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Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

julianoliver.com

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Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#111

Post by icebraining »

izacus wrote: post #98
icebraining wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is usually being monitored when around children of strangers; we just usually do so with human eyes instead of cameras. Babysitting is an exception, but why should it be?

That's... just not really true. Maybe in some parts of extreme helicopter parenting, but it's really not a global truth. If what you say is true in US then perhaps the upper poster wasn't so wrong about the state of the country :/.

JoshTriplett is right, I was talking about other people, not necessarily parents. Also, I'm not from the US.

Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#112

Post by icebraining »

scurvy wrote: post #49
icebraining wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, there is life beyond your own city. Hotels aren't granted a monopoly over short-term rentals everywhere.

Indeed, but it's the illegal rentals which have made AirBnB successful and led to its giant valuation. There were legal rental sites before AirBnB, but none rose to such heights. AirBnB got rich by flaunting the laws on most of their listings.

But you weren't talking about AirBnB, you were talking about the guest. Even if AirBnB became more successful due to also having illegal rentals, it's faulty to assume the guest is in one.

Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#113

Post by roywiggins »

coob wrote: post #37
hannob wrote: post #33

Beside the legal issues I fear that this is a risk in a way that it could create a false sense of security. I.e. non-technical people thinking "this will make sure I'm not filmed" while this isn't the case. There can be cameras not affected by the script, cameras with cables, cameras with their own storage etc. pp. Of course everyone here will say "that's obvious", but I'm not sure this is obvious for everyone.

Non technical people are going to run shell scripts?

They're called scriptkiddies: they have just enough technical know-how to hang themselves, more or less. Enough to copy and paste lines into a terminal window.

Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#114

Post by cillian64 »

the-dude wrote: post #78
dheera wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a plumber in my house. I feel like I fully have the right to watch you as you repair my plumbing. You're a babysitter in my house. Babysitting my hypothetical baby. I feel like I would have the right to watch over that baby's treatment in someone else's hands. If you aren't going to let me watch over the quality of your services, I would just find someone else to provide those services. At some point, once we…

> I feel like I fully have the right to watch you as you repair my plumbing. If you are present: yes. I just realized the fight against surveillance is not particular with the NSA/GHQC and or the government. It will be a fight within.

It's awfully easy to forget how one's circles aren't representative of most people. I think the general public are a lot more worried about terrorism and whatnot than they are about surveillance. Bashing the surveillance services is not a vote-winner.

Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#116

Post by eyeJam »

piker wrote: post #108
eyeJam wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To commit a criminal offence, one needs the criminal act (actus reus) and the guilty mind (mens rea). If someone deactivated the security system (actus reus) with the intent (mens rea) of helping someone else burglarize, that would definitely be a crime. However if someone deactivated the security system and without criminal intent helped a criminal, then it would be a much murkier issue. Most countries have various…

(1) According to the article, disabling the wireless camera itself may be a crime in the US. If so, there are a host of ways the participant could face criminal liability under the described facts. (2) Civil liability does require, generally, causation--cause-in-fact and proximate cause. The cause-in-fact test is a simple "but-for" assessment: but-for our guy disabling the wireless, would the robbery have happened? I…

Disabling the cameras would make it much harder to identify and catch the thief and therefore recover the stolen property. And so, on a balance of probabilities, 'but for' disabling the cameras the damage (loss of property) would not have occurred.

I see what you're saying, but there's a strong argument to be made for finding the camera-disabling guest negligent. If I was advising a client I would never state things as matter-of-factly as you did, but maybe its okay in the court of HN.

Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#117

Post by scrollinondubs »

brbsix wrote: post #82
rdancer wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more clearcut, all the cameras in all the neighbouring flats get disabled (this is actually the reason why jamming is illegal -- EM radiation doesn't know to respect property boundaries).

This particular script is not really a jammer in the traditional sense. It's simply a de-auth command to a specific device on a specific network. So with a little care you could ensure you were only dropping the indoor cameras.

De-authing the camera from the wireless network isn't necessarily going to stop it from recording. Manything for instance will pile up footage offline and sync it when it gets an internet connection again... should probably be clarified in the article that it's not stopping the recording but merely disrupting the internet connection of the camera

Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#118

Post by viraptor »

the-dude wrote: post #78
dheera wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a plumber in my house. I feel like I fully have the right to watch you as you repair my plumbing. You're a babysitter in my house. Babysitting my hypothetical baby. I feel like I would have the right to watch over that baby's treatment in someone else's hands. If you aren't going to let me watch over the quality of your services, I would just find someone else to provide those services. At some point, once we…

> I feel like I fully have the right to watch you as you repair my plumbing. If you are present: yes. I just realized the fight against surveillance is not particular with the NSA/GHQC and or the government. It will be a fight within.

I feel like this is a completely different area though. Would you ever rent services from someone saying: "I'll do the work in your house, but you can't look" ? I get the general idea of "I don't waive my right for privacy when I enter someone's house", but for work I just don't see any use case.

If I can't see what you're doing in my house, you're not working in my house. What's the reason I'd ever want/need the opposite?

Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#119

Post by theoh »

As someone with a bit of familiarity with the world of contemporary art, I think it's important to see this as a provocation, not something intended for real world use. One might find Oliver's other projects (e.g. the "transparency grenade", which is an actually transparent acrylic grenade that "blowns open" wifi insecurity) to be a bit irresponsible or less sensitive than you would expect from a "critical engineer".

Re: Detect and disconnect WiFi cameras

#120

Post by r00fus »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #62
pavel_lishin wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any guides to doing this? We're about to have a baby, and don't want to drop a few hundred bucks on a baby video monitor system - I'd rather just ziptie a phone to the shelf above the crib.

Q: Why do you want a baby monitor? We got one as a gift, but hardly used it. Of course both my kids are little Darth Shnorkulas. I just can't really think of a scenario where the monitor helps. I mean I've had those panicked moments where I'm like "Is my kid dead, and I've just been sitting here playing computer games?" But either get up and check, or just keep playing. They almost never die.

A: In our case we have twins and when they were babies, if one was rousing, we could put her back to sleep without having the other one wake up (and create a wakeful feedback loop).
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