Fun sticker: "Toilet cameras are for research"

I snapped a photo of this sticker in one of the restrooms at Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco's Mission District. There used to be one just like it posted above a small hole in the wall in the other restroom. That sticker was removed though once the hole was patched to, er, block the camera's lens.
Link to a bigger image

UPDATE: In the comments, Sean Savage confesses to being the creator of this fine sticker. He writes:

I made it up last year, originally as a prank for the toilets on the (Burning Man) playa (hence the Bureau of Land Management logo).

Print em out yourself w/ the PDF here, or remix w/ the template file: Link

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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qwertydvorak

Cameras in washrooms aren’t that far-fetched. I’m a Canadian but when I was in a department store fitting room in New Orleans (pre-Katrina), there were signs saying something like “Notice: This fitting room does not offer complete privacy.” And sure enough, there were cameras leering over the stall walls. You had to try on your clothes while hunched over in a corner of the stall in order to avoid revealing your naked self to the cameras.
ummmmm

Dear “Outrage, fury, disgust, and an involuntary sue response are more consistent with my feelings.”, Yup, they gave those away in Maxim Magazine a few years ago, along with several other (equally witty) ones. I’m surprised nobody remembered that. Well, maybe I’m not that surprised…
allthegoodnamesaretaken

If you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear from this form surveillance.
Daemon

“toilet cameras” sounds rather illegal to me actually.
mdhatter

I know what I’d use to block the lens
Bookyloo

put an actual toilet camera in the Ritual Coffee Roasters bathroom and all you’d see is dude after dude stuffing his skinny jeans, adjusting his fedora, waxing his rollie fingers ‘stache, then practicing his “I swear I’m just here to work on my novel, not to check out chicks or surf myspace” face.
Anonymous

Thats pretty insane stuff. I know a lot of this is used for voyueristic stuff etc for a quick $.

Pretty disgusting behaviour if you ask me.

Matt
Toilet Stickers
geekazoid

@10: You must be kidding.

Fear wasn’t the response that came to mind. Outrage, fury, disgust, and an involuntary sue response are more consistent with my feelings.

If this is real – because its so outrageous it mustn’t be – and it is state-sponsored, I would be seriously creeped out.

I always find it especially shocking when fellow citizens advocate abuse of authority. I figure, they might be cylons.
Argon

Second that: ARE YOU SURE it’s a joke? Nowadays I just don’t know anymore.
ithidet

pervs there just trying to make a sequel to 2 girls one cup
Purly

yuck
The Lizardman

An old classic that has even more implications now than it did when it first surfaced

There is also one in the bathroom of Obscurities (piercing & tattooing) in Dallas, TX
mr.skeleton

absolutely, #12, bookyloo. Ritual is crowded with greasy hipness. It’s reached some kind of critical mass and jumped the shark. And yet… I’m still compelled to go there from time to time.
univac

These are great!
I’ve been putting up my own similar stickers for years.
“This is a Camera.”
Especially fun above the sensor on automated toilets in airports, etc. Also in places where there could possibly be a camera hidden (outlets, light sockets, smoke detectors).
Gotta keep ‘em paranoid!
Flickr: This is a Camera.
ummmmm

The good thing about the preprinted stickers is that they have that extra credibility, they look like they are official. It’s more fun the more people fall for the joke.
sofa0ne

It should be noted however that Maxim did run stickers that did include a “Toilet Cam is for Research” sticker in a set sometime before 2005.
The one that is pictured is not theirs.
They also had stickers that said “all employees must wash genitals before returning to work”.

Other stupid toilet related things….

http://www.toilet-tattoos.com/
Bayou Maharajah

This is actually a sticker from an old issue of either Stuff or Maxim magazine. Seriously. It comes from a page insert of other joke stickers. Very Mad Magazine (or Cracked, depending on how funny you find it).
The Lizardman

I won’t speak for that specific sticker but stickers using this gag pre-date both Stuff & Maxim magazine. The message itself on stickers goes back to the late 80′s / early 90′s at least. I first saw one in 1990 and it had been up for a while
Rick.

I have a version of this sticker in my home bathroom that I got out of Mad magazine years ago. :)
cheesebikini

Wrong folks, this isn’t from Maxim. I made it up last year, originally as a prank for the toilets on the playa (hence the Bureau of Land Management logo).

Print em out yourself w/ the PDF here, or remix w/ the template file:
http://www.cheesebikini.com/2007/09/08/bathroom-warning/

Cheers

Sean
cheesebikini

PS- I’d love to see the Maxim sign you folks are referring to. Can you post a snapshot?
Jinglefritz

#8 Sure it’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to go there.
spossing

Holy crap! (Pun reluctantly intended.) That’s crazy. If you are one who tends to notice odd signs, perhaps you might be familiar with one of my favorite blogs, The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotes. Always good to have a camera (or camera phone) around!
sluggo

from the U.S. Department of Your Interior
erindipity

Research purposes??
I shudder to think..

Hey Sluggo, I like “from the U.S. Department of Your Posterior” better!
sluggo

Isn’t the TSA using that one? :)
The Unusual Suspect

Anybody who hates these stickers hates America.
js7a

It cites “U.S.C.A.” which should be “U.S.C.”
tmccartney

USCA is also correct, if it’s citing to the U.S. Code Annotated.
Agit

Chuck Berry could have used these!
semiotix

Uh… we’re ABSOLUTELY SURE this is a joke… right?
foist

Pretty sure it’s a remnant from a burning man prank considering the area.
Zuhaib

Um.. Thats one of my fav coffee shops to visit =\
=P
Xenu

I got lulz from this last time I was at Ritual.