Govt' Spooks Hacked Millions of Webcams - Orwellian style

Thanx for the 2*s...
No comment?

I'm curious...
Those who use webcams - do you feel guarded when you communicate this way? or does the eavesdropping on you not matter?

No one is even interested in this? Not even the millions of affected Yahoo users?

I disabling them in device manager enough?

I do this whenever I get a new computer. :)

However, I also put a nice little sticker over the damn thing.
Paranoid? Maybe. But I feel better doing do.

Well, the thing with this scenario is that the images of people were secretly captured while they were using their webcam.

Whether your webcam can be accessed even tho you've disabled it in Device Manager is a good question. Some techs say yes if the right software is on the computer.

Oh ok, i never use webcam and my desktop doesn't have one.

To access a cam requires a bit of work like getting the user to open a bad link which allows remote control of the computer, but this takes work and is typically not done by people other than script kiddies.


They took peoples willing images (as in daily conversation,sex etc) and compiled it from a server already storing the images.

yahoo is just covering their butts.

I cover my camera also....
the thing is, IF I wanted to use it for a chat, then I'm doing so knowing that I might be spied upon, and that sucks out loud.

It's the principal of the thing - I have nothing to hide but my private thoughts with a close friend over a webcam chat should be just that.... private!

Here's an article from The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks.

While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.

Link: [link to www.nytimes.com]

The question becomes, does anyone really know what software is bundled on their computer?

My cam has been covered for ages.

The thing that is so frustrating to me is that I just told my husband about this and he doesn't believe me and says that it's all just conspiracy bullshit. I even gave him the links to 2 separate articles today.

I then thought, ok, I'll show you the Flash setting menu and how it says how sites can turn on your cam and mic, and he still doesn't believe me.

LOL, Yahoo reacted "Furiously"...like they really care or able to do anything about it. Time to face the facts. No one or no thing will stop the intrusion that has started.

i bet GCHQ has images of that too!

bullshit

once the big doom strikes, the pitchfork mob will go on an EPIC rampage

Some people just aren't ready to hear the truth :(
At least you're aware :)

haha! I put a little piece of electrical tape over it.

It's curious to ponder what such a rampage would look like....
I mean, since all of these Snowden docs have been revealed, yes, there is back-lash, but generally speaking, most people are carrying on with "business as usual" - even if every aspect of that business is being recorded and stored.

And let's face it, we only know a tiny, tiny portion of what's really being done.

I put a sticker over mine as well; only after receiving solicitation emails for products (that I use), but have never bought or searched for online.

I knew this would happen, so I've had electrical tape on my Apple webcam for 7 years.

and when he does believe it, he'll say "ah, doesn't matter anyway"

Well, that's pretty interesting.... perhaps scary is a better word.

how recent was that? wow. creepsville.

sick/evil people! They really do make me sick! sickoooos

Watching, licking, smelling and sharing - it seems.

Yahoo

A few months ago. I installed a new operating system and I forgot to check my Flash settings (this thread reminded me to check it today). I also removed the sticker because I needed my computer for a business meeting and didn't want the client to get distracted with wondering why I had a sticker on my computer.

I didn't put a new one on and started getting emails for products that someone could definitely see through the camera.

I put the sticker back on and I haven't received any of those emails in awhile. However, I have received email solicitations from restaurants that I have gone to on business trips (and only from restaurants I recently went to). It's like someone has a database that links your cellphone number to an email address (I paid with cash, but cell was turned on).

Welcome to 1984.

That really is creepy.

As I review the article over the past weeks about "NSA collecting 5 billion records per day worldwide" - and how they "infer" relationships based on mobile location data (Link: [link to www.washingtonpost.com]
- in other words, based on the places you (your cell phone) goes, it's correlated against those other people (cell phones) that happen to be in the same place at the same time as you.... and if you happen to be in the same place a number of times, a relationship may be inferred.

Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is perhaps the most disturbing book I've ever read but one I would recommend everyone read, because the prospect of such a dystopia should disturb everyone. As the book opens, Orwell plunges us right into the height of the dystopia, but, I wonder what that society would have looked like in its infancy? What were the first steps on that slippery slope?

I believe the right to "no privacy" is probably one of those steps :(

Appreciate the pin - thanx!

As you guys probably know, this NSA stuff is old news. Project Echelon has been going on for years. It really ramped up in the 90's. Intelligence agencies had the ability to intercept all global electronic communications back then (maybe not the ability to store everything, but intercept everyting). However, the specific targeting of the US population was implemented in the 2000's - they just needed the legal junk to be passed before targeting us as a high priority (911/Patriot Act).

You can see who they perceive as the enemy through their own documents; and recently, the gov's actions and defiance of any wrongdoing. They have become become quite bold in broadcasting who they think the enemy is.

It is only by coincidence that the government does anything to benefit the people of the US. All legislation has a different motive.

Example: Electronic Stability Control in vehicles. This was mandated by the gov. The reason it was initiated was because the company that manufactured the technology lobbied to have it implemented. Yes, it makes cars safer, however it was initiated to provide a cash cow for the manufacturer via the automotive industry and consumers. Same thing for air bags.

Black is White
Patriot Act - Enslavement Act
Affordable Care Act - Unaffordable Care Act

Never listen to what they say. Watch what they do.