PORTLAND, Ore. – Preston Fosback's front yard has turned into an Internet sensation almost overnight.

Thousands of people from all over the world are keeping an eye on the northeast Portland yard via the Internet.

This all started after a thief or thieves twice swiped Obama signs from their yard earlier this year. The 16-year-old and his mom decided to set up a video camera that would stream an image of the yard on the Web so that others could help them keep a round-the-clock lookout for the thief.

The teen didn't realize how popular the stream would become on www.ustream.tv.

"We had five viewers all of a sudden, and I thought, 'Wow, we might get 10 or 20 viewers on this thing' " the teen said. "By the end of the day, I had no idea it would get up to over 500 (viewers)."

People from around the world are watching, including those from Britain, Ireland, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

Watching one sign gets a little boring, so online viewers asked for more. The family then put out "No Hunting," "Obama rocks" and "Jeff Merkley" signs out as well as figurines of a moose and a gnome. The watchers post comments about what they are seeing, such as when cars drive past or squirrels or birds move into the picture.

When someone destroyed a gnome in the yard, Fosback said, "People were going crazy in the chat."

But because it was the middle of the night, the Fosbacks didn't get the message.

Still the teen said what started as a way to catch a thief has turned into something much bigger.

He said he'll keep the site up and running as long as people are interested.

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