Can a web camera be used for survalence?

[ReadyOne]

OK you voyeurs... I want to hook up a web cam and computer and watch someplace at a frame every 2 seconds (or a little faster).

No, it's not going into the sorority house so I can make porn; indeed quite the opposite.

An employee is viewing and printing porn after hours using the boss's computer and color laser printer, and the boss wants to know who it is before they tighten security *thus keeping him off the equipment.

We looked at a system for a retail shop (i.e. document shoplifting) but as you might expect, the cameras were not subtle at all -- they were big and virtually yelled out "You're being watched!"

I'm sure this has been done before. We talked about doing it at the computer store but never got around to it. Supposedly there was a Linux "off the shelf" package, but the owner was the Linux weenie while I was the IBM/Microsoft guy.

My requirements:

50-60 feet between camera and computer. USB extension boxes OK for power and to increase distance.

Actual pickup very easy to conceal, e.g. a pencil hole in a ceiling tile.

Record for 72 hours at a minimum of 1 frame every 2 seconds. 2 frames a second would be nice.

Focal range/depth of field 8 feet to infinity in lower light levels, i.e. at night when only 1/2 of the normal complement of lights are on.

Computer software to record camera images and then replay them, fast forward while viewing. A plus would be if the program could find gross differences between frames e.g. fast scan until a body moves into the picture.

Thanks!

 

[Ravin the Poet]

You are asking a lot from a webcam, and if you buy this, look to spending upwards to $1000 bucks. Those kind of webcams are very expensive, and the program you want, as far as I know, just doesn't exist unless your an agent of the FBI.

Anyway webcam would do. You can set it up and just have it run. Hiding it isn't to hard, just get a really small cam, and make something to hide it in. But as far as frames per second, thats done in the program not cam.

Why don't they just invest in a camera for the bosses office. Catch him going in, and going out.

Ravin

 

[silverwhisper]

actually, i was thinking that depending on how the office is arranged, it might not be that difficult to put the camera in place, esp if the office is cluttered. also, i would recommend checking to make sure that on the legal end there aren't any problems: you never know what a personal injury lawyer can do until it's too late, IMHO.

ravin's idea about just getting pics of entry/exit, along w/ the time-stamped server logs, should be more than adequate.

ed

 

[Halo_n_horns]

This was done by using a web cam as a surveylence cam

http://www.glumbert.com/media/dancewhiteboy.html

I'm sure you could do the same, but you might have to do it through a computer other than the one the employee was using so he doesn't see that the cam feature is active.

Good luck in catching your quarry.

 

[brw02]

actually, i was thinking that depending on how the office is arranged, it might not be that difficult to put the camera in place, esp if the office is cluttered. also, i would recommend checking to make sure that on the legal end there aren't any problems: you never know what a personal injury lawyer can do until it's too late, IMHO.

ravin's idea about just getting pics of entry/exit, along w/ the time-stamped server logs, should be more than adequate.

ed

You may want to consider some options. As a professional, I would recommend a four camera system. You would need a quad processor, digital video recorder (DVR), and a small monitor. This system would deter any theft or other prohibited activity. If you want to nail the culprit, one of the cameras could be concealed in a pseudo smoke detector or some other nondescript office device. The cost would be up there (est. $1500) but that would probably be offset by insurance savings. The webcam does not record and its' value would be limited. The DVR can be written to a CD if desired and used as evidence in court. There would be a time stamp to identify when the unauthorized activity took place. If the area is unlit, you would need infrared cameras, which would raise the cost about $100 per camera. Hope that helps.

 

[Ezzy]

Or you can use Windows 2000 or I think even Windows ME buy a camera that suits, see here link , so with this and a computer and by the look of it either a phone/ lan connection, your boss can get the evidence he needs. This camera is under $100.00.

The other way would be if there could be a check on the "history" of the computers to see which one the porn is being down loaded on, if the computers are password protected, get everyone to change their password (as a matter of company security) then wait to see who is logged on to the network when the porn is being down loaded.

It looks as if the camera above comes with all the software to do the things you wanted.

 

[brw02]

If you wish to use "low end" equipment you can transmit from the camera to another PC, utilizing a PCI slot. You can find them on eBay, very reasonable and simple to install. If you have a drop ceiling, you can hide the cable easily. There are "clock cams", "motion detector cams", even "air filtering cams". All are dual purpose units. This might cost $300.00 installed.

 

[Weird Harold]

My requirements:

50-60 feet between camera and computer. USB extension boxes OK for power and to increase distance.

Actual pickup very easy to conceal, e.g. a pencil hole in a ceiling tile.

Record for 72 hours at a minimum of 1 frame every 2 seconds. 2 frames a second would be nice.

Focal range/depth of field 8 feet to infinity in lower light levels, i.e. at night when only 1/2 of the normal complement of lights are on.

Look into the X-20 cameras. They're wireless and small -- about a 1.5 inch ball on a base the size of a box of 3.5" floppies. The basic model my neighbor had was good in low light, but there is also a low-light version available. They can run on batteries or an AC adapter.

The vido quality of my neighbor's X-20 was very good.

There is software and hardware available to set up a monitoring system like you describe that works with the X-20 camera to provide a remote home monitoring system over the internet so you can watch or record the images from anywhere in the world.

The cameras themselves were only about $20 last time I looked and the other components you'll need are comparably priced -- maybe $150-$200 for a working one camera setup that can be expanded to up to eight cameras for just the cost of the extra cameras.

 

[brw02]

I prefer the Sony cameras to others on the market. I've done upgrades on most of the systems I work with; new technology comes onstream and prices continue to come down. I usually replace the older units with new Sonys which have better resolution and require less light.

 

[fgarvb1]

If there is a computer close by, why not mount a web cam on top of it and access it from a remote location or store the pics on the hard drive. My intel web camera would do that. It makes no noise.

It would record either by motion, manual snapshot or auto what ever time you want.

Crank it up, set the pass word on the screen saver

Hide it in plain sight.

 

[corkscrewer]

My webcam does a thing where it will sense motion..sopmething like that might work