A businessman who operates a 24-hour live video camera on Front Street is hoping to install cameras on other parts of the Island, including near beaches.

Joe Tee's camera above his wife Carole Holding's art shop, which is accessed over the Internet, has attracted up to 500 hits a day from around the world.

Now Mr. Tee is planning to set up web cameras at other sites, including close to beaches, allowing computer users to see live pictures of the Island.

He recognises there may problems with privacy, so he intends to restrict the zoom function, and says his cameras would not be able to identify people's faces on the beach.

The camera, accessed through www.livebermuda.com, allows Internet users to control the camera if they have the appropriate software, and even to take pictures, which they can download and e-mail.

At present, the pictures are slow, showing only four frames a second. But Mr. Tee is having faster telephone lines installed which should increase picture speed and quality to 30 frames a second by next year.

"I am very happy, and I am looking forward to speedier lines so it can be used even more, then we can perhaps get more cameras in other places, like hotels and the fringes of beaches,'' he told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"The zoom in these cameras is so good that we would have to be careful about privacy. We have got to do it so it isn't intrusive so we might have to scale back on the zoom.

"In some areas you won't be able to be recognised by the camera. If I was fortunate enough to be able to put it on Horseshoe Bay Beach, I'd probably do it from the road with various positions showing people on the beach but you would not be able to recognise their faces.

"I'd like to talk to hotels about the beaches, but for them it would depend what the package is. The hotels are selling on the web and if they want to show their beach off I would be keen on showing Bermuda's beaches on my site, although they would have to be convinced that it wasn't intrusive.''

Mr. Tee set up the camera in time for Tall Ships 2000 to encourage sales at his wife's shop. He said the camera was now generating around $10,000 a year in sales at Carole Holding's.

"The real benefit has been the additional sales online for the Carole Holding site. Sales have been significant and they are growing,'' he said.

Mr. Tee said the Front Street camera was popular with tourists who encourage friends back home to log on at a certain time so they can see them waving to them on camera. Some locals are also using the site to communicate with children who are studying overseas.