Hundreds of Belgian private cameras hacked

The whole World Wide Web is able to peek inside more than 100 Belgian living rooms, cafés and offices after the Russian website Insecam.org began illegally broadcasting the live images online, writes Knack.

Federal secretary of state for privacy, Philippe De Backer, is outraged and calls for computer specialists from the federal police to intervene, according to Het Laatste Nieuws and De Morgen.

The website is a potential goldmine for burglars, thieves and kidnappers, who can monitor the premises to see when people come and go, what cars they drive, whether there is a guard dog present, or when the shopkeeper empties the cash register.

The site has been around for years, but has only recently drawn political attention for its potential to be exploited by criminals. The website's administrator claims that the camera images are legally distributed, as they lack a security password.

Caroline De Geest of the Belgian Privacy Commission disagrees: "These practices are illegal, because the people in the images have not given permission," she says, while advising the owners of cameras to make sure they are secure. De Geest also urges the federal police to launch a study in order to stop the hacking.