Subscriber Discussion

IZ - Inappropriate Zooming In The News Again...

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 26, 2014

But this time it's criminal.

According to the prosecution, Mr McCleave used a camera - whose default was normally set to a junction on the Whitewell Road and Shore Road in north Belfast - and directed it into the woman's first floor apartment for a total of 79 minutes over a 26-day period.

The prosecution lawyer told the jury that operators wishing to examine screens more clearly could zoom in using a joystick, and that only one operator at a time could use the joystick to look at a screen.

She told the court that on the afternoon of 12 November 2012, a colleague of Mr McCleave's returned to pod one after being at the gym, and after checking several other cameras, he then dialled up camera 17 - the camera which overlooked the Whitewell Road and Shore Road junction. The lawyer said the colleague "turned to glance at the camera" and immediately noticed that instead of being pointed at the normal interface area, it was "directed in a window of, clearly, a private dwelling somewhere within the scope of camera 17".

Upon further investigation, the colleague discovered that this camera was being operated and monitored from pod three, where Mr McCleave was sitting, and the same image was displayed on that pod.

though he has put forth this convincing alibi:

When asked about the incident on 12 November when the woman was seen walking round her apartment in a state of undress, Mr McCleave said he had gone to make a cup of tea, he must have left his monitor on and suggested that he did not have control of camera 17.

Apparently camera 17 is not the only thing he didn't have control of. But the prosecution alleges other victims as well:

She said other footage attributed to Mr McCleave over that period included the young woman "going about her business" in the flat and out on the street as well "concentrating" on other women.

Trial pending, but since there is apparently no privacy masking, he may not be the first and one wonders how many other victims are out there, blithely unaware that they have been "concentrated" upon and zoomed ruthlessly...

JH
John Honovich
Jun 26, 2014
IPVM

Thanks for sharing. I bet this is an especially significant risk in the UK as they have so many actively monitored city CCTV cameras.

U
Undisclosed #1
Jun 27, 2014

"..but since there is apparently no privacy masking,"

If the camera is a PTZ, how exactly would you configure a privacy mask?

Avatar
Ethan Ace
Jun 27, 2014

Lots of PTZs allow privacy masks based on the camera position. The mask moves as the camera does.

That being said, PTZ mechanisms are known to drift a little bit over time, so the masks need to be checked periodically to make sure they haven't drifted with it and you're suddenly seeing in someone's second story window.

JH
John Honovich
Jun 27, 2014
IPVM

PTZ privacy mask video demo from Youtube:

U
Undisclosed #1
Jun 27, 2014

I stand corrected.

So this mask would have to be set up in the camera itself? Or in the VMS?

HC
Hernan Carzalo
Jun 29, 2014
IPVMU Certified

both options can be made.

almost all ptz supports privacy masking, only a few vms can do that with some specific cameras.

U
Undisclosed #1
Jun 27, 2014

Privacy Masking guidelines are covered by the BSIA.

MR
Malcolm Rutherford
Jun 27, 2014

It doesn't surprise me unfortunately. The operators should have privacy masked anything that smacked of being able to view a private dwelling. This is what we had to do in the UK.

TG
Tedor Gligorich
Jun 27, 2014

Dont take just one cheapshot at me, and this is no joke, but the "going about her business in the flat", that is just slang for using lavatorium right? What other business in home?

And again, does anyone out there think oddly about how a MAN would serve as tattler on another MAN over a picture of a pleasant woman? I lay this challenge down to all you men who scoff around, to say "IF YOU personelly saw all camera 17's indiscretenesses', remembering to still be the MAN you are, would you goto the policeMAN and tell about it like a crime, like you would for murder? I really have a doubt of this. If you dont say, then that speaks itself.

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