my gosh this is freaky! I'm viewing inside a church! There are people kneeling and praying. And several people walking out of what looks like confession.

Post by **MovieStuff** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:46 pm

johnnhud wrote:My God! I started to click around on these things and was amazed. Why are they unsecure? Why do people put them where seemingly nothing is going on? Why does the 5th link down on page 5 of the search connect me to my living room where I can see myself looking at the camera?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

johnnhud wrote: I think I may have opened some type of paradox!

As if one dox wasn't enough.....

Post by **johnnhud** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 4:32 am

Am I the only one who checked out this thing again this morning and about 5 different times at the office today?

Post by **DriveIn** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 4:50 am

johnnhud wrote:Am I the only one who checked out this thing again this morning and about 5 different times at the office today?

So, that was you staring directly into the camera when I was checking it out. :lol:

Post by **etimh** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:27 am

johnnhud wrote:Am I the only one who checked out this thing again this morning and about 5 different times at the office today?

I played with it a little today. A few more people in that "desolate" plaza, somewhere in Finland. But still pretty empty by my Los Angeleno standards!

Tim

Post by **Rachel Oliver** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:19 am

Hi;

What realy makes me giggle is the idea that every time I come across one that is already being operated by someone else in all likelyhood it's one of us guys at filmshooting :lol:

Olly

Post by **timdrage** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:30 pm

Hmmmm...that's odd. With the cameras that Ive viewed, they are being controlled by someone else. They zoom, pan and tilt to the wishes of some unknown entity. If I try and click on the pan options etc, nothing happens.

I think it just means that some other internet nosy parker got there first! ^_^

When this google search was 'discovered' by big forums like Somethingawful.com etc there must have been 1000s of people viewing some poor suckers' cameras... found some interesting ones, restaraunts in Japan seeming to be the most active locations.... A lot went offline pretty quickly, probably as people's bandwidth was exeeded or they realised it was public and added a password.

... The reason they're unprotected i think is either because in some cases they're supposed to be at least vaguely public, probably linked from people/institutions' sites but this google search finds them out of context.... and also because a lot of people buy the camera and install it without really bothering to think about security, not knowing that it can be found on google.

There's quite a lot of interesting stuff google can find that people would probably prefer it wouldn't.

This site has lots of other examples of different sorts of cameras and other things it can find:
http://johnny.ihackstuff.com/

Post by aj » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:21 pm

Rachel Oliver wrote:Hi;

What realy makes me giggle is the idea that every time I come across one that is already being operated by someone else in all likelyhood it's one of us guys at filmshooting

Olly

Well, Internet is somewhat bigger than this site. And OP found the referal page on some public page which has readers of its own.

BTW Instead of invading other people's cameras. This site could start its own reference page for personal webcasts. Where members post a link to their webcast and using a webcam they could let other people join their viewing of projected real films. Using free Microsoft mediaplayer encoder things shouldn't be too difficult

Post by **DriveIn** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:22 pm

aj wrote: BTW Instead of invading other people's cameras. This site could start its own reference page for personal webcasts. Where members post a link to their webcast and using a webcam they could let other people join their viewing of projected real films. Using free Microsoft mediaplayer encoder things shouldn't be too difficult

filmshooting.tv, home movies 24/7
Now, who's gonna man the projector 24/7?

Post by **audadvnc** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 2:57 am

Hmm, isn't there some sort of law in Britain that states that filming in public places is illegal? Then why are webcams OK?

Post by **Taqi** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:43 am

audadvnc wrote:Hmm, isn't there some sort of law in Britain that states that filming in public places is illegal? Then why are webcams OK?

Filming in public places is generally not illegal in Britain. There is however an offence of voyeurism under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which has been used to prosecute the operators of cctv cameras for misuse for the purposes of sexual gratification. That would presumably apply to web users of such cameras also.