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MIT's Bathroom Server

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the leave-the-seat-down dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Some of the undergrads wired Random Hall's (an undergraduate dorm) bathroom system up to the net so that you can visit http://bathroom.mit.edu and see which stalls on which floors are vacant, and if they're in use, how long whoever's been in there. It's a pretty good idea-- you can scout your stall from your dorm room, and watch it to make sure nobody's taken a s$#% there recently."

13 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. These kids are too smart... by tulare · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hehe. I mean, this could get interesting. Imagine what pranks you could pull - the most obvious would be to "cheat" the sensors so that the casual user would think that all the bathrooms are in use at some critical time - say 7am on finals week!
    Now waiting to hear the Beowulf joke...

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  2. Alright! by Auckerman · · Score: 5, Funny

    For peats sake, Michael, you Slashdotted someones bathroom. You should be ashamed of yourself.

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    1. Re:Alright! by evilviper · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sorry guys, I know how bad it is, but you just can't go in there right now... It's been slashdotted.

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  3. Not sure if I like this... by Mr.+Neutron · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, if I've been wanking for the last 20 minutes, the whole world gets to know about it?

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  4. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    As if it wasn't enough crap on the net already!

  5. Useful stuff by imevil · · Score: 3, Funny

    It would be great to know how they implemented the monitoring in order to apply it to other useful daily needs. For example:

    • HTCPCP: Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (RFC2324)
    • Coke machine monitoring: I remember the frustration of being in the computer lab, willing to get a cheap coke and having to go to the next building (coke next to the computer lab was damn expensive) and then finding NO COKE in the coke machine.
    E
  6. Oh dear god no! by G-funk · · Score: 3, Funny

    Am I the only one who thinks that slashdotting a bathroom is a bad idea?

    "Mr peters, it's happening again. Slashdot has ddos'd our shitter. Dave and Frank have been locked in for 30 minutes since it went down... Mr Peters?..."

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  7. No CGI? by wirefarm · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://bathroom.mit.edu/cgi-bin/flush.pl?stall=1

    ;-)
    Cheers,
    Jim in Tokyo

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  8. Re:Privacy? by jareds · · Score: 3, Funny

    But does the entire world need to know when and for how long you are using the bathroom.

    It doesn't show who's using the bathroom, just that it's in use. It's not like you have to login with a username before you can get into the bathroom.

  9. the dread DoS attack by StandardDeviant · · Score: 5, Funny
    (denial of shitting)


    seriously, there is such a thing as trusting your remote sensors too much... (the main reason spysats haven't replaces human intelligence sources)

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  10. Hacked by yusing · · Score: 4, Funny

    As I write, one stall has been "in use" for 47 minutes.

    Somebody better go check for either a body, or an alligator clip....

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  11. FP! by sharkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great, now the cry of "First Dump!" will echo up and down the dorm halls.

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  12. Re:Privacy? by Tim+Macinta · · Score: 3, Funny
    You know with all the privacy advocates around here you would think someone would think this is an invation.

    Heh heh... let's just hope they're not tracking their users by the cookies they've eaten.

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