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Professor Has Camera Surgically Implanted In the Back of His Head 119

Posted by samzenpus from the cheating-impossible dept.
There won't be any cheating in professor Wafaa Bilal's class anymore. The New York University photography professor is having a camera surgically implanted in the back of his head. The camera will take a still picture every minute for one year, and the best shots will be put on display at a new museum in Qatar. Visitors can also watch a live stream of images from the camera which has some NYU administrators and faculty worried about student privacy. "Obviously you don't want students to be under the burden of constant surveillance; it's not a good teaching environment," said Fred Ritchin, associate chairman of the department.

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Professor Has Camera Surgically Implanted In the Back of His Head More

Professor Has Camera Surgically Implanted In the Back of His Head

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  • Welcome to the wonderful world of TSA!
    • LoL at the subject.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by icebike ( 68054 )

        From the story:

        The thumbnail-sized camera will be affixed to his head through a piercing-like attachment.

        So not surgery, unless your local tattooed, stud-faced, pointy haired piercing parlor worker qualifies as a surgeon.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tsa ( 15680 )

      Yeah, even I am surprised every day.

  • Anyone got a (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    laser pointer?

  • Why the back? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jeffmeden ( 135043 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @10:50AM (#34242570) Homepage Journal

    Is there that much interesting stuff going on behind him? As he is a professor, I suspect a lot of the footage will be of the wall behind his desk in his office... Hopefully there is a TV or a window there or something.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by somersault ( 912633 )

      I'm thinking it will be full of many final year students making rude gestures :)

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymusing ( 1450747 )

      Obviously he's not a parent. We already have eyes in the back of our heads...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kjella ( 173770 )

        No, you only thought you did.

        Signed, your adult kids 20 years from now

        • HAHA

          Your parents, 2 seconds after your youngest learns to crawl.

          Vengeance is a dish best served ice cold and on a good nights sleep which your kids are unlikely to have for the next two decades.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Jason Levine ( 196982 )

        Not only do I have eyes in the back of our heads to catch my kids getting into trouble, but I can the ability to sense when they are getting into trouble even when they are out of sight. If they're being extremely quiet, they're likely getting into trouble.

        Of course, these "parental super powers" are balanced off by the kids' super powers such as "ability to stretch arms to reach items thought out of their reach" and "ability to tell when mom and dad are having 'alone time' and would prefer not being inter

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jav1231 ( 539129 )
        My friend who knew me pre-children freaked when he first saw this behavior. Me, him, and my two daughters walking through the grocery store. My eyes looking ahead down the aisle, kids behind me: "Nope, put that back." He turned and said, "Dude! That's creepy!" He has a daughter now.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Anonymusing ( 1450747 )

          I had the same thing with my sister (who does not have children). My son was in another room and I yelled over for him to put back the thing he'd just gotten out of the closet. My sister ran over and looked into the room and was amazed that, yeah, he had done exactly what I said.

          It's not magic. It's just being extra alert and knowing your kid's personality, mood, likely interests, etc., and being able to make short-term projections about what they are doing. And frankly it is damned exhausting.

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Probably because he pees from the front.

    • Eight hours per day, every minute, while he's asleep. That's like 175,000 pictures of a pillow. Wow.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Or of his partner depending on position.

      • Eight hours per day, every minute, while he's asleep. That's like 175,000 pictures of a pillow. Wow.

        Not to mention the riveting photos of his car's headrest, if he has any kind of a commute (or pics out the window of the subway car, I suppose, if it's NY)

        Basically, if there's anything interesting going on in the area, this camera is most likely to be pointed away from the action, if this guy is at all observant of his surroundings...

    • Re:Why the back? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @11:15AM (#34243022) Homepage

      Why surgically? This could easily be worn all the time like a collar.

      Honestly, "professors" are getting pretty dimwitted lately, there is ZERO reason to surgically implant a camera except for trying to get infections and nasty medical problems. IF it's not wired to his brain, its pure stupid to implant it.

      A better idea, a non removable waterproof collar with 8 cameras in it capturing a 360 degree view around him. This will not cause the nasty infection that will kill him in 6 months when the battery leaks and pumps heavy metals into his head.

      • Re:Why the back? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by sco08y ( 615665 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @11:25AM (#34243202)

        Why surgically? This could easily be worn all the time like a collar.

        Because he's an attention whore.

        • Why surgically? This could easily be worn all the time like a collar.

          Because he's an attention whore.

          You also forgot idiot.

          For someone educated enough to be called "Professor", he seems to be lacking in common sense.

        • My sentiments exactly. You can tell because of his "Blue Steel" look in the photograph.
      • "there is ZERO reason to surgically implant a camera except for trying to get infections and nasty medical problems."
        And media coverage, of course.
        • Indeed. Funding drying up? Become a cyborg! Except we've now had dozens of these "professor gets X inserted/implanted/grafted to Y" stories. I wouldn't mind if even one cyborg professor had ever gone on a mad killing rampage as a result, but so far: nothing.

      • Why surgically? This could easily be worn all the time like a collar.

        Two potential reasons, neither great:

        1. Honesty. With it surgically implanted, you -know- it's going to stay on him. He can't take it off to go to a whorehouse in Mexico, for example. That said, he could easily say it malfunctioned during that time, and anyway, who cares if he does?

        2. Other people can't easily compel him to take it off. In theory anyway. When entering the country, he'll get to photograph that holy sanctum of customs that no one else is allowed to (since if terrorists knew what color th

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DrXym ( 126579 )
        A better idea, a non removable waterproof collar with 8 cameras in it capturing a 360 degree view around him.

        And I'm sure an arabic guying wearing what looks like an explosive suicide collar will be an instant hit wherever he goes. On plus side think of all the 360 degree photos he will have of police cordons, helicopters and SWAT vans to put up on his site. Assuming he lives long enough to put them up.

    • Is there that much interesting stuff going on behind him?

      I guess he could start moonlighting as a cameraman for those "out the back window" shots ... or in reverse POV gay porn movies.

    • Maybe that is where he had some empty space in his head.

    • Is there that much interesting stuff going on behind him?

      Girlfriend wearing a giant strap-on?

  • Changing the cameras batteries is going to be a bitch.

  • Not implanted (Score:5, Insightful)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @10:51AM (#34242588)
    The thumbnail-sized camera will be affixed to his head through a piercing-like attachment, his NYU colleagues say.

    Not the same.
    And why is this 'STUFF THAT MATTERS' because it really doesn't matter. You could have the same result by wearing a headband with a camera attached to it.

    • And why is this 'STUFF THAT MATTERS' because it really doesn't matter. You could have the same result by wearing a headband with a camera attached to it.

      You did notice this is filed under Idle?

    • Re:Not implanted (Score:5, Informative)

      by dkleinsc ( 563838 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @11:15AM (#34243014) Homepage

      Well, the real reason this matters is that similar technology could be used to attach a laser beam to the head of a shark.

      • I think what matter more is that that was modded Informative rather than Funny . . .

        • I think what matter more is that that was modded Informative rather than Funny . . .

          My thoughts exactly!

          I can just see several /.-ers mentally revising their shark/laser-beam blueprints now...I know mine'll need an update...

    • Yes, it would be slightly less permanent, too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by stagg ( 1606187 )
      There wouldn't be much gained by actually implanting it in your skull either.
    • So he's got it strapped to a transdermal piercing? That is far, far from an implant. But you know that the art world technonoobs will eat it up as if it has some kind of brain interface or something. You would not believe the technological ignorance of curators and museum professionals.

  • Hook up a GPS and connect it to a live version of Google Street View and you're done [slashdot.org].

  • woo (Score:2)

    by nomadic ( 141991 )
    Constant surveillance of NYU students? Sounds dull. If I want to watch a bunch of pretentious, talentless, hipster trust fund kids from flyover states who think they're going to make it big in NYC as artists/musicians/directors, I'll just go hang out in Williamsburgh. I don't need to go all the way to Qatar.

  • ...just wear a hat? Seems a bit less extreme, less expensive, and would ultimately prove much, much simpler...

  • Is he Kevin Warwicks long lost brother? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @11:08AM (#34242874) Homepage

    Just another silly attention seeking stunt. What exactly is he trying to prove other than what a fool he is?

  • He obviously has insecurity about what people do when he isn't looking. Are they talking about me, making faces at me, I wonder!

  • End of an age-old practice (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @11:20AM (#34243120) Journal

    Teacher: "Tommy, to the office for shooting that spit-ball, now!"

    Tommy: "I didn't do it, Bobby did it!"

    Teacher: "Instant replay, observe....."

    Tommy: "Drats! See ya at the office, Professor Bilal."

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Digero ( 974682 )

      The instant replay rule has ruined college spitball. The professors aren't worried about making a good call anymore because of official reviews, and its making the classes longer and ruining spitball. Just get rid of it.

  • Because Mr. Bilal is an active professor, teaching three courses this semester and scheduled to teach this spring, his special camera could capture not just his personal activity, but also his interactions with students.

    That could make for really awkward viewing by the selection committee as they look through his private life.

  • I recognize a Skilosh demon spawn when I see one. Quick, somebody get the deoculation powder!

  • This is really not much different than Justin.tv, right? I mean... sure, the Prof is getting pierced, and it faces backwards, but the idea is the same. Is Justin.tv in a Museum?

  • after readig TFA... (Score:3, Informative)

    by RapmasterT ( 787426 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2010 @11:33AM (#34243344)
    It seems like this guy is a serial offender of jackassery.

    I guess that's what you get from someone who is a professor of photography, and likely is constantly ridiculed and bullied by the "real art" professors.

    There's so much fail surrounding this idea that it's not even worthy of commenting on what all is wrong with it.

    • There's so much fail surrounding this idea that it's not even worthy of commenting on what all is wrong with it.

      Please do, you're the only one who can RTFA.

  • That way, when the Li-ion battery inside his head catches fire, he won't have to try to rip open his skull before flames shoot out his eyes like General Grievous.

  • Love it! (Score:2)

    by ddt ( 14627 )

    I disagree about the constant surveillance environment comment by Fred Ritchin. It's a great environment. One of my most frustrating issues is my students goofing off in facebook while I teach.

    I also think it's great training for this new world where privacy has become illusory. Things have gone transparent, and if someone wants a creative new view of the world, I feel that's his prerogative. We should be allowed to do whatever we want with any photons bouncing off us.

  • What the fuck is with his photo? I see the birth of a meme.

  • I already saw someone do this in a gay space movie .... uh ... damn!

  • Um (Score:2)

    by jav1231 ( 539129 )
    Is it me or does that guy look like a Zoolander reject!?
  • Never turn your back on the Students.

  • The camera will take a still picture every minute for one year, and the best shots will be put on display at a new museum in Qatar. Visitors can also watch a live stream of images from the camera which has some NYU administrators and faculty worried about student privacy.

    does this mean I have to go to the musuem to see the stream, or is there a website? Seriously, no uStream link?

  • ... New camera model to come with idiot attached.

  • 1. The dude that had friends filming drowning him and then reviving him. 2. The guy that shot up the college but had been submitting creative writing of it. No, not everything is art. This is just a lame stretch.
    • Tell that to the art world. Right now as far as major museums are concerned, planting a garden in your yard is high art.
  • They really shouldn't let Borg drones become teachers.
  • Dude! Sweet! Dude! Sweet!
  • My reaction was 'What... the administration thinks a classroom is a private place?!?' Of course, with a camera in the back of one's head, there are certain legal considerations (like not being able to use a public restroom or go into certain areas... and don't stand with your back towards a Swedish military base, as it is illegal to photograph those... and don't use the MTA, as personal photos are allowed until you actually try it, then they will come and kick you out for life... but I'm rambling). Howeve

  • To secure his internet fame, he should head to Saudi Arabia, do something seriously un-Islamic and get himself beheaded.

    On a side note, who would own the copyrights?

  • He must be married.

  • Maybe they should use a camera too.

  • that it's not a question about what is/should be private, but a question on what is public.

  • Why do all the photos I see of this guy show the uninteresting side of the appendage in question?

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