Video Surveillance deployed inside London Public Bathrooms

Is nothing sacred anymore!

By jheary
From http://www.networkworld.com/

You can imagine my surprise after I paid my 50pence to use the public bathroom, walked in and found myself staring at not just one but three ceiling mounted video surveillance cameras. I had to get real close to their enclosures to convince myself that I wasn't seeing things. Not only was it really there, but it was a Pan-Tilt-Zoom model with a microphone to top it off. Must get some great noises coming from there. It has also been reported that London officials are now installing cameras with speakers to allow them to talk as well as see and listen. Perhaps its just me, but I had absolutely no idea that this was legal anywhere, let alone in downtown London, UK. Sure I knew that London has more cameras per square mile than any other country on the planet, but in bathrooms?! How are they getting away with that one? It is appalling!

According to the London Assembly of Liberal Democrats, London has been outfitted with over 500,000 surveillance cameras. Other put the number much higher at 1.4million cameras but nobody is telling what the real number is. Another few 10,000 cameras have been installed in taxis and police cars as well.
Sounds a bit big brother to me folks, downright scary in fact. Now it gets scarier when you consider that the vast majority of these camera feeds are not sent encrypted across the wire. This makes hacking these video feeds trivial, just a simple wire tap.

Here's a scenario, I wake up, walk out of my hotel room and see a camera in the hallway watching me. I get into the elevator and look up to smile at the camera there, I walk through the lobby and out to the street. Along the way half a dozen cameras watched me walk less than 200ft. I get in my cab and the camera in there watches me all the way to my destination. I walk into the building followed by 4 cameras. I use the public restroom, 3 cameras watch me in there. I head up the elevator to my office on the 2nd floor and smile at the camera there. I walk down the hall to my office while under surveillance the whole way. I close my office glass door. Turns out the camera in the building has a vantage angle through my glass door and the outside camera on the opposite street corner pole has a clean shot into my office through the windows. I'm feeling a lot of love right now. So I logon to the internet and start surfing. Hmmm. Now I guess they are watching physical me and virtual me at the same time as they inspect the bits and bytes I send ripping around the network.

Just in the last couple years, U.S. cities (like my hometown of Denver) have begun installing their own public video surveillance systems in a big way. Now I need to check and see if U.S. cities are also watching you in the public bathroom.

Here is a shot I took in a London public bathroom. Notice the two cameras on the ceiling. Another one was behind me on the other wall facing towards these cameras. They had all of the angles covered that’s for sure. Don't want to miss any of the action.

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Girls rescued from fake 'Big Brother'

HASAN ÖRNEKOĞLU

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

Nine young women tricked into joining a fake reality show and kept isolated for two months were rescued by the gendarmerie Tuesday.

The women, some as young as 16, were kept confined in a villa in the Beykoz district of Istanbul and videos of them in the house were sold over the Internet.

According to reports, the organizers of the fake show placed advertisements in newspapers that called for “contestants to compete in a reality show akin to ‘Big Brother’ that will be broadcast on FX TV” and interviewed dozens of would-be contenders.

Nine were told they were chosen and made to sign a contract that stipulated that if any of the participants left before two months were up, they would have to pay a fine of 50,000 Turkish Liras. The young women were also told they would have no contact with the outside world, including their families, for the two-month period. Dreaming of becoming television stars, they accepted all the preconditions.

Cameras set up around the villa recorded every moment and naked videos of the participants were sold on the Internet.

Some of the women, realizing the scam, wanted to get out, but were prevented from doing so by the organizers. A person who stayed at the house with them warned that they would have to pay the fine if they left.

Those who tried to leave anyway found they could not because they were locked inside the villa.

A 16-year-old’s parents eventually contacted the gendarmerie, notifying them that they had not seen their daughter for two months and could not reach the organizers.

Once the gendarmerie went to the address the parents provided, they were greeted by cries for help coming from inside.

The gendarmerie staged a raid on the villa, rescuing the young women and detaining the individual who had been staying with them.

In their testimonies to gendarmerie officials, the women said they were also beaten from time to time.

The gendarmerie said the investigation into the matter continued.