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About

Surveillance Camera Man is a mysterious YouTube prankster who records video of random strangers in locations around the city of Seattle, Washington without their permission.

Online History

On October 10th, 2012, the photography news blog Pinac[5] published an article about a YouTube video featuring a man disrupting classrooms by recording students and teachers without their permission. The YouTube video has since been removed. On October 30th, Pinac[7] published a follow-up piece referring to the prankster as "Surveillance Camera Man." That day, a Facebook[6] page titled "Surveillance Camera Man" was launched. May 22nd, 2013, the Surveillance Camera Man YouTube[1] channel was created, with the first video featuring footage of people expressing frustration for having themselves recorded without their permission (shown below). In the first two years, the video gained over 380,000 views and 1,700 comments.

[This video has been removed]

On June 25th, the Surveillance Camera Man LiveLeak[2] channel was created, where two additional videos in the series was uploaded that day (shown below).

On July 11th, the /r/SurveillantCameraMan[3] subreddit was launched for discussions about the video series. On June 17th, 2014, a seventh video was uploaded to the Surveillance Camera Man channel (shown below, left). On October 14th, an eighth installment of the series was uploaded to YouTube, which was subsequently posted on the /r/videos[4] subreddit. In 24 hours, the video gained over 300,000 views and 3,600 votes (80% upvoted).

[This video has been removed]

[This video has been removed]

Reputation

On October 15th, 2014, The Daily Dot[8] published an article about whether the pranks should be considered harassment and highlighted Internet comments speculating that the videos were staged with hired actors.

H staysharp5 2 points 6 months ago So I went back to Surveillance camera man 5 and the guy yelling at the protester https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=17tBHVOxu68#t-119. Its the guy from collegehumor so idk how real these can be. permalinlk ↑ [-] likl3sfuhjh 3 points 6 months ago yea everyone in all of his videos are crisis actors. i had the same idea when these first surfaced permalink parent Herpolhode 2 points 6 months ago As much as I like the idea of this being true, to have hired that whole room of of asian seniors and the large Taco Bell staff complete with Taco Bell kitchen...where the f--- is the money coming from? The simpler explanation is that these are legit. permalink parent

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Surveillance Camera Man

Surveillance Camera Man

Updated Nov 07, 2024 at 01:46PM EST by LiterallyAustin.

Added Oct 15, 2014 at 04:15PM EDT by Don.

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About

Surveillance Camera Man is a mysterious YouTube prankster who records video of random strangers in locations around the city of Seattle, Washington without their permission.

Online History

On October 10th, 2012, the photography news blog Pinac[5] published an article about a YouTube video featuring a man disrupting classrooms by recording students and teachers without their permission. The YouTube video has since been removed. On October 30th, Pinac[7] published a follow-up piece referring to the prankster as "Surveillance Camera Man." That day, a Facebook[6] page titled "Surveillance Camera Man" was launched. May 22nd, 2013, the Surveillance Camera Man YouTube[1] channel was created, with the first video featuring footage of people expressing frustration for having themselves recorded without their permission (shown below). In the first two years, the video gained over 380,000 views and 1,700 comments.


[This video has been removed]


On June 25th, the Surveillance Camera Man LiveLeak[2] channel was created, where two additional videos in the series was uploaded that day (shown below).



On July 11th, the /r/SurveillantCameraMan[3] subreddit was launched for discussions about the video series. On June 17th, 2014, a seventh video was uploaded to the Surveillance Camera Man channel (shown below, left). On October 14th, an eighth installment of the series was uploaded to YouTube, which was subsequently posted on the /r/videos[4] subreddit. In 24 hours, the video gained over 300,000 views and 3,600 votes (80% upvoted).


[This video has been removed]

[This video has been removed]


Reputation

On October 15th, 2014, The Daily Dot[8] published an article about whether the pranks should be considered harassment and highlighted Internet comments speculating that the videos were staged with hired actors.


H staysharp5 2 points 6 months ago So I went back to Surveillance camera man 5 and the guy yelling at the protester https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=17tBHVOxu68#t-119. Its the guy from collegehumor so idk how real these can be. permalinlk ↑ [-] likl3sfuhjh 3 points 6 months ago yea everyone in all of his videos are crisis actors. i had the same idea when these first surfaced permalink parent Herpolhode 2 points 6 months ago As much as I like the idea of this being true, to have hired that whole room of of asian seniors and the large Taco Bell staff complete with Taco Bell kitchen...where the f--- is the money coming from? The simpler explanation is that these are legit. permalink parent

Search Interest

External References

Recent Videos 1 total

Recent Images 2 total


Top Comments

Crimeariver
Crimeariver

This guy just seems like an ass to me. If you're trying to spread a message about "cameras invading muh privacy!", it would help his case a lot if he actually explained to the people why he was filming them and that by being in a public space they essentially consent to being filmed, instead of just standing there like a tool with a camera.

My other issue is that there's a HUGE difference between a wall mounted camera recording a wide shot of everyone in the store with footage that will never be released to the public, and a guy singling you out and pestering you without answering any of your questions who's going to upload you to the internet where tens of thousands of people will see you.

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