Sleep-Away Summer Camp Counselors Play NSA For Concerned Parents

Camp counselors in sleep-away summer camp are playing a sort of NSA for concerned parents by posting daily images and videos of kids on an encrypted, closed website, reports Amy Gamerman of the WSJ.

The surveillance is then uploaded to a site called Bunk1, which, get this, collates the images from 1,500 different summer camps so that the analysts ... I mean ... parents, can observe their children.

From WSJ:

Stalking the camp photo gallery has become a rite of summer for parents. Most residential camps upload images and videos shot by staff photographers to secure websites every day.

Even Gamerman gets a little fun with her language, except she points more at Russian surveillance than American.

From WSJ:

Once proof of life has been established, parents analyze facial expressions and body language with the intensity of Cold War Kremlinologists. Is that smile real or fake? Why is she standing apart from her bunk-mates? Whose shirt is he wearing?

Though not all the kids like the surveillance. Some kids say they feel pressured to look like they're having fun. To smile for the camera. And to never give the odious "thumbs down" sign — which can illicit immediate phone calls from parents.

In light of recent NSA revelations, the idea of parents surveilling their children seems a bit odd, especially at a sleep-away summer camp.

The point of summer camp (having gone as a kid) isn't just to get away from all those electronic gadgets, but the parents as well. When immediate photo-inspired phone calls can hit the offices of camp managers, kids find themselves out in a wilderness of sorts but still under their mom's eye.

Totally not cool, mom.