A toddler in a preschool class is escorted to the door by a patient adult after he dawdles behind his classmates in Montreal. In another shot, a woman tries on a pair of shoes while chatting with a seemingly friendly clerk in a shop. In Burnaby, B.C., a man sighs and puffs on a cigarette in what seems to be a private backyard.

These are just a few of the shots from people's private lives anyone can peer into on dozens of sites online that stream footage from unsecured webcams.

A quick scan on sites like Shodan, NestCam Directory and Insecam displays thousands of livestreams, hundreds of which are in Canada. Some of the feeds have been left unlocked on purpose, like the public cameras that allow people to see the slope conditions at a ski resort near Banff. But others are more troubling.