Welcome to the bar, would you like webcam or non?

Whether you love or hate crowded bars - or just like blurry people-watching - a growing phenomenon now appearing in cities like Boston, Minneapolis, and San Diego could help you find what you're looking for: the bar cam.

Using the live video stream (Hog's Breath in Key West, Fla. for instance)

potential customers can call up the live video stream online or by mobile phone so they can survey the crowd before venturing out.

Regarding privacy, promoters say the video isn't clear and isn't recorded, so it's not archived.

"If your wife or husband has enough suspicions to watch us, then they're going to drive down there and walk in on you," Jesse Newsome, founder of Barmigo in Phoenix, Ariz. told CNet.