9/08/2005 10:36:00 AM|||my moustache|||

I know this is somewhat old, but Shawn has mentioned it a few times, and Darcy has had a nice thread going on the forum that this relates to.

First, an introduction.

Webcams are popular, but they have the drawback of needing to be connected to a computer in order to work. When paired with a host, they send pictures to the host which relays it through an ftp server or chat program. This is great for video chat, etc, but sucks for security cams, multiple cams, or remote locations.

Thus, the advent of network cameras, which are basically a camera paired with a tiny computer inside a single, relatively small housing. They are arguably smaller than regular security cams were 10 years ago. Rather than connecting to a video receiver or computer, they simply plug into an existing ethernet network, where they can then be accessed and configured remotely.

Great idea! Except that, unless the network admin configures things properly (which is not a safe bet), the cameras are very often left as secure as most home computers plugged directly into cable or DSL. Which is not very secure at all.

So, you take public facing networks, combine them with cameras that contain mini webservers, sprinkle on a little Google, and what do you get? Free, live web feeds from all over the world!

Try some of these searches. If you use Firefox, open a dozen or so into new tabs. 75% or so will be live. You'll see what I mean by live.

inurl:"ViewerFrame?Mode=Motion"

intitle:"WJ-NT104 Main"

intitle:"snc-rz30 home"

inurl:LvAppl intitle:liveapplet

Scary, eh? Scary, legal, and entirely their fault.

More searches & info here

|||112619111449900539|||Google for Network Cameras9/11/2005 11:01:40 PM|||mateo|||james, is the BM log the same as this? I assume not since it cant be accessed from anywhere than on the network, but what do I know?9/11/2005 11:57:30 PM|||my moustache|||nah, it's inside the lan, and they do a reasonable job of keeping people out.

if you vpn'd in, however, it would be accessible. but that requires a valid login.