The Facts About the Boat Harbour Drive Webcam
If you saw the local Channel 7 news on Friday night you will have seen the story about the new webcam installed on top of the Widelinx building just off Boat Harbour Drive Hervey Bay.
It would have been a nice but unremarkable story if the reported had restrained herself and not doused it with a lot of spin in an attempt to link it to the current rash of pedophile stories that are going around and so give it some notoriety. Sadly, in her effort to spin the story in that way the reporter failed to do much research into webcams - instead she went for the Shock! Horror! value and didn’t bother about the facts.
Fact
There are webcams just like the one on the Widelinx building all over Australia … and all over the world for that matter. They’re on beaches, high-rise buildings, tourist attractions and anywhere else that will attract interest. In fact there are already several webcams installed in Hervey Bay so this one is really nothing new.
There’s one on top of the Boat Club building at Urangan, it looks as though there’s another one on the same pole as the eagle’s nest at Point Vernon and there’s a fixed webcam on the wall of Aquavue at Torquay.
Webcams help to boost tourism, they show potential visitors … and potential residents … what it’s like to visit and live in the towns where the cameras are located and this one that has drawn so much criticism is going to do something more.
Fact
Our town is growing and one of the major traffic arteries - and throttle points - is covered by this cam. In a few years people will be logging on to that camera before they head for work to make sure that the roundabout isn’t blocked.
Fact
Ordinary users of the camera are limited to one-minute sessions and after that they are put back to the end of the queue so as more people both in and out of town use the camera there will be less chance for the camera to be misused.
Fact
This camera is going to be an invaluable tool for the local police. Today Automated Security - the business that installed the camera - have agreed to provide a direct feed to the local police and give them the power to over-ride the camera in case of emergency. All IP addresses of anyone who accesses the camera will be logged so that it will be possible to trace everyone who accesses the camera and everything that the camera sees will be recorded and made available to the police.
Instead of being some tool for perverts to use to spy on people this camera will become an important tool in the hands of the police.
When you know the facts suddenly this webcam in Hervey Bay isn’t so bad after all.
