Spying On You?

Most laptop computers, pads, and the monitors that come with desk top computers have a built-in camera.  It's that little thing above the top of the screen, and sometimes there is a small light source and microphone near it.  The camera is a handy thing if you use Skype.  The people with whom you are skyping appear on your screen and your face appears on theirs.  It's a remarkable way of seeing people who are hundreds or thousands of miles away.

It's also a remarkable way for the FBI and hackers to spy on you.

The US government has been able to secretly spy on its citizens through their computer’s webcams for several years, it has been revealed.
The FBI has long been able to activate a computer’s camera without triggering the ‘recording light’ to let the owner know the webcam is on, a former assistant director of its tech division has said.

 The FBI uses the same technique to gain access to your computers that hackers use: Phishing.

The FBI team use the same technique as ratters, by infecting the computer with a malicious software – ‘malware – through phishing.  By sending an email with a link, which could be to a website, an image or a video, the user is tricked into downloading a small piece of software onto their machine.

Once installed, the malware allows the FBI to take control of the computer and the webcam at any time, working similarly to the system large corporations use to update software and fix IT problems.

We have rights to protect our privacy, right?  The FBI needs to obtain a warrant, the same as it has to do if it wants to place a tap on a telephone.

‘We have transitioned into a world where law enforcement is hacking into people’s computers, and we have never had public debate,’ Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union told the Post.  ‘Judges are having to make up these powers as they go along.’

Non-governmental hackers are called Rats.  Ratting is the hacking of people's computers in order to capture photographs of them, and then enslave them into sending more photos, or face having their photos made public.

Slaves can be male or female, but since the majority hackers looking for slaves seem to be heterosexual males, the slaves themselves tend to be young women.  These slaves have no idea they're being tracked, watched, and followed any time they are online.

We take out laptops everywhere these days.  Hell, I know I had mine in the bathroom as I showered and got ready on several occasions.

People have no idea that they are being watched by someone around the corner, or around the world.  And that there is a market for what can be seen through your camera.

They sell the youngest slaves to the pedophiles, the men to the gay crowd, and there's a market for those outliers.  For instance, cops. There's always a buyer

 Here's a simple, low-tech way of preventing your computer camera from spying on you for a cost of less than five cents: Place a small piece of black electrical tape over your computer's camera.  Threat neutralized.

By the way, the hacking isn't limited to computers.  If your habit is to listen to music over your cell phone while you're getting dressed, you are vulnerable to the same kind of hacking.