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Using Webcams as Remote Security?
The_Mama_Cass_Ostrea asks: "Does anyone have experience using a webcam and a cellphone for remote security? I am raising shellfish in a hatchery / nursery on a 51 foot pontoon boat, anchored offshore in Chesepeake Bay. Recently the boat and it's contents were damaged by vandals. Since my day job writing software won't permit me to guard the boat 24/7, I want to set up some sort of webcam / cellphone security monitoring system that would be effective day and night. And since I am doing this on a small scale, without the money for a professional security firm, an inexpensive, open source solution would be preferred. Any suggestions would be appreciated, as would the experieces of anyone who has done anything similar." Cool idea! Has anyone tried this in practice and can pass along a few hints? I was thinking about installing webcams in the home sometime this summer, but the remote security aspect never occured to me.
An anonymous submitted this related tidbit: "I want to have a couple of video cameras and a storage array to capture and store a couple of days worth of both internal and external activity. What (Linux application) software and hardware is available? How does one overlay a running-clock with the video signal? Also would be nice to be able to login via the web and look at live signals and review stored data." This is a bit more complex than setting up a few webcams, but the ideas in here are interesting enough. Would some of these things be possible with consumer grade equipment? The time overlay is a useful idea, however I don't know if many webcams support such features.
I was looking to do a similar thing except for my home.
I would strongly recommend an Axis 2120 Camera. They have an auto iris lense to prevent it from damage when exposed to sunlight, it can also be hooked up via 10/100 ethernet or standard serial port to a land line or a cellular modem.
This will provide for much more scalability. It also has built in motion detection and can send pictures via FTP before after and during a break in. It also has a build in web server, and can alert you via email when an alarm is triggered.
Get yourself a couple of cheap USB camera's ($30 or thereabouts), an old laptop - old Pentium will do - and see if Ricochet wireless modem service is available in your area.
... in about 5 minutes of web searching, you can find solutions pretty easily...
If so - piece of cake. Hook 'em up, either write some software (Linux-wise) to do regular posts of the images to a web server over radio modem somewhere, or get any one of the countless Windows apps that have been written for just this sort of thing off the 'net...
The more I think about this, the more I realise it was pretty dumb to waste an "Ask Slashdot" on it
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Although it probably won't apply to you, I remember a few years back when I worked for SGI and everyone had an Indycam or an O2cam on their desktop there was a package you could install called "securitylight" that basically functioned as a simple security camera. It wasn't very sophisticated (basically taking a picture every 2 seconds and only storing the deltas between frames, complete with timestamps). The software worked really good, and didn't use up too much disk space and kept really nice pictures.
Rumor has it the software was written originally because an SGI owned warehouse kept getting ripped off overnight even with the security guard on duty. It turns out the security guard was bringing his girlfriend in for sex, and she was swiping supplies on her way out. Of course this anecdote is all fourth or fifth generation information, all accuracy may be coincidental.
Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.
I read the internet for the articles.
Actually, we found the lighting controller. It wasn't stolen, just misplaced...
I'm a little surprised that no one else has brought up this smart alec issue, so I'll do it. Why are you storing valuable stuff in a boat? Boats really aren't a bastion of security. Surely there ought to be a better place to put these things.
-- Solaris Central - http://w
You can also try a wireless link to bring the signal to a secure area, and avoid the power drain of an on-board recorder. Most of them work on 12V, same as the camera. Try supercircuits.com for cheap bare-bones analog cameras and wireless links.
X10.com has a "VCR commander" that triggers a vcr record function when an event is received. I forget, but i think it's wireless in the video and possibly the trigger channel, so you could link the alarm or a motion detector to the thing and get it to trigger a home VCR.
Maybe you can trigger it from the airbag too, and avoid lengthy litigation after a crash. You'd need an on-board recorder for that, though.
---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
Go check out X-10's web site. In addition to the very cool Firecracker that every /.'er should have by now cause it was just about free, they have wireless XCam2's that transmit to a receiver on the 2.4Ghz band. Plus lots of accessories to hook those to websites, wide-angle views, VCR recording, and such.
Plus, it's always nice to support a company that makes cool hardware and opens up the control protocol for those of us who can write our own drivers.
This space for rent. Call 1-800-STEAK4U
First, I like what you're doing -- aquaculture is seriously cool. Keep it up.
Second, your problem here is not to identify the vandals after they've come and gone. Sure, you might be able to put them in jail (if you're lucky). I wouldn't count on them being able to financially reimburse you.
You don't want anything like this to happen again. The way to ensure that is to move your boat to a better marina. Find a marina with a resident harbormaster -- if he lives there, he'll make damn sure that it's secure.
Those kinds of marina slips are expensive, so maybe you can use the info on webcams that people are giving here to barter with the harbormaster -- in return for a discounted slip, you provide a remote camera system for the other tenents. Not much for security, but it makes boat people feel better if they can check on their boat whenever they want. Especially if they're a 40' Hatteras boat person...
"Beware by whom you are called sane."
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
The ironic shot of the guy about to steal the webcam out of jwz's club.
Maybe they wouldn't come up with the clams to buy the beer?
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I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Oooo, that's very shellfish of you not to invite your friends!!!!
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I thought that, in the US, illegal evidence wasn't admissible ONLY when it was collected by a police force. So, the private guy-collected evidence would definitely be admissible...
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No, paranoia is irrational or excessive fear, and that is not necessarily good. You should keep the cost/risk and benefit in mind. Although paranoia might deliver nominally more secure systems, it doesn't necessarily mean you're better off. For instance, you can spend 15k securing a 10k dollar server that have NO valuable data on them. Or you could spend thousands of dollars investing in a fancy alarm system, only to have the employees fail to properly arm it.
.5 percent of the cars will be stolen each year and each car costs 20k at purchase. In other words, the company would lose roughly 500k dollars to theft each year whereas if they invested in alarm systems it would cost them 2.5 million dollars upfront. If the cars and the alarm systems only last 5 years and the companies cost of capital is 10%, then they'd actually save, in financial terms, roughly 500k dollars by NOT installing alarms. The reason for this is because it costs the company real money to sink it anywhere; that money could be invested elsewhere in the company (or simply not borrowed) and return them more money.
Or for a less obvious example, suppose you're a Fortune 500 company, well you could spend, say, 500 dollars installing alarms on each of the company's 5000 cars, let's even assume it stops all theft. If you know with a high degree of certainty that
Although this example is simplistic, it takes into consideration some of the actual concerns that are at issue for companies and people. Put simply, some money is better off invested elsewhere. Paranoia can cost you time and money.
Furthermore, I would argue that unbridled paranoia might actually result in worse security, because perspective is lost and the real threats are not properly analyzed and responded to.
Be careful that whatever video hardware you're unsing's audio (if any) isn't recording. If you record both their image and audio, it's illegal (in the US) and the evidence will be stricken. That would suck. Take whatever means you must to keep from recording audio.
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
Ah, you've found what us shipboard folks lovingly call the CHEESE-WIZ. Darn thing's spozda protect us from incoming missiles and whatnot, knock on wood it'll do the job. Not only is it big and heavy, it takes up a fair amount of deck space that could be used for picnic tables and a bar-b-q.
...stuck at the pier cuz of budget cutbacks...
"I want peace on earth and good will toward men." "We're the U.S. government. We don't do that sort of thing!!"
While, I imagine the satisfaction of Cuisinarting bad guys (a la "Reason vs. Pirates" in Snow Crash), your neigbours may be a bit annoyed when the depleted uranium slugs tear through their boats as well.
Better solutions that can blow away in the wind...(as long as the neighbors aren't around, everything is ok)
-- "I am disrespectful to dirt. Can you not see that I am serious!"
http://www.phasys.com is based on what you are saying. Inexpensive remote security monitoring.
Probably not as small scale as you want.. but cool anyway.
Rodney Brooks' crew at www.irobot.com have got a remote "avatar" robot equipped with web cam for exactly this purpose. Highly neat!
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
Although I suppose you could have a film camera in a device which would be ejected overboard and which would propel itself or hide for later pickup. That's not-quite-local storage.
"If you want to break into our place, you had better take down our net connection."
Unfortunately, despite @stake.com's front-page claims that "all old l0pht material is available on this site", not everything is.
They had a video camera pointed at their door, at what looked like a 10-15 foot distance. The picture was clear and fairly good size. I've no idea how often it refreshed. Of course, this setup assumes that all intruders will be barging in through the front castle gate.
I've considered doing the same thing in my new apartment, since I own two webcams that I can't use at work anymore.
Seems to me there are lessons to learn from JWZ's experience. One, don't use a crappy teenybopper-vidchat-designed Quickcam for this unless you can get nice sharp pictures from it. Two, go for a higher refresh rate than 30 seconds -- if it takes someone less than 30 seconds to walk from the door to the cam, its not a good idea is it? And three, try not to put it right behind the door and plainly visible.
--Keith "And four, make sure the audio is muted so they don't hear the fake 'cha-click' sound" Tyler
--
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
Too bad this weighs 12,000-13,000 pounds.
I wonder if you can just discard the overengineered search and track radar and put in one of those supermarket door motion sensors...
someone should mod this one up
Although this isn't exactly going to help in his situation, I have a webcam that looks out my front door. Anytime the doorbell is run, 3 pictures are captured and appended to a log, as well as being sent to a remote server. This is far from a perfect solution and I do plan to update this to reflect any dramatic changes with the internal cameras when I'm not at home.
Of course, if anyone is aware of the camera, it would be easy to hide from, and there is always a chance that I won't get a good enough picture to do any good legally, but its a start.
The page that accesses the webcams is at http://alignment.net
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
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Remember: When you're talking about security, paranoia is a good thing.
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The cell phone wouldn't be constantly connected. The point is to have the computer call the cell phone when it detects an intruder.
It can get a bit annoying if the motion detection threshold is too low. If it's an outdoor view and you're doing motion detection based on the video image (as opposed to stand alone motion detection devices), then shadows, birds, boats, etc. can set off false alarms. Indoors, pets, changes in lighting conditions, etc can do the same.
I'd assume that a good system would allow you to view the images over the web or via dial-up connection and change some parameters (target region, change threshold, etc).
jwz has a 24/7 webcam running in his nightclub that is being reconstructed. So far people have stolen:
o The webcam
o Two amplifiers
o The controller for the emulator lights
All he managed to get was a few blurry shots of the guy that stole the webcam.
We set the cameras up and let them rip that night. Enter the "perp", turns out our cleaning staff has it so bad that they were stealing not only our pop fund but they were sifting through our desktops (rifling through one guys CD rack) and generally doing things that breach their contract as cleaning staff! We took the video straight to the building manager and he was not impressed with what he saw. The next day we took down our cameras and duplexer (they were on loan) and we had new cleaning staff the next week.
What kind of world is it where you can't trust your own cleaning staff?
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crazy dynamite monkey
I gotta admit, if I was gonna jump on a boat in the middle of nowhere, it would be unsettling to hear a phone ring. But I'd probably just take it.
I know of an ISP, DigitalAgent in Atlanta that uses webcams to monitor the server rooms.
Someone you trust is one of us.
1) Do you want to use this to notice if someone is stealing your stuff, or catch pictures of whoever stole your stuff?
:)
2) Are you planning on remotely watching this all day (or having someone watch it), or do you want it to auto-detect thieves and take action only then?
3) Can you afford to have your cell phone connected 24/7?
With regards to 1, it won't be useful for catching anyone. With regards to 2, it will be very difficult (especially in uncontrolled conditions such as on a boat) to detect intruders in software. If you have a closed room you want to monitor, you might get away with it. 3 is related to 2 -- if you want it to transmit the data live, it's gonna cost a bundle. If you want it to call only if you're being robbed, you have a very difficult (possibly impossible) software problem on your hands.
-Puk
p.s. You could always put the webcam up on a web page and have people "Click HERE if I'm being robbed!"
I think a barking dog / police siren would do the trick. Or maybe the sound of a phone dialing and a computer voice saying "Intruder alert! The police have been called and are on their way..."
Because its been done in FreeBSD. Using the Matrox capture card. One that went out of production back in 1999 and cost $600 Using the kernel code from 1995 by Jim Lowe and Mark Tinguely. And once using a $49 card that the interlace is busted (the odd line is in the even slot, and the even is odd), as a time-lapse security camera system. (it just goes with 1/2 a page.) Given the one system is now 5 years old, and was last rebooted 500 days ago (a server move), FreeBSD is a known, working solution.
.avi for that time-lapse movie effect.
:-)
At 2 TV stations. Every minute it does a rbg24 and pipes the ppm through ImageMagick.
To add the date gfont.
Like gfont -r 640x45 "`date '+Time:%l:%M:%S%p Date:%m-%d-%Y'`"
Take that result and do the append via ImageMagick.
Make them animated gifs or a
A keyboard USB chip is the input from the security sensors, and USB switches which camera is the live feed into the capture card. (Ya have to shield it because USB and 900 mhz phones don't play nice) As a benefit, the security testing is simple keystroke simulations.
If it was said on slashdot, it MUST be true!
Actually we had the same probelm this summer doing some stuff with face recognition. Try averageing all the shots for the last minute or so. That way you can filter out natural lighting changes like the sun, cloud cover, ...
bash-2.04$
bash-2.04$
bash-2.04$yes "Don't you hate dialup connections?"| write USERNAME
>Wireless internet? Oh wait, you can't use cellphones for that....
I'm guessing your just trolling, and fully aware of CDPD and GSM modems.
Anyway, this X10 thread is about a remote camera. The computer can be land based with a video capture card recieving signals from the boat -- it hopefully wouldn't need wireless internet.
When I die, please cast my ashes upon Bill Gates -- for once, make him clean up after me!
There was a product like this for mac years ago called Radar something or another by Connectix. It was cool, but it was marketed for monitoring your office. It never really took off. The joke among webmasters was that if the crooks manage to get in, they'll grab the computer with the images on it. Hence, no benefit.
Add a couple of these. These have much better multi-spectrum detection and reaction.
Grab the ISO here.
Demo available at the URL in my sig...
And THIS is exactly the reason for which i'm going to turn my doorbell into an electronic click-wrap agreement device: instead of my name, I put LOTS of fine print on the plaque, and then by pressing the button (which rings the doorbell, of course), the visitor agrees to be bound by the whole thing. Which talks explicitly about privacy, cameras, beatings, firearms and whatever. Of course a thief cracking my door wouldn't "sign" it, but then he'd put a foot on my huge foot-clickable doormat.... lots o' fine print on that, too, no stupid "Welcome!".
Vacuum cleaners suck. Kings rule.
There's an excellent camera and server from Axis (http://www.axis.com) that runs Linux. It comes with some basic scripts that are useful and you can also write your own, of course. In my experience, the maximum frame rate you can get is about 15fps. You can also set up 4 triggers to start video capture. There's also PTZ models with presets to scan an entire area.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
I work at a mid-sized ISP, and what I've heard is that a couple construction companies here are doing that at work sites: point a camera at the delivery entrance, and stream everything back to the office and save it on disk. Works wonders on keeping sub-contractors honest, apparently; when they say, "Oh yeah, we had that concrete ready at 10am but there was no one there", they just whip out the zip disk or whatever and show the mixer showing up at noon. I understand it's been a big hit, and is letting us sell a few ISDN lines more than we used to...
Carousel is a lie!
Trust me, after this horror story, you'll all be wanting webcams for security.
Back in my university days (i.e. eight months ago), a friend and I were in the computer lab doing some work. Or something to that effect. My friend had just picked up a webcam and had it streaming to his website for a few days and decided to show me his awesome webcam/HTML hax0ring abilities.
At the time, he was living in a basement apartment. The family upstairs gave him all the privacy he needed, but on this day (and probably many others), the privacy was nil.
Upon firing up the webcam site and logining in, we see a picture of his desk and chair sitting peacefully from the glorious vantage point of a monitor-mounted webcam. A few minutes later, things took a turn for the worse.
Into my friend's room walks the landlord's 14 year old son. "He isn't supposed to be in there," my friend says, a little worried.
He sits at the computer.
"He isn't supposed to be in here," my friend repeats.
The kid types something and fiddles with the mouse.
"He isn't supp... holy fuck!" The kid had dropped his pants and started flogging the dolphin right there in front of my friend's computer, most likely to Britney Spears or some pr0n site, and in plain view of anyone who happened to be checking out the webcam.
Needless to say, the bedroom door suddenly acquired a padlock for the short time my friend remained at the place.
The webcam may not have prevented that spunkfest, but at the very least, further spunkfests were avoided. Now that's security.
(Yes, it was a Windows box. Shut up.)
J
Particularly weird was the Aussie civil liberties organization's reply, of which I was quite incredulous:
2. The publication of pictures of others without consent, even if photographed in a private home can constitute a breach of the right to privacy. Once the pictures are published or broadcast, as in the Ashfield case, they are no longer private pictures. [...] Consent should be obtained, certainly before publication and ideally before initial photographing of people. Just because you may suspect someone of a robbery as in the Ashfield scenario it shouldn't negate these principles. Two wrong's do not make a right.
Civil libertarians don't make themselves look good when they defend burglars' supposed right to steal in private! Consent should be obtained, indeed.
sulli
RTFJ.
A company called VitalLink offers remote video monitoring via webcam. More expensive than DIY but business customers seem to buy it.
sulli
RTFJ.
Buy the best stuff so that when the vandals come by they can pick up some nice hardware at cheap prices.
And have a gourmet shellfish dinner with it, too!
Buy the best stuff so that when the vandals come by they can pick up some nice hardware at cheap prices.
Dancin Santa
Remote View Phone is a tool that is designed to let you See there, be there, from anywhere its a remote digital surveillance camera with built -in technology that sends digital images to your pc. Call the phone number where the camera is located and within seconds you can monitor the area. It can even be set up to call you, sending images at connection. No computer is required in the area being monitored and installation is as easy as plug and play. $749.00 (U.S) @ Spy World
Need some accoustical jammers, cell phone interceptors, envelope xray'ers, heat scanners, thermal scopes, white light generators, we got all that shit too...
Got root?
360 degrees of Karma
Yes, it has. And how do you plan on getting your X10 feed from the boat to the land?
Cue The Sun...
What is it with the freakin' Yankees hats?
Are all webcams now required to render people as wearing them, in random colors, like some sort of Yahoo! Games avatar?
Are we sure these are two different guys?
Is the red-hatted one actually mugging for the camera?
And why is the blue-hatted one wearing the same sweater I'm wearing right now?
--Blair
Excuse me, but what is the _AIM_ of all this project? I hope, it's either _catch_ the vandals (yourself or with a help of police), or _save_ your *fishes. If you want to catch them, your webcam and cellphone are absolutely irrelevant. What will you do with a lot of best quality pictures of absolutely unknown vandals? Go to police? They have a lot of work even without your *fishery.
If you want to be there and immediately catch them - you are out of luck. You are one, they are many - and they have enough time to swim away. What are you going to do then? Boat races a-la agent 007?
So, I advice either: making there a room that is automatically closed and locked when entered so that only you can open it (There is a lot of such tricks in old knight films), or the guard (Including the man with at least a baton or a hungry dog fed with vandals only). I cannot advice leaving somewhere vodka with cyanide since it's extremely dangerous and highly illegal.
I don't think you are the only *fisher there. Make a treaty with your neighbours about common defense so that everybody seeing vandals informs the others and then you catch them together.
And, if you are a programmer, and you can attach your *fishery to the Internet, you can simply move your workplace to your boat.
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spam spam spam spam spam spam
No one expects the Spammish Repetition!
Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist
There's a guy in my area that sells security systems along the line of your webcam ideas. He's got his own OS and is connecting it to a broadband (cable) connection so it can be viewed remotely. The images are stored on the hard drive, and can be retrieved at any point. Check out his web page at http://www.eagleeyedvr.com/
In order to be immortal you must be organize
There are 2 very different types of motion detection. One type uses a physical motion sensor and sends an analog alarm signal to the computer. Digital motion detection takes place completely inside the comp - you set up a detection grid and sensitivity levels for each cam, and the soft looks for specific changes in vid data to detect and record motion. This takes more work, but is exponentially more flexible. This is especially helpful for boats - my security system was installed at a Marina, so it was very important to block off the water areas from activity detection. Again hopefully this helps.
--- Sigs are dumb.