A quick internet search of 'view online CCTV cameras' exposes lists of unsecured cameras streaming, usually without the realisation of the CCTV owners. You can log into these system using default security credentials. It's worrying to see these websites exposing the live visual feeds as well as the IP address, location coordinates and postcode of these victims, making them readily available online for anybody to view.
Mark Zuckerberg argues we live in a post-privacy world where privacy shouldn’t be a concern since it no longer exists anymore. To what extent is this true? Privacy concerns are dominating current affairs. Think about how many CCTV cameras you walked past today. If you walked along a high street, got on the bus, or even passed your neighbour's house, you’ve probably been snapped. Doesn’t this concern you? Whilst this may be a form of privacy being breached, many may not realise these systems are present and go about their day normally. What does this say about the society we live in, and how the public views these systems?
I have developed an interface which exposes CCTV feeds from around the world, categorising them into groups such as, house cams, office cams, road cams and public spaces cameras. The interface displays six feeds in one go and poses novelty questions such as, 'Whose house is prettier?', and 'Whose slacking off?', questions aiming to gamify the interface.
The interface takes inspiration from CCTV viewing interfaces. I discovered that camera feeds usually take up the majority of the screen, leaving limited white space. Interface elements, such as buttons and menus, are hidden and only displayed when the mouse is moved in close proximity to the element. In my design, the vote buttons are hidden till the mouse moves over the particular feed.
I changed how the 'vote' button behaves. It now constantly appears, whereas on the computer interface it disappears and appears on mouseover. The menu is located on the top, with the four categories evenly divided in size based on the viewport width.
I directed an interface film which explores the issue of unsecured cameras, providing statistics, exploring news articles which discuss the issue, and also demonstrating access to unsecured systems.
In the film, I show myself exposing a scenario of unsecured cameras for a business. I set up an unattended computer to record the feed of the businesses cameras and used this footage in my film.
My main intentions with this project were to help those affected by unsecured CCTV. During my research, I found out people buy CCTV systems, plug them in, scan a QR code to access the live feed, and that's it. People didn't realise the possible consequences of connecting these systems to the internet. I hoped that by exposing unsecured cameras, those affected will remember to make sure they change their default login credentials.
