I know we went back and forth on this a bit, but since a good friend of mine in Montreal, who belongs to at least one makerspace wrote this to me about the Dropcams, I thought it might be good fodder for discussion:
"Just fyi ..Closed circuit TV is fine, but if my makerspace insisted on Internetifying 'em, I'd leave. I wouldn't ever want to be eternally spied upon while trying new things. If ever I slipped and, say, cut my finger, I wouldn't want that to end up on the 'net 'coz up to infinite people may have been watching / recording. Just saying."
He is, by the way, willing to come down and lead a workshop:
"Also, yes, I'll teach something. What/when?"
The reasons for the Dropcams was mainly so people would know if anyone was at Lowell Makes so they can come down and hang out. Obviously there's the privacy/spying/creeped-out factor to consider.
What if we keep one public that's far enough away, maybe we leave it at that, and then make all other Dropcams private?