College students may remember Jason Biggs’ famous strip scene in front of his computer’s Webcam in 1999’s hit movie, American Pie, and ISU students are not strangers to similar scenes.

Webcams, video cameras that hook up to a computer, have been gaining popularity on college campuses across the country since their use in the hit movie. Students and university officials are using the cameras for entertainment and as a way to transmit important information.

Iowa State has had two Webcams in the last three years. The Webcam is used to give students, prospective students, parents and alumni an up-to-the-minute view of the school.

“We first installed a Webcam at Iowa State in 1997. It was on the roof of Durham [Hall] and overlooked the plaza between Durham, the library and Morrill Hall,” said Diana Pounds, community manager of ISU University Relations. “The latest cam, atop the Union, was installed in August of 2000.”

The view from the Memorial Union shows Christian Petersen’s Fountain of the Four Seasons.

The view is updated once every hour, Pounds said. Onlookers using a Java-enabled browser can see continuous updates of the image.

“We can’t tell by our statistics who is viewing the site,” Pounds said. “My sense is that it’s most popular with alumni. That’s who sends us mail about the site. I also think parents like the cam.”

ISU students are catching onto the fad by setting up cameras in their dorm rooms and apartments.

The cameras allow others to log on and catch a glimpse of their lives. One site that uses Webcams is www.realcollege.com.

Ryan Hankins, junior in electrical engineering, said he has a Webcam installed at his house.

He said he uses a program called Netscape Netmeeting to talk with other Webcam owners so that they can see one another while typing back and forth.

“You have to have a high-speed Internet connection for [the program] to work, though,” Hankins said. “It would be useful if everyone had a high-speed connection and could use this technology.”

Hankins said having his face displayed over the Internet isn’t that big of a privacy issue for him. “I suppose the conversation could be monitored, but that’s about it,” he said.

Andy Collmann, freshman in pre-business, has a Webcam set up in his dorm room in Friley Hall.

He said his Webcam has the capability of detecting who is watching him and from what location, how long the person has been logged on to the site and what kind of computer and operating system the person is using.

“I know when people are watching,” he said. “I don’t change clothes in front of it.”

Collmann said the camera “does not personally make me nervous,” but it can make others leery.

Mike Bowman, assistant director of computer security for Academic Information Technologies, said no rules exist at Iowa State prohibiting Webcam activity.

“There is nothing against the use of Webcams; there are always dangers, but people should use good judgment,” he said.

Frank Poduska, system analyst for Academic Information Technologies, said Webcams present few dangers.

“The biggest one is that continually uploading images could easily put one over the 200MB per day limit for outbound traffic from the residence halls,” he said.