Screen grab I took of the webcam. I chose to use one without any pedestrians.
Here are some fake Q and A's and I have created. The italicized lines are being said by imaginary alumni:
Now I can stay better connected with my old college campus!
You want to know how to stay even better connected? By reading TNH, the athletics website or even this blog! You don't need a friggen live webcam to stay connected to campus.
Oh, but it's fun! You can even access it on your iphone and look at yourself!
Use a fucking mirror!
It's cool to see college students in their own environment!
Please, put some pants on or go on chatroulette.
I was just on it for about 5 minutes. I wanted to see it for myself before I wrote this. 30 people can access it at one time, and each person can control it for one minute. The three people in front of me (there was about a 3 minute wait until I could control it) all stared the camera at the closest female insight, literally zooming in on her face and or specific body parts. No joke. One even tilted the camera down as a female walked by as though to try and look down her shirt. I am not lying.
As you can see, you can easily zoom in on someone with clear quality.
In conclusion, I see no positive use to this camera.
Have a fun Halloween weekend and be careful out there... especially in front of the camera. Remember,
Stay classy, not Alumni Associationey.
Be careful indeed, my friend. The first word that came to mind when I heard about this camera is police. Wouldn't this be a wonderful tool for the police to use? They could just have someone at the station watching this camera, and when he sees a student doing something questionable, he can radio an officer close to the area to arrest that student. Big Brother certainly could be watching.
ReplyDeleteObviously, I think this camera shouldn't exist. In fact, no cameras such as this should exist. Besides the fact that it could be used as a tool for the authorities to abuse their power (I'm not saying that they will, but they could), it's just plain creepy. I suggest that we find a way to insist that the Alumni Association take it down.
I actually thought this was a police camera when I noticed it two weeks ago. It isn't uncommon in many cities to have police cameras, and I thought that UNH police wanted to watch that intersection because it's pretty busy. Now that I know what it's all about, I think it's a huge waste of money. Could the Alumni Association really not think of a better use for the money that this person gave to them? If I had given that money I might be a bit upset if it was used for this.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with you Geoff. How would you suggest going about insisting that the Alumni Association take down the camera?
ReplyDeleteI am a member of the UNH Peace and Justice League and I know this is an issue that us and a number of other groups on campus are deeply concerned about.
What would be effective, organizing a protest to raise awareness and get the media involved, get petitions signed by students, or something else?
And to The New Hampshirite - your allegations of people using this camera as a means to creep on women are completely accurate. This is a great website/resource for us all:
http://www.youarebeingwatched.us/true/3/
-Alex Freid
UNH PJL
Alex- I actually saw two girls at the intersection yesterday with a poster board that said "Creeper" on it. At the time I didn't know about the camera, but now it makes perfect sense. Maybe organizing people to meet there at the same time could help bring awareness to it?
ReplyDeleteGeoff- I was thinking the same thing about someone at UNH or Durham PD just staring at the camera every weekend night. See a few kids stumble by and send a car to check it out. I definitely wouldn't put that past them.
As a California alumni who recently graduated I think it's great. I get to see UNH in the fall, which is when UNH is at its best.
ReplyDeleteAnd aside from the odd biddie getting laid on the wildcat, I don't see how this is a terrible invasion of privacy. You know UNH can monitor which websites you use from the dorm rooms right?
I told my roommates about this and we are all utterly creeped out. When we went to the gym yesterday we avoided the area that the camera can see just so we wouldn't be on there. I feel like if more people knew about this they would probably be doing the same. Isn't there some thing where we have to consent to be put online like that?
ReplyDeleteI think the worst part about this is the fact that you can zoom and creep on individual people. If it was changed so that you just just rotate the camera and not zoom in on a specific area or person that would make me personally feel better.
ReplyDeleteI have really mixed feelings about this. I understand why they did it, but I also think it is a huge waste of money and wicked creepy as far as the zooming capabilities.
I think people should look at this camera idea with a grain of salt. while this is a controversial camera, i'm sure people like Adam Bermingham wished it was around too.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't know who he is, i suggest you look him up
I do know who Adam is, but this camera isn't a security camera and to my knowledge it doesn't record anything.
ReplyDeletelook at all this fresh meat!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry its only me, LadyMeow, but could you imagine?!?!?
It's so true, nobody wears pants on chatroullette
ReplyDeletePeople get laid on the Wildcat? That really happens?
ReplyDeletePictures or it didn't happen. If only there was some kind of camera....