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Remote Camera Monitoring

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by ohm.paul 1 view

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Currently, we have multiple cameras set up at multiple store locations. They are GeoVision cameras connected to PCs with Geovision DVR Cards. Right now, the cameras simply record the feed to the local computer.

What I would like to do is be able to monitor that video feed remotely, from our central office. The GeoVision software comes with the ability to set up a webcam server, which would be perfect for our situation. However, the problem is that many of our locations are located inside other stores, such as malls. Therefore, we are unable to open particular ports to allow the webcam server to serve the video.

Is there any conceivable way that we could accomplish this task without forwarding any ports? Perhaps, could it work something like GoToMyPC or LogMeIn where the feed is sent somewhere, and I can "meet it in the middle" between the store location and remote viewing location?

All systems are running XP Pro.

Any ideas are helpful.

Thanks,
Paul

37 replies

by oh smeg

Video takes a lot of Bandwidth to stream. So you will need decent speed connections at the source points and High Speed at the receiving end as once you start to accept several different streams you will very quickly run out of Bandwidth.

Col

by ohm.paul

I understand that it would be a bandwidth hog for it to be constantly streaming all the time, but I would prefer to just be able to stream it when I want, rather than all the time. The video will still be recorded on the PCs at the store locations, but I would just like to be able to tap into the stream on demand.

by ohm.paul

This would probably work well, but we already have cameras set up at all the locations, and the software included to record the video to the PCs, its just a matter of configuring the PC to send the streaming video to our central location when it is asked for.

The WebCam Server module of the geovision software would really work perfectly, that is, if we were able to open and forward the required ports, but I am just looking for a way around that...I realize I am asking for something that is probably not possible or unfeasible, but I figured I'd ask.

by tjwizmisc

Sorry the judgmental group gave you such a hard time.

It is no different than a company's right and ability to monitor emails, computer activities and phones. A company should not pay wages for slackers and thieves. Also to record customers illegal activity.

Those who complain about being monitored have one thing in common. They red-flag that they are the worst abusers and need to be monitored the most.

You had a legitimate request for tech advice, not all the garbage you were given.

CCTV protects the innocent by providing proof of their honesty. It also provides protection for a business against thieves and those who also steal company time without doing what they are paid for.

Either way it is totally legitimate.

If CCTV is used for illegal or immoral purposes those who do often wind up in prison where they belong.

The answer that DESERVES to be here:
You can download the manuals online if they
weren't provided on your system.

Complete instructions are provided there. I could be more specific but it is an extremely good idea to know the manual.

Good luck.

by ohm.paul

The only problem with that solution is that the user of the computer will know when we are looking at them. The idea of what we want is to be able to view the feed without the employee knowing. Obviously if the employee sees his/her computer moving, then they'll know that we are monitoring them right then.

by older mycroft

You cleverly disguised the original post to suggest that you were interested in streaming static camera images of a security nature, within stores dotted around the country.

It now turns out that you wish to mount a covert operation in order to spy on your employees!

I for one will have no part in this charade and suggest that others desist from aiding and abetting you in what can only be described as a criminal act.

If you achieve your desires, then only to be found out at some later time - you would undoubtedly find yourself in Federal Court, facing charges that could make your eyes water.

by tonythetiger

you would have a problem with an employer monitoring what his employees are doing. Why is it criminal? I can be monitored at will except in the restroom.

by older mycroft

In the words of the immortal Peter Cook:

You are a loathsome, spotted reptile! ;)

by jdclyde

Some micromanaging twit looking to become as sneaky little worm on top of it, should not receive assistance, especially for free.

You are a dick, for thinking you need to spy like that.

by faradhi

I used to run retail stores. Monitoring employees is a MUST sometime covertly. A significant percentage of loss in a retail environment is internal theft. http://www.crimedoctor.com/employee_theft.htm This article has it at 47%. I have heard stats ranging up to 80%. I would imagine it would depend on the type of retail business.

One example with which I have had personal experience. I ran a video store. The store management was completely turned over. The reason for the turn over, along with poor sales, was the store was losing 100 movies and games a month when they did a New Release inventory (once a month) and 600 Movies when they did a full inventory (once a quarter). When you lose that volume, it is internal. We began watching security tapes and the store from across the street with binoculars. It took only two days to find one of the people stealing. She was arrested during a store meeting. The next quarterly inventory, losses dropped to 6 movies. Now, this person did not account for the entire loss. A lot of the loss was eliminated when the other employees saw we were watching and that they would be arrested.

Had the previous management been doing this from the beginning, there would have been thousands of dollars worth of savings. Also, the Remember that a New Release not available for sale usually costs between $100 and $250.

I do not know from this post if this guy is going overboard or not. I do not know what type of retail business he is in. If I were running the store, I would let my employees know that they are being watched, always. But I would not disclose all the ways they are being watched.

Retail is not the only business that does this. Casinos and banks are equally aggressive in regards to monitoring employees.

This may be legit, it may not. I do not know. I would submit that in a business environment on computers that are owned by the business, it is the right of the business to monitor the computers covertly or not. I personally would want some double check on the employee charged with the covert surveillance to ensure they are not monitoring systems they no business watching (payroll comes to mind). But on the face of it, to have covert access to a security camera system so an employee does not know when they are being watched is not something I would object to in a retail environment.

by ohm.paul

I have never seen a group of people rally to such a cause...I am unsure why. Yes, we want to be able to view our employees. Yes we want to be able to do it without them knowing. No this is not my idea, it is my boss's, I am trying to set it up so that HE can view HIS employees without them knowing. This is well within his legal limits, and so I have no idea what the hell you are all talking about. I am a network manager trying to set up a monitoring system because like faradhi said, monitoring employees is a must. And it MUST be done without them knowing about it.

Try to understand the situation before trying to rip someone apart...morons.

by jdclyde

is where you draw the line.

If the punk was being open about it, that would be different, but he isn't.

by faradhi

is not illegal and sometime necessary.

It happens in banks and casinos. As it stated in a post below, I have sat across the street many nights with binoculars watching employees.

This is not really any diffrent. The employee know if they are in a retail environment that they are being monitored. No retail outlet will tell the employee ALL the ways they are being monitored.

by ohm.paul

for understanding that covert surveillance is present in every retail store you walk into. This is a must in our business, so I dont see what most of you are talking about. Employees are always monitored in this setting, and of course it is without them knowing, otherwise they would know how to get around it...

by older mycroft

And that is what doesn't sit well with me.

You originally posted with a non-committal, innocent-sounding technical query. You were then offered possible solutions which you discounted out of hand without giving a justifiable reason other than the fact that you didn't care for the solution as offered. It was only when you finally let slip that the employees would see their computer screen moving, thereby "blowing your covert cover", that it dawned on me, just WHAT it was that you were doing.

Now, unless you feel threatened by your employees perhaps reading your postings on TR, I would be grateful to know why you felt you couldn't come clean with the TR peers in your original post. Perhaps it is you that suffers from an aversion to being truthful?

You never know - perhaps some of your employees are already TR peers, and are using TR to spy on you!

Whatever your motives - your methods yesterday and today on TR, make the hackles on my neck stand up and be counted.

You leave me with a feeling of decided unease, and I can assure you THAT doesn't happen often to me!

by ohm.paul

i'm not going to justify myself to you. If you really think i was trying to do something "sneaky" then go ahead. I was trying to find out something, and I can say for sure, that except for the few that understand what is needed in this situation, the rest are just not understanding

by faradhi

The first solution was some other camera software which provided the same functionality as his current software.

The his reply to the next solution gotomypc and logmein was that it had to be covert surveillance.

Now, maybe he should have stated that from the beginning. However, I do not think the reaction would have been any diffrent. I get the impression that you have more of a problem with employers using covert methods of surveillance than his method of asking the question.

This conversation has come up in many forms on this forum. Essentially we are talking about employer monitoring their own systems. The employer has right to monitor its systems the way they seem fit. They have an obligation to inform the employee that they are being monitored but not how they are being monitored.

by Former member

You can use "Logmein":
https://secure.logmein.com/home.asp?lang=en
Or teamviewer:
http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx
And who says that it has to be on the computers that other people are using, just make sure that this software is on a computer that they do not have access to. IE: locked away. then you can have access to the computer that does have the feed. Or get a security Guard to watch over them. :)

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

by faradhi

We get a lot of people asking questions for more nefarious purposes.

It is sometime difficult to make the distinctions and we get so much of it on this board that sometimes we tend to think foul immediately.

by ohm.paul

I just figured that some people would understand the need for employee-monitoring without the employee's knowledge

by ic-it

Your companies employees SHOULD understand that they are subject to monitoring. They just don't need to know when they are Actually being monitored.
There should be a statement in their Orientation or new employee package. Plus it may save the company a lawsuit If it is a clear policy.

by tonythetiger

[i]when he has to sneak to do it is where you draw the line.[/i]

Do you have cameras where you work? Do they reach out, tap you on the shoulder, and say "PSST!, Hey bud! We're looking at you right now."?

by tonythetiger

was that the first solution provided was to view the DESKTOP of the user of the computer that the cameras are hooked to.

The answer to that is to use a dedicated PC (or preferably a server) for the cameras, or a beefed up machine that can run two virtual machines: One for the user, and one for the camera.

by jdclyde

and you are coming across as a weasel.

I never said monitoring is illegal, but the way you are going about it, you smell like a dirty rat.

Does your boss have a camera starring at you all day too, or does the trained weasel not need to be monitored like the filty minions?

by ohm.paul

it is necessary to monitor employees, and sometimes it isn't so necessary. When a retail location is located at a bank, and they have a safe with tens of thousands of dollars in it, then I'd say it's pretty important and smart to monitor your employees. Me, no I am not being monitored because I am not playing with cash all day...you're calling me a weasel but really you just jumped to conclusions and now you can't admit that there is legitimate reason for remote monitoring like I described

by jdclyde

your clear intention to be sneaky about it to SPY upon the locations.

If people KNOW they are being monitored, they are less likely to mess up in the first place. A lot of places put in dummy cameras for just that purpose.

A shame you don't see where many of us draw the line.

[i]"The idea of what we want is to be able to view the feed without the employee knowing."[/i]

[b]Let them know you're monitoring [/b]and let them think your monitoring all the time. Your way is "questionable" at best. I don't have a problem when it is all above board.

by jdclyde

we do not have cameras setup to micromanage employees. No keystroke loggers, no screen captures, no monthly lie detector tests, no cavity searches as then enter or leave.

Are YOU watched at your job Tony?

by faradhi

The employer has an obligation to state that the employees are being monitored. However, they do not have to state the method of monitoring.

Since this is a retail chain, I would bet that there is a statement in the orientation packet.

by tonythetiger

Cameras in all hallways, parking lots, and all entrances to every building on the complex, swipe cards to get into every building (and some rooms within some buildings) on the complex.

On the computer, every executable, every document opened, every website visited is logged. Desktops can be monitored in real time without warning. Phones too (although if they hear something that is obviously personal, they're supposed to stop listening). Though realistically, they'd have to hire a lot of people to constantly monitor everyone (and hire more to monitor those, etc.).

I even have what's called a supervisor. Every once in awhile, he'll look over my shoulder, or ask, "Whaddaya into?" In rare cases, he even gives me (gasp!) work assignments!

I think the intent was not to monitor employees' keystrokes or desktops, but to access the security cameras in the building which just happened to be controlled by one of the users' computers.

by ohm.paul

The idea of having a separate PC for the cameras is a very viable solution, and possibly the one that we will have to work with as that would work as long as the computer doesn't have a monitor connected to it.

Thanks for the tip Tony

by ohm.paul

As I stated in my original post, the cameras are hooked up and are being recorded to the local PC. So yes, obviously the employees know that they are being monitored, but we just wanted it to be able to happen from our central office...

by faradhi

that they can and are being monitored. It sounds like the company does not want the employees to know WHEN they are being monitored.

You are right that the employees should know that they can be monitored at any time. I would be willing to bet that they do. I have worked for large retail corps and Mom and pop retail, in both, I knew I was being monitored. I just did not know when.

Edited to add...

He did say [i]"The only problem with that solution is that the user of the computer will know [b] when [/b] we are looking at them."[/i]

by jdclyde

Give him the benefit of the doubt if you wish.

He still came off as a weasel to me.

I am not a fan of sneaky little weasels.

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