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Cheap Video Sniffing
HadleyRipleyArgusRockefellerDog writes "Want to see what other people find interesting enough to watch with an X10 Camera? Radical Software Group has a page describing how to build a "video sniffer". They say they picked up their first image after walking half a block in NY city. X10's work on the same frequency as 802.11b. .. anyone want a combo WiFi/Video sniffer for Christmas?"
Does X10 have encryption? Espiecally if these things are being used for security cameras. Or private sex parties either way, i wouldn't want people looking in.
It gets better. Do you know about those long range antennas you can get for your 2.4GHz wireless? They work with the X10 cameras wonderfully. My brother has a pair of 24dBi antennas and let me tell you about the perfect picture from those cameras from miles away. The compact yagi antennas that I have work great too.
Ever heard of Pringles cans used for X10? That works too!
Doesn't anyone on here ever watch TV or movies? Seems to me a wireless security camera would actually *help* anyone who might want to break into a given place-- then nobody needs to infiltrate ahead of the break-in to tap into a wired video system.
First, the bad guys could watch the feed from that wireless camera unknown to anyone for weeks to "case" the target.
Secondly, all they'd probably have to do to render that camera useless would be intercept some video of the area it watches when said area was unoccupied, change any necessary onscreen time/date stamps (which aren't even an issue if it's a cheap-ass X10 camera), and rebroadcast it with a signal strong enough to overpower the signal from the real camera.
Of course, this all becomes a non-issue if you assume that an X10 camera would never be used to secure something valuable enough to be of interest to technically-sophisticated thieves who could easily defeat the system. But this is America, and stupider things have happened.
~Philly
Even if someone tuned in, so what?
Security cameras don't usually record every square inch, because in many cases it isn't very practical or cost effective. If you were going to (hypothetically speaking of course) break into a place, you would definitely want to know what the camera *couldn't* see. You'd watch the camera, compare with what you know about the inside of the building, and through the process of elimination -- voila! You now know what the camera doesn't see.
Sometimes people who place security cameras don't think about other possible ways of entering buildings. They usually watch the door. But one could conceivably enter a building through windows or ventilation systems.
Even if you had a camera looking at every possible means of entry, chances are good that one or more of those cameras can be disabled or fooled somehow. Knowing what the camera can and can't see can reveal strategies for disabling or fooling the cameras.
My journal has hot
Yeah. I was underwhelmed too.
I wonder, though. X10 cameras and 802.11b equipment do work on the same frequency. Would it be possible to write a program that would allow you to receive X10 data with a WiFi card? We've got the GNU Radio program that can receive HDTV signals and radio signals and so on. Perhaps that could be modified to grab X10 signals through your wifi card.
Mind you, it may be that the two technologies are too different to be easily adapted to one another. Sharing spectrum is only one factor to be considered, and a fairly small one at that. Any X10 geeks care to comment on the feasibility of receiving X10 signals with 802.11b hardware?
Here in my town, someone captured the neighbor beating their kid. The video tape made short work of the legal procedings.
Yeah, about a year ago.
Not those dome-covered cameras, like you see in department stores or grocery stores.
Even with a totally visible camera, you can't usually tell how wide the angle of view is on the lens. Also, some visible cameras are capable of moving, and do so on a programmed frequency. You'd definitely want to know what that camera can see.
If you have a place that has a lot of visible cameras the space available to hide in may be as little 2-3 sq. ft. Without being able see that space for sure, you might not take the chance, but if you can pick up the video image via X10 video sniffing, you will know exactly where that space is.
My journal has hot
Don't forget about antenna polarization. A receive antenna that matches the direction (polarization) has full strength. Rotate your antenna 90 degrees from your neighbor's vertical polarization into a horizontal orientation and his signal will drop greatly. Kind of like polarized sunglasses blocking out all light of a certain direction.
Something to think about when sniffing or trying to prevent reception of undesired signals.
I'd wire up a couple cameras in the open and leave a blind spot. That is where I stuck the hidden camera connected to one of two working tape decks. Just like shooting fish in a barrel. You would see them look to make sure the cameras did not cover that area, walk back, and stuff the goods in their pockets/lunchbox/etc.
How is this better than making the last camera visible, preventing the crimes altogether?
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I'm not telling you to encrypt photons - I'm telling you to close the shade.
If you're filming things with your nifty wireless camera that you don't feel comfortable with people watching, then use a more secure method (like, say, a wired camera). If what you're doing requires wireless capability, and you recognize that, chances are you could find a more secure way to do it.
Going with your example... because people could point cameras into the window, if it mattered to you, you would want to close the windowshade, so people couldn't take pictures of you anymore. That's what I do - literally, in real life.
It's been stated that Joe Sixpack might not understand this, but really, you're installing a miniature "radio station" that transmits video feed. If someone with a receiver picks up the signal, they're not doing anything wrong.
If you're going to go wardriving, trying to find these signals, then you're starting to go into a gray area. Even then, though, you don't know whether someone put this camera up for their personal use, or as a goodwill to all the voyeurs in the world.
The world can be wrong today for once.