Forbes College security camera footage of students posted online

On a Saturday afternoon in December, Cameron Henneberg ’14 sat in the multimedia room in the Forbes College library reading a newspaper as he waited for a document to finish printing. Little did he know that the room’s security camera was streaming live video of his activities on the Internet, available for viewing by anyone connected to the Princeton network with access to the proper URL.

A thin, white Axis 210A camera in the corner of the room is trained on the room’s computers. It streams live video, without sound, to an obscurely named URL maintained by Axis Communications, a company that offers products for professional video surveillance. The video image can be magnified about four times, and the feed is equipped with a snapshot function that allows viewers to take pictures which can then be downloaded onto a computer.

Security measures restrict access to other campus security cameras, but access to this camera’s feed was open to anyone on the University network who knew the URL until password protection was added following inquiries by The Daily Princetonian.

While most security cameras on campus are part of a larger, seven-year-old Campus Video Management System used by the Department of Public Safety, the Forbes camera is maintained and operated by the college office. Most students captured on the Forbes camera and interviewed for this article were not aware of its existence. The few students who did know about the camera did not know that its video feed was streamed online to a webpage that was not password protected.

“Rather than installing a special prox entry system for this room, the security camera was installed as a way to deter potential vandalism of the equipment and to allow college administrators to periodically check on the room more easily because it is located on the opposite end of the building from the college office,” University spokeswoman Emily Aronson said in an e-mail. “Staff will from time to time view the snapshot image from the security camera to make sure the room is secure.”

Though Aronson said only a few administrators should have known the exact URL for the feed, it eventually spread to students, one of whom provided the link to the ‘Prince.’

“I see the value of monitoring public spaces, especially with this valuable stuff like the computers,” Henneberg said. “But I think it’s kind of strange that students are not actively made aware of this surveillance.” As with many other places on campus where security cameras are in place, no visible notice of University surveillance is posted in the multimedia room.

The University does not make the exact locations of cameras public because disclosing them “could serve to undermine the security resources the cameras provide,” Aronson said.

Most security cameras on campus are installed by the Office of Information Technology with technical advice from a division of the Department of Facilities called Life Safety and Security Systems, which is also responsible for maintaining the CVMS camera system, Aronson said. The CVMS video feeds are accessible only to Public Safety, which can view recorded surveillance videos after security incidents.

“Information obtained through the CVMS is kept strictly confidential,” Aronson said.

For the single web camera in Forbes, which is not part of the main security camera system, Aronson said the streaming video was given “an obscure URL with the intention that only those few people who knew the URL could access the site.”

Aronson called wider circulation of the website’s URL “an unintentional oversight,” adding that “it was never the intention for anyone beyond these few staff members to know the Web address or to access the site.”

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Forbes College Master Michael Hecht declined to comment.

Though the site has now been password protected, some students found it troubling that such a precaution was not taken in the first place

Andra Constantinescu ’14 said that she found it “weird that people can see when you’re working and where you are” upon viewing the live feed, which includes the location of the camera and a clock recording the time that each frame is taken.

Charles Ouyang ’14 voiced a similar sentiment, saying, “I guess it’s slightly better that it’s only available within Princeton, but at the same time, people can abuse that ability, so it seems a little creepy.”

The University is legally entitled to monitor its facilities, but students were divided on whether they felt the video stream’s wider accessibility violated their expectations of privacy.

“The privacy of students is extremely important,” Aronson said. “Administrators take the privacy of students very seriously.”

When asked whether he thought that students had an expectation of privacy within the multimedia room, Ouyang said: “A little bit. Some people work there, and I suppose they would like their privacy.”

Others were less concerned with privacy issues.

Amanda Swenson ’14 said she feels that students are not entitled to privacy in the multimedia room or other public University spaces, adding that she did not think it was necessary to post a notice about the camera in the room. “There's also a glass wall right there,” she noted, explaining the lack of privacy inherent in the room's construction.

But Swenson did admit that she was “really weirded out” by the footage’s availability to those unaffiliated with the University administration and said that “if it is a glitch, it's a little spooky.”

Rose Alleva ’14 said she was surprised that others could view the live footage. “That's really creepy,” she said, adding, “I don't know who would really do that.”

“It doesn't affect me particularly, but for others, it might not be OK,” said Cristina Anastase ’14, who had “no idea” that the room was under surveillance.

Ouyang said the security oversight was slightly disturbing and made him question the tightness of security elsewhere on campus, adding that he thought it would be a good idea to post notice that a place is under surveillance.

Yunfan Zhang ’13, however, said he did not believe “that this is the tip of the iceberg that suggests something — you know, some back-scene,” adding, “it's obviously just a minor mistake.”

“I don't really have a problem with this because I know that I’m not doing anything wrong,” Constantinescu said. “It’s just strange, I guess.”