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

[#1 posted by spossing , March 19, 2008 9:50 PM]

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!

[#2 posted by sluggo , March 19, 2008 9:52 PM]

from the U.S. Department of Your Interior

[#3 posted by erindipity , March 19, 2008 9:56 PM]

Research purposes??
I shudder to think..

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

[#4 posted by sluggo , March 19, 2008 10:05 PM]

Isn't the TSA using that one? :)

[#5 posted by Agit , March 19, 2008 10:39 PM]

Chuck Berry could have used these!

[#6 posted by semiotix , March 19, 2008 10:45 PM]

Uh... we're ABSOLUTELY SURE this is a joke... right?

[#7 posted by foist , March 19, 2008 10:49 PM]

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

[#8 posted by Zuhaib , March 19, 2008 11:25 PM]

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

[#9 posted by allthegoodnamesaretaken , March 20, 2008 12:46 AM]

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

[#10 posted by Daemon , March 20, 2008 1:29 AM]

"toilet cameras" sounds rather illegal to me actually.

[#11 posted by Bookyloo , March 20, 2008 2:02 AM]

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.

[#12 posted by geekazoid , March 20, 2008 4:11 AM]

@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.

[#13 posted by Argon , March 20, 2008 4:23 AM]

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

[#14 posted by ithidet , March 20, 2008 4:44 AM]

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

[#15 posted by Purly , March 20, 2008 5:57 AM]

yuck

[#16 posted by The Lizardman , March 20, 2008 6:14 AM]

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

[#17 posted by Bayou Maharajah , March 20, 2008 7:08 AM]

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).

[#18 posted by The Lizardman , March 20, 2008 7:36 AM]

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

[#19 posted by Rick. , March 20, 2008 8:13 AM]

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

[#20 posted by Jinglefritz , March 20, 2008 8:35 AM]

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

[#21 posted by The Unusual Suspect , March 20, 2008 9:20 AM]

Anybody who hates these stickers hates America.

[#22 posted by qwertydvorak , March 20, 2008 9:46 AM]

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.

[#23 posted by ummmmm , March 20, 2008 9:52 AM]

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...

[#24 posted by mdhatter , March 20, 2008 10:08 AM]

I know what I'd use to block the lens

[#25 posted by mr.skeleton , March 20, 2008 11:35 AM]

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.

[#26 posted by univac , March 20, 2008 11:37 AM]

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.

[#27 posted by ummmmm , March 20, 2008 11:52 AM]

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.

[#28 posted by cheesebikini , March 20, 2008 1:59 PM]

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

[#29 posted by cheesebikini , March 20, 2008 2:00 PM]

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

[#30 posted by js7a , March 20, 2008 3:51 PM]

It cites "U.S.C.A." which should be "U.S.C."

[#31 posted by tmccartney , March 20, 2008 3:58 PM]

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

[#32 posted by Xenu , March 20, 2008 4:47 PM]

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

[#33 posted by sofa0ne , March 20, 2008 9:10 PM]

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/