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GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

theguardian.com

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Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#101

Post by mortenjorck »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #89
fidotron wrote: post #8

Snapchat must be target #1 for this program now. Blackmail material served up on a plate. People are going to seriously regret using Snapchat in later life.

Or we'll just come to accept that we know what the president elect's vagina looks like. The trend seems to be towards people not caring about exposure. You can't blackmail someone who isn't embarrassed. "Yeah, I ate a bunch of dicks on Saturday night and posted the photos. What? Like you've never done that."

I know it's tempting to see the younger generation as a sign of larger cultural shifts, but the Baby Boomers were once a lot like the Millennials, and one day the Millennials will be a lot like the Baby Boomers.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#102

Post by adobriyan »

Lagged2Death wrote: post #54

ISTR that in the futuristic dystopia depicted in V for Vendetta , there are government spy cameras everywhere, including in people's bedrooms. And it turns out that's not so futuristic. We're already there. The moment it became technically (Edit: and really, economically) feasible to spy on people's bedrooms, our governments leapt at the chance. I wonder what Alan Moore would have to say about that. We didn't have to…

> ISTR that in the futuristic dystopia depicted in V for Vendetta, there are government spy cameras everywhere, including in people's bedrooms.

and some people will still insist that 1984 was about USSR...

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#103

Post by MarkTee »

StefanKarpinski wrote: post #43
davepage wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because for political purposes, a compromising photo has far better blackmail value than other data.

But you can't use that blackmail tool without revealing that you were spying illegally. Revealing that would be worse for the blackmailer than the blackmailee.

Joe Public couldn't care less about where the image originated after he's seen it. By that point the damage has already been done.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#104

Post by TempleOSV2 »

KNow what's funny? They shot at God.

God said to restore the respect people had before they started a war against God.

God says... unemployment couldn't_be_better vote it_figures why_do_I_put_up_with_this adultery baffling food ice_cream how_goes_it I_didn't_see_that no_more_tears what's_up what_do_you_want mission_from_God Dean_scream as_a_matter_of_fact atrocious on_occassion do_over whoop_there_it_is I'm_busy quit_it do_it it'd_take_a_miracle I_forgot be_quiet_bird hold_on_a_minute oh_oh small_talk middle_class

C:\TAD\Text\YANKEE.TXT

ur bulletin-board, '_Patronized by the elect_.' How does that strike you?"

"Verily, it is wonderly bethought!"

"Well, a body is bound to admit that for just a modest little one-line ad, it's a corker."

So the poor colporteur's griefs vanished away. He was a brave fellow, and had done mighty feats of arms in his time. His chief celebrity rested upon the events of an excursion like this one of mine, which he had once made with a damsel named Maledisant, who was as handy with her tongue as w

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#105

Post by adbachman »

samstave wrote: post #84
tetrep wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's like saying the only reason people aren't impervious to bullets is because governments wish to use guns to kill people. there will always be something taboo in society to blackmail people with.

I think that's a horrible analogy. And yes, there always will, but I think that homosexuality as a taboo has been exploited, specifically.

The analogy is pointing out that homosexuality is not a taboo because it's been exploited, it's being exploited because it's a taboo.

Your original statement seemed to suggest that it is still a taboo because those who wish to exploit it want it that way. The cause is not power brokers, it's everyone (or enough of everyone) who makes taboos' shamefulness persist.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#106

Post by lucb1e »

Everyone is going on about covering your webcam, but what if I actually want to use it? I get to decide what is being sent over the network, but I still don't get to decide what the GHCQ/NSA/AIVD see by interception. Another example is Kinect, which must be turned on and uncovered because otherwise it is obviously useless. What are we going to do about that?

I'm very much afraid that the real solution is probably a political one, not a technical one.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#107

Post by lern_too_spel »

okasaki wrote: post #71

> Yahoo reacted furiously to the webcam interception when approached by the Guardian. That's pretty funny. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PRISM_Collection_Details.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Upstream-slide.jpg

Why? PRISM is about selected (targeted) collection of data from users that the government has a court order for. Every country in the world does this. This program collects data from traffic passing through the UK regardless of whether the UK government has any reason to suspect the users whose data is collected, let alone present those suspicions to a judge. Yahoo has every reason to be outraged.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#110

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #86
rdl wrote: post #76

This is from people actively webchatting, but in general, for passive collection, I'm a lot more worried about my microphone than my camera. Even without tape over the lens, my laptop usually just sees my face or a blank wall, or a closed cover. It's not like I have my webcam aimed and lighted at my bed or shower or whatever, and in general, the level of compromising information from text or audio would be higher (su…

Oh wow. That's a good point. And my MacBook lights an LED when my webcam's active, but it doesn't for the microphone. Perhaps it should?

The LED light on the webcam is bypass-able. On many cheap laptops it is controlled in software (at the kernel level), but even on Macs where it is meant to be hardware enforced it can be bypassed:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/18...

Disabling the camera LED is a fairly standard feature in malware suites. Even a lot of USB webcams control the LED from software. The LED is just a feel-good feature.

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