this reminds me of the old days on the internet, where one was able to steer a model train via a remote interface [1]:
use google to find “vunerable” security cams. if you take a look at this google search then you will find a huge amount of unsecured webcams, most of them might be security cameras. pretty much all of them can be controlled via your browser [2] so you’re free to spy on all different kinds of things, may it be car rentals, laundromats, japanese hotel lobbies or bays or a whole friggin list of things!
[1]: more spy-related links can be found at the bottom of this article in the new scientist, where i also was able to find the link for the model train…
[2]: beware OS X users: safari doesn’t support the streaming jpeg technique that most of these cameras use, so you must use firefox for those links…
[via boingboing and metafilter]
update: mathias noted that the link to google is wrong. i corrected it.
update2: here’s some more on this on boinboing.
Worked in the afternoon, but I guess Google already deactivated the inurl:”MultiCameraFrame FMode” search phrase; it reports no hits right now. But inurl:”view/index.shtml” still works.
Aha, the link was wrong! So google isn’t as fast as I thought. Or the camera thing isn’t considered a threat
I like the model train, very funny and a good implementet Interface.