Here's Looking At Your Kids: Cyber cam's in the Classroom by David Pereyra You've just dropped off your daughter at daycare, got snarled in serious morning traffic and arrived at the office in a terrible mood. Then you discover that the morning meeting you rushed out the door to make was canceled. A sharp pain throbs behind your eyes and you suddenly see your daughter's face when you dropped her off at daycare. She stood watching you quizzically and biting her lip. "Momma's gotta go now," you said a bit panicked. And then, ever the big girl, she turned to join the other kids. Feeling guilty? Several companies have started to help ease parental pangs of guilt by offer webcams of their daycare centers. ABCs of Cyber cams Each of the cyber cam companies use a subscription model to sell parents on the advantages and comfort of watching their children at daycare. Each site interacts with standard browsers Netscape, Explorer and AOL. Parents sign up for the service and receive a secure password designed to allow only authorized users access to the site. The password plugs you into your child's particular daycare and you view either a high-quality still or streaming video image for up to 5 minutes. The images can be updated by clicking on the refresh of reload button in your browser. Each company boasts state-of-the-art security and site encryption protection. Big Mother Watching You Security and privacy issues could prove to be the black eyes for these I-spy-for you enterprises. The Web cam craze is upon us, but who really feels comfortable under constant surveillance? And if my child's in your child's class, and you sign up for the service, do you see my child too? Yes. Most companies mount two cyber cams discreetly in a room, positioned to take group shots or view the classroom's high traffic areas: center mats or carpets where infants crawl around, the playroom area, lunch tables. They avoid private areas such as bathrooms and changing areas. The cyber cam companies don't directly address these privacy issues surveillance of child care employees and unregistered children and instead draw attention to the logic of the service: child care facilities have open parent policies and cyber cams in the classroom are extensions of that openness. What if a parent sees her little Lyle bite someone's tiny Tina while watching Lyle at daycare? Then Ms. Lula, the class teacher, grabs little Lyle, scalds him ferociously (or so Ma thinks) and sends him to timeout. Mom then files a lawsuit against the daycare and teacher, claiming child abuse. Rampant litigation may ensure. Technologies will continue to develop that allow a window onto our more personal lives. It really is becoming a small world, after all. But as long as parents have to zoom to work at pre-dawn hours, dropping the kids at daycare on the way, there's nothing like a little daycare TV to make sure everything's A-okay. Also see: Child care guide David Pereyra is a stay-at-home dad and the partner of a BlueSuitMom.