Are You Being Spied On Through Your SECURITY CAMERAS?

Your surveillance camera sees everything. Have you secured these pervasive systems, or are you still unaware of who sees what your camera sees?

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“There was no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time.”

George Orwell painted a grim picture in his dystopian fiction novel 1984, showing us the uncertainty and pervasive nature of video surveillance in the society of 1984. Though a work of fiction, the Orwellian literature mirrors reality as boundaries grow thicker, chips shrink, and codes get longer. While humans may put up security cameras to deter thefts or prevent crime, surveillance inevitably records everything in its vision. Everything! Now, picture all these live visuals accessible to anyone on the internet. Anyone!

Last year, San Francisco brought in a camera ordinance, granting the city police the authority to request access to live footage from privately owned internet cameras to respond to real-time crimes. While the San Francisco police needed permission to access surveillance footage, a quick online search can lead you to Insecam, which streams live footage from around the world, along with approximate coordinates and the camera’s internet protocol (IP) address.

The website had earlier proclaimed its mission was “to show the importance of the security settings,” achieved by eerily broadcasting the live feed of every password-fatigued and unaware victim worldwide. The website has now updated its privacy policy to make the results of only filtered cameras available, and private footage can be removed upon complaint or by setting up a password.