FBI Can Secretly Activate Laptop Cameras Without Indicator Light

[toad]

Posted by Vitalux (here)
I wonder how much of this is just fear based.

Meaning information put into the mass media for nothing other than to create drama and fear for the sheep to quiver in our boots.



Perhaps fear blocks vision

How much of what? This concept has been around for quite a while, and the vectors of attack come in my forms and sizes. What they don't discuss is the legalities of them doing something like this, and how its being used.

[Dtravis]

That's funny when I bought mine I also placed black electrician tape on the lens

[aviators]

Posted by Sidney (here)

Posted by aviators (here)
Yes isn't this technology great! Check your cable tv boxes too.
Most have at least one in the house. Found cameras in all of mine. A bit disturbing .

Did you have to take them apart to find them? Can you see the cameras just from inspecting the exterior? You know, I have pity on the desperation for the need to have that much control on everyone and everything. They obviously have a VOID that cannot be filled. HOW SAD, the cowardess that they employ.

Search cable box hidden cameras on you tube. I found pin hole cameras using a flash light. Look carefully behind the front smoke glass panel. I bet microphones are there as well. Like other posters have said I don't think they (who ever) are spying on us all day, but not disclosing there is a camera pointed directly at my bed is not right. Should be criminal.

[Anchor]

Posted by Chinaski (here)
No one is watching you. You're not that important!

This is not the point.

By putting an obstruction over my lens I am signifying my intent in a very real and material way.

If I want to be on video, a tripod will be involved together with a decent camera and lighting - I need all the help I can get

[sigma6]

Posted by Dtravis (here)
That's funny when I bought mine I also placed black electrician tape on the lens

me too... simple solution. still might have to be careful of the speakers, who would of thought we would be living in 1984... unbelievable...

pretty soon you will hear a voice coming out of your speakers... "Thought Police! You are under arrest! remain where you are!... "

[Miller]

Posted by Vitalux (here)
I wonder how much of this is just fear based.

Meaning information put into the mass media for nothing other than to create drama and fear for the sheep to quiver in our boots.



Perhaps fear blocks vision

Fear? I think it's more about being aware . . . . we should debate the difference sometime, although maybe it's just an individual thing.

[conk]

So, what will they do with the video of me masturbating and crying, while watching granny porn and eating cheetoes? "Hey you, with the orange penis, step away from the internet".

[Vitalux]

Just an after thoughts.

I wonder if cell phones have the same ability to be able to transmit voice and image when not in use by the owner of the device

Myself, i don't carry or own a cell phone. I enjoy having my privacy as well as my solitude.

[Maia Gabrial]

Do what I do. Tape a piece of cardboard over the camera.... They may still hear you with the audio, but at least they won't be able to see you! And let's see if they can match up voices to faces then!

[Milneman]

Posted by conk (here)
So, what will they do with the video of me masturbating and crying, while watching granny porn and eating cheetoes? "Hey you, with the orange penis, step away from the internet".

That's hot.

Can I get a copy of that? Trade you for my swinging naked on a big rubber ball.

***edit***

Turns out some of the FBI do enjoy the swing thing! I have a date next week!

[Bob]

Older Mac's are especially vulnerable to this.. (mac users feel that they are immune to normal PC viruses doe to the different OS that is used..) however a specific form of malware can be read, downloaded and accessed on the mac, to activate the camera, bypass the light (or bypass pretty much any of the normal feedback messages that something is going on in a remote controlled session)..

http://www.pcworld.com/article/20819...hers-find.html - spyware for real on mac's

they tell us buy the Mac cause it is more secure to spying, virus' and trojans.. now we see its the opposite.. hmmm

"HU Assistant Research Professor Stephen Checkoway and graduate student Matthew Brocker investigated the hardware design of the first-generation iSight webcam model installed in Apple’s iMac and MacBook computers released before 2008 and found that its firmware could easily be modified to disable the indicator LED.

"At the hardware level, the LED is directly attached to the webcam’s image sensor, particularly its STANDBY pin. When the STANDBY signal is active the LED is off and when not active, the LED is on, the JHU researchers said in a recently released paper.

"In order to disable the LED, the researchers had to find a way to activate STANDBY, but also configure the image sensor to ignore it because when STANDBY becomes active the image sensor output automatically gets disabled, so the webcam cannot be used to capture images.

"To achieve this the researchers created a modified version of the iSight firmware and then reprogrammed the camera with it, using a method that involves sending vendor-specic USB device requests from the host OS. They found that this operation doesn’t require root privileges and can be done from a process started by a regular user account.

"The JHU researchers created a proof-of-concept application called iSeeYou that detects whether an iSight webcam is installed, reprograms it with the modified firmware and then allows the user to start the camera and disable the LED. When the iSeeYou application is stopped, the camera is reprogrammed with the original, unaltered firmware."

[carriellbee]

Posted by Chinaski (here)
Sure, it is disturbing. But guys, just stop for a moment and consider the manpower required for such a maneuver to be truly invasive on a large scale. The FBI doesn't have underground bases filled with tens of thousands of agents monitoring random computer screens! Even if they hypothetically had a team of 1000 men and women dedicated to this one task, they couldn't even effectively monitor a small housing development.

No one is watching you. You're not that important!

That's the perception that they are counting on. And why shouldn't they? After all, they have spent many years and millions of dollars to create it.

I don't like to talk about my former life very much, but in order to put my comments in perspective, I feel that I need to share this: I have a background in system security design as well as a long-past affiliation with a certain green-wearing G organization where the focus was something that sounds kind of like sigh hops.

So...

The fact is that they don't need humans to do the job. Computers review all of the data and generate reports based on criteria like facial recognition parameters, keywords, etc. I assume humans still review the computer output and then take it from there, but it is possible that computers are doing that, too. It wouldn't surprise me.

I always put tape over my laptop camera and I disable it in the hardware manager. If you do this, you should check periodically to make sure it has not been re-enabled. It has happened to me and I am very careful.

If you have a television purchased in the last 7 or 8 years, a digital antenna/converter box (for older TVs) or any kind of cable or satellite converter, then you are quite likely to have a camera that you don't even know about. TV and computer speakers can be used as listening devices. Any web-connected device can be used for spying. And all of these devices work even when powered off. We have been wired and connected expressly for this purpose.

Here's an article from MailOnline (UK Daily Mail) which discusses some of these things.

The CIA wants to spy on you through your TV: Agency director says it will 'transform' surveillance

- Devices connected to internet leak information
- CIA director says these gadgets will 'transform clandestine tradecraft'
- Spies could watch thousands via supercomputers
- People 'bug' their own homes with web-connected devices

[carriellbee]

Posted by Milneman (here)

Posted by conk (here)
So, what will they do with the video of me masturbating and crying, while watching granny porn and eating cheetoes? "Hey you, with the orange penis, step away from the internet".

That's hot.

Can I get a copy of that? Trade you for my swinging naked on a big rubber ball.

***edit***

Turns out some of the FBI do enjoy the swing thing! I have a date next week!

I think I am beginning to understand how Regina rhymes with fun...