webcams in the office .....

Valhalla1

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
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as work as a mainframe computer operator in a large datacenter. recently the manager has had this wild hair in his ass to setup public-available webcams on the computer floor, so the customers can satisfy their (i guess) voyeuristic urges to see 20-something geeks mount tapes and what have you. and the lovely part, there is no password or anything, any jackass scanning for websites can pull up this page and view the cameras .

Its a security risk if u ask me - a malicious person could easily see how many people are up here at night and plan their misdeeds. (we have like half a billion $$ worth of mainframe and high end unix equipment out here, and the customers are all state government systems.. the company that i work for that runs it is a very high profile us-govt defense contractor. Having a public webcams everywhere isnt the best idea IMO)


now he is really talking about putting one in the console room, where I and the other operators spend 85% of our time, sitting in front of pc's or mainframe terminals hacking away. I have no idea why he wants to do this, other than to 'keep an eye' on us and be able to spy on us at will

I am adamantly against this, as I see it as a major invasion of privacy. I understand if this was a convenience store or other high robbery risk place or something. but a computer console room? whats the point of training cameras on us so hundreds of people can stare at me when I pick my nose or scratch my balls


Is there any legal basis I can go to him with to try to convince him not to put up a camera in the operations room? its bad enough I have to walk around the computer floor like Solid Snake or Splinter Cell to avoid these farking cameras.

 

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
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Originally posted by: Valhalla1
as work as a mainframe computer operator in a large datacenter. recently the manager has had this wild hair in his ass to setup public-available webcams on the computer floor, so the customers can satisfy their (i guess) voyeuristic urges to see 20-something geeks mount tapes and what have you. and the lovely part, there is no password or anything, any jackass scanning for websites can pull up this page and view the cameras .

Its a security risk if u ask me - a malicious person could easily see how many people are up here at night and plan their misdeeds. (we have like half a billion $$ worth of mainframe and high end unix equipment out here, and the customers are all state government systems.. the company that i work for that runs it is a very high profile us-govt defense contractor. Having a public webcams everywhere isnt the best idea IMO)


now he is really talking about putting one in the console room, where I and the other operators spend 85% of our time, sitting in front of pc's or mainframe terminals hacking away. I have no idea why he wants to do this, other than to 'keep an eye' on us and be able to spy on us at will

I am adamantly against this, as I see it as a major invasion of privacy. I understand if this was a convenience store or other high robbery risk place or something. but a computer console room? whats the point of training cameras on us so hundreds of people can stare at me when I pick my nose or scratch my balls


Is there any legal basis I can go to him with to try to convince him not to put up a camera in the operations room? its bad enough I have to walk around the computer floor like Solid Snake or Splinter Cell to avoid these farking cameras.

sneak behind camera, install blinders all covert style and all. It's like a computer game, except realer.
 

Jugernot

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,889
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Just tell him if he installs webcams, you'll be forced to bring in your fat friend named Helga and she start up a porn using the cams.

Jugs
 

Barnaby W. Füi

Elite Member
Aug 14, 2001
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Originally posted by: The Dancing Peacock
if keyboards are visible someone could figure out passwords, try and use that angle.

Heh, a webcam is a couple hundred pixels each dimension and horrid quality. No way in hell they'd be able to see keys or text.
 

Valhalla1

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
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Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Originally posted by: The Dancing Peacock
if keyboards are visible someone could figure out passwords, try and use that angle.

Heh, a webcam is a couple hundred pixels each dimension and horrid quality. No way in hell they'd be able to see keys or text.

well these are decent, like $300 cams.. but unless it was within ~3-4 feet of one of the workstations i dont think you could make out the keys either.



link ?

i dont think i should....


 

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
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Originally posted by: Valhalla1
Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Originally posted by: The Dancing Peacock
if keyboards are visible someone could figure out passwords, try and use that angle.

Heh, a webcam is a couple hundred pixels each dimension and horrid quality. No way in hell they'd be able to see keys or text.

well these are decent, like $300 cams.. but unless it was within ~3-4 feet of one of the workstations i dont think you could make out the keys either.



link ?

i dont think i should....

um...considering you can decipher a datafeed from the little blinking light on an analog modem....I don't think passwords are out of reach.

you could PM the link to someone and have them access it from a remote location, proving it is insecure.

 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
Start wearing offensive Tshirts with pictures of people having sex on them to work and stand in front of the cameras.
 

Valhalla1

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
8,678
0
76
you could PM the link to someone and have them access it from a remote location, proving it is insecure.

oh i know its insecure.. the camera has a built in page for password protecting the camera but the manager knowingly decided to allow camera view access with no password


another interesting thing - you can click a link and it will save the camera stream to an avi on the hard drive, i could say this allows a hacker to save the data and enhance it somehow to pick out passwords :p but i dont know if this angle will work

is there some privacy law, like maybe I have to sign something to allow them the right to record my image and broadcast it public? sure, we have other regular security cameras but there it is a closed circuit with no recording of the feed so its different than these new cams
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Originally posted by: Valhalla1
you could PM the link to someone and have them access it from a remote location, proving it is insecure.

oh i know its insecure.. the camera has a built in page for password protecting the camera but the manager knowingly decided to allow camera view access with no password


another interesting thing - you can click a link and it will save the camera stream to an avi on the hard drive, i could say this allows a hacker to save the data and enhance it somehow to pick out passwords :p but i dont know if this angle will work

is there some privacy law, like maybe I have to sign something to allow them the right to record my image and broadcast it public? sure, we have other regular security cameras but there it is a closed circuit with no recording of the feed so its different than these new cams

Check Texas law. It depends upon the state whether or not you have to waive your right to be videotaped in certain instances.
 

Silex

Golden Member
Nov 24, 2001
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It's time for to do your homework Valhalla. I don't know law and I'm sure a vast majority of the people on AT don't have a law degree of some sort and that's because if they did, there would be no way in hell they would even have time to login to AT :p.
 

Willoughbyva

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2001
3,267
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I don't know I remember there being something about having to have permision to record the image of a person or something, but don't know if it is applicable to this situation. Maybe I am thinking about tv or something.
 

Valhalla1

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
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well well well... not looking good

just got an email from the manager. I double as operator and webmaster for the datacenter - he just asked me to add a link to the webcam on the front page of the website :(

so since its all public for anyone to see anyway, I might as well post the link

http://204.66.63.67/ webcam
http://www.wtdroc.com


he said be ready to add the second webcam link, the one for the operations console room, here in a short while :( :(
 

atom

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 1999
4,722
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How does management justify using money to even pay for something this stupid?
 

Valhalla1

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
8,678
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76
Originally posted by: atom
How does management justify using money to even pay for something this stupid?


trust me, this is the least of the questionable purchasing decisions.
rolleye.gif


if you check the cam out, I'll be a in a light blue shirt, black hat. :p

 

GroundZero

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 2002
3,669
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Originally posted by: Valhalla1
you could PM the link to someone and have them access it from a remote location, proving it is insecure.

oh i know its insecure.. the camera has a built in page for password protecting the camera but the manager knowingly decided to allow camera view access with no password


another interesting thing - you can click a link and it will save the camera stream to an avi on the hard drive, i could say this allows a hacker to save the data and enhance it somehow to pick out passwords :p but i dont know if this angle will work

is there some privacy law, like maybe I have to sign something to allow them the right to record my image and broadcast it public? sure, we have other regular security cameras but there it is a closed circuit with no recording of the feed so its different than these new cams


as long as you are made aware of the fact that there is video suveilance being done, they can put cameras anywere they want.
as for no recording on the existing cc system, i would venture to say that the feeds from the cc cameras are recorded somewhere.
what is the use of a cc system if it isn't recorded?
 

Valhalla1

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 1999
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the CC is not recorded...

the point of it, is for us operations staff to be able to see if
a) someone is standing at the front door of the datacenter when its locked, and we can speak to them thru intercom
b) see if someone is wandering around the datacenter who shouldnt be

a couple years ago there was was vandalism/theft problems in the parking lot late at night, and the issue came up as to whether the camera pointing to the front door/parking lot had a tape - there wasnt

plus I have all the CC video routing stuff sitting next to me here.. i have all the camera controls, and the box where all the cables "converge" to be fed to the television - there is no taping done