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War Driving Version 2.0

Posted by timothy on from the community-access-television dept.

asv108 writes: "There is an interesting article in the New York Times about the popularity of wireless cameras from X10 and how easy it is to easedrop on the feeds with relatively inexpensive equipment from up to a 1/4 mile away." I wonder if they're doing the things the X10 ads imply they might be doing.

21 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. X10's ad campaign by sammy.lost-angel.com · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wasn't this the point of all those annoying X10 ads? :)

  2. Implications. by saintlupus · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if they're doing the things the X10 ads imply they might be doing.

    Yeah, because hot chicks in skimpy outfits love guys with nothing better to do than fuck around with obscure protocols.

    That's one of the many reasons RMS gets all the ladies, right?

    --saint

  3. War driving my arse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I bet they'll suddenly be more car accidents, with bored students driving round trying to pick up 'dodgy' webcams

    They're again pr0n driving wouldn't have the same 'ring' to it (oops excuse the pun)

    1. Re:War driving my arse? by telstar · · Score: 4, Funny

      I guess that explains the 17 year old whose civic has been parked on my yard for the past month.

  4. no no no by nomadic · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if they're doing the things the X10 ads imply they might be doing.

    You've got it all wrong; X10 is meant to protect and safeguard your family. All those half-dressed women in the ads are simply burglars, removing their bulky clothing so they can slither in through your window and steal your stuff.

  5. My favorite quote by usermilk · · Score: 5, Funny
    The nanny who decided to take off her dress and clean up the house in her underwear would probably have no recourse"

    If only it was true...

    1. Re:My favorite quote by artemis67 · · Score: 5, Funny

      The nanny who decided to take off her dress and clean up the house in her underwear would probably have no recourse"

      If only it was true...

      Hmmm, there's something about middle-aged, overweight Venezualan women that just doesn't do it for me....

  6. For a good time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Call 1-800-564-8982

    Press 2, then 5228. Enjoy!

    I'm sure all /. editors should be very familiar with it...

    1. Re:For a good time... by wadetemp · · Score: 3, Funny

      "... it will not cause hairy palms ..."

    2. Re:For a good time... by wadetemp · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's a good question... after I get the pleasant female voice telling me a number is out of service, there's a bit of dead air, and then Frank the telephone lineman explains to me, in as bored a voice possible, "208... 342." *Click*

  7. Hmm by NiftyNews · · Score: 3, Funny

    It is really easy, but no matter how many I set up around my house I just can't seem to find any hot half-naked women lounging around for me to spy on.

    Maybe I just need to buy more cameras...

    --
    ------
    Today's Top Deals
  8. steal credit card numbers? by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 3, Funny

    In the nearby town of Madison, from the parking lot of a Staples store, workers could be observed behind the cash register.

    I doubt it, but I wonder if the resolution was good enough to read the credit card numbers of the customers, when they put it on the counter.

  9. Shit... by AnimeFreak · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought the ladies come with the cameras. I guess I will cancel my order for those 10 X10 cameras.

    I should have thought over how they would get 10 hot females shipped via courier.

  10. Ugh..Just what the world needs.. by Bowie+J.+Poag · · Score: 4, Funny



    ...More grainy porn featuring ugly nerds humping their bovine "webmistresses"....Yeesh. At $1.39 a gallon, i've got better things to do with a tank of gas than to drive around looking for things I don't really want to see.

    Cheers,

    --
    Bowie J. Poag

  11. The obvious answer... by Joseph+Vigneau · · Score: 4, Funny

    In the case of the XCam2, the cameras transmit an unscrambled analog radio signal that can be picked up by receivers sold with the cameras. Replacing the receiver's small antenna with a more powerful one and adding a signal amplifier to pick up transmissions over greater distances is a trivial task for anyone who knows his way around a RadioShack and can use a soldering iron.

    It looks like the obvious answer is to ban Radio Shack from selling soldering irons. :^)

    1. Re:The obvious answer... by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Funny

      Soldering irons were already on shaky legal ground due to the DMCA.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  12. Wait! Let me get this straight... by jerkychew · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you telling me that wireless devices advertised as inexpensive and aimed at home consumers don't have super-secure encryption built in?? I am shocked and amazed! I mean, If I'm paying 50 bucks for a wireless color video camera, I'd expect some government-level security on those things!!

    Next thing you tell me, it will be easy to eavesdrop on cordless phones and walkie-talkies!!

  13. Blatant lie in NYT article by dr_dank · · Score: 3, Funny

    In the nearby town of Madison, from the parking lot of a Staples store, workers could be observed behind the cash register.

    Anyone whos been to a Staples knows that there are NEVER any employees at the registers!

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  14. A nice turn of phrase in the article by ckd · · Score: 4, Funny
    Ads for the "Amazing X10 Camera" have been popping up all over the World Wide Web for months. (Emphasis added.)

    Precisely what people have been complaining about!

  15. AUGH! by Hagakure · · Score: 2, Funny

    i've been trying to read the NYTimes article but those damned X10 ads keep popping up!!

    --


    If this is Heaven I'm bailin out! I cant tolerate this ol tin-tub, so fulla trash and rats...
  16. Just what we need by TEB · · Score: 2, Funny
    more laws to regulate this and protect the consumer from their own ignorance. What ever happened to being responsible for your own actions? If you choose not to educate yourself on a piece of technology that you purchase then you deserve what you get. As mentioned in the article look at all the clueless 802.11b networks.

    As for the cameras themselves they operate in the 2.4GHz ISM band. That band has always been crowded because it doesn't require a license from the FCC to operate in. There has always been information available to anyone that took the effort to listen in. Only now that it has become popular with the public and you have a chance to see a naked nanny has anyone even noticed.

    Let them eavesdrop on the X10 cameras. We all know that the real danger lies in the alien mind rays that my tinfoil hat stops.

    I had a funny sig but a large corporation trademarked it and sued me into poverty.

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