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View Full Version : FBI can secretly turn on laptop cameras without the indicator light



Teh One Who Knocks
12-09-2013, 01:06 PM
Casey Chan - Gizmodo


http://i.imgur.com/n6FopGH.jpg

Scary. Insane. Ridiculous. Invasive. Wrong. The Washington Post reports that the FBI has had the ability to secretly activate a computer's camera "without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording" for years now. What in the hell is going on? What kind of world do we live in?

Marcus Thomas, the former assistant director of the FBI's Operational Technology Division, told the Post that that sort of creepy spy laptop recording is "mainly" used in terrorism cases or the "most serious" of criminal investigations. That doesn't really make it less crazy (or any better) since the very idea of the FBI being able to watch you through your computer is absolutely disturbing.

The whole Post piece about the FBI's search for a bomb threat suspect is worth reading. It shows how far the FBI will go with its use of malware to spy on people and reveals the occasional brain dead mistakes the FBI makes to screw themselves over (like a typo of an e-mail address that the FBI wanted to keep tabs on). Good to know these completely competent folks are watching over us by any means necessary.

Acid Trip
12-09-2013, 03:30 PM
Moral? Only plug in peripherals (especially webcams) when they are needed.

redred
12-09-2013, 03:56 PM
:shock: i think the FIB may have seen me :wank:

DemonGeminiX
12-09-2013, 07:19 PM
They must have taken lessons from that hacker that did the same thing to the Miss Teen America chick.

Spyker
12-09-2013, 08:05 PM
that's why i unlug my webcam and have a sticky note on my laptop.


and people called me paranoid :tinhat:

deebakes
12-10-2013, 01:21 AM
:shock:

Loser
12-10-2013, 05:13 AM
Hackers have been able to do this for a very very very long time.

Pretty much since webcams have been out :lol:

DemonGeminiX
12-10-2013, 06:37 AM
Seems to me that if you were aware that such a thing was happening, it would be the perfect opportunity to goatse the webcam.

Really, what could they do? Arrest you? For what? Something you were doing in the privacy of your own home while they were spying on you without a warrant?