Here's another technology that seems just like magic. And like magic in the hands of the unwise, the untrained, and the lazy, it will bring harm to the Apprentice and entertainment to the rest of us. Via The Register, I found Defeating the Hacker website. Imagine a window into the world--but, more than a webcam, these webcams are installed specifically as security devices. The unlearned installers have provided an unintentional view into their private world. We spy from where they spies sit, and control their cameras.
Most people don't bother to configure their network devices because the manuals are difficult reading and the dang things work right out of the box anyway, so why bother? Unfortunately, the reason why they work without configuration is because the vendor is naturally more interested in a low technical support burden than helping young network wizards in engineering design choices. Therefore, no passwords are necessary to watch the feed, nor control the pan and tilt.
The URLs for finding these camera vary, depending on the vendor. The website gives a few. This one looks like it is installed at cabin. If you tilt the camera up and way from the stairs you can see a little pond.
Not all of the camera at these links are unprotected. Many of them are intended to be public views. The URLs that belong to edu's are intentionally public such as the camera at Wesleyan. Oxford's "City Centre" is protected too, and interesting.
In general, URLs that resolve to domain names (and therefore were configured beyond the basic "quickstart")are likely to be public cameras. If the URL doesn't resolve to a name, but contains only the IP address, then you're likely to find a security camera. Is this an elementary school library? A cafe?
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