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Warspying in San Francisco
hak_fan writes "SecurityFocus has a story on a group of radio hobbiests in San Francisco who occasionally go out warspying for wireless cameras in the 2.4GHz band, using some customized equipment. Their latest expedition turned up some interesting finds."
Not that you slashdotters would want to know such a thing.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
The most fascinating part of this article to me - was the fact that it's NOT a violation of the wire tap act. It seems video isn't considered snooping. Talk about technology out pacing legislation. I wonder how long before we have one of those sites devoted to "hidden camera" porn? Oh, wait...
But this is slashdot. A slashdoter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber!
If they found some interesting finds, they left them out of the article. They found exactally what you would think they would find... cameras pointed at places in offices... not the hot lesbian orgy that you would hope for. Besides, isnt this a dupe?
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
I didn't know the letter 'y' was taking a break today.
Where, oh where have all the *hobbyists* gone?
-Cyc
/.'s 10 Millionth
Think outside the... Hey, where'd the friggin' box go?
When you broadcast something, you shouldn't expect it to remain private.
If you want it to remain private, do something.
Encrypt it, or don't send it out to everybody.
From the article:
So the "catch of the night" is a freeway camera. Woo-hoo! Oh well, at least now I know there are bigger dorks than myself.
I know god exists. I read it on the internet, so it must be true.
"The problem is, if the cops take an interest in you while you're doing something like this, the only way to get out of the situation is to admit that you're a dork," says MWD. "I'd almost rather be taken back to the station."
This is why we're losing jobs to India. Indians don't have to worry about looking like dorks because they're interested in science.
and found nothing of interest.
You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever.
Dr Superlove 300ml. I use my powers for awesome
Anyone know if the wireless camera detectors they have at Radio Shack (still carry?) work? They were a small cigarette ligher sized detector. Didn't seem to me that it would work all that well...
JOhn
Campaign for Liberty
This sounds like a good plot starter for a political thriller.
A college student goes out to look at wireless cameras and witnesses a murder, which is later ruled a suicide by the coroner's office in a massive political coverup. He has the murder recorded on the hard drive of his notebook computer, and shortly after he hands a CD he burned with an MPEG of the murder over to his uncle, a police detective, his uncle is then found dead, another "suicide." Then the kid realizes they'll be coming after him next, and a merry chase ensues.
Has this already been done?
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Envy my 5 digit Slashdot User ID!
"His satisfaction at the discovery hints at the real nature of warspying: at least for WMD, the appeal isn't voyeuristic at all -- it's pure geek."
He starts off as Massive White Dude (MWD) and ends up as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Interesting... Terrorist.
I don't know what's funnier -- the fact that the warspying guy's name was "Massive White Dude" (or "MWD" for short), or the fact that the reporter misspelled it as "WMD" in the second to last paragraph...
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
I never thought this would happen to me. I was warspying around Clevland and found myself in a low-rent part of town. I didn't want to stop for long, but I glanced at my equipment while stopped at a red light and saw the most beautiful girl in the world. She must have forgotten to turn off the camera, because the things she was doing.... Well, let's just say it was even more exciting than the goats.cx guy, or the thought of Natalie Portman with hot grits down her pants. I went right up to her place, and secured that camera for her by setting up a linux firewall. But the really good part is, I put in a backdoor for myself!
that they are driving around with a police scanner in their vehicle... that's against the law in some states too.
Ironically, they'd be OK here in Florida... you can drive with a scanner in your vehicle here but only if you're a licensed HAM operator or newsguy.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
feed the troll .... :-D
rtfa gives you
"This kind of snooping doesn't violate federal wiretap laws, which generally protect audio communication, but not video, says Joseph Metcalf, an assistant professor at the University of Oregon law school. Moreover, the law keeps it legal to monitor radio transmissions that aren't encrypted or scrambled in any way, unless they're in a band specifically protected by statute, like analog cell phone signals. "If a communication is readily accessible to the general public, that communication is not protected by the federal Wiretap Act," says Metcalf. "
Basically if you don't encrypt it it's your fault that someone else can read the signal.
Worst
It is no different than a voyer.
First, it's voyeur, not voyer.
Second, your comparison is fallacious. Sure, I have a right to be protected from people spying on me in my own home. However, if I plastered naked photos of myself all over the 'hood, then I think it reasonable to assume that I've waived this right. Same goes for wireless transmission; if I can receive the transmission in a public place, then those producing the transmission have effectively waived their right to privacy.
In fact, we could take this one step further. If I picked up a broadcast from a security camera, which happened to be pointed at two people fucking on the office copying machine, the company might be liable for broadcasting obscene material.
Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
Nobody has a right to sniff like that.
If you don't want people sniffing you, you shouldn't stink up the place.
This is equivalent to communicating with your neighbours by shouting out of the window and then complaining that people are listening to what you say.
As another poster pointed out, if you're broadcasting, you shouldn't expect privacy. If you're sold a wireless system as a private link, then the people to complain to are the sellers of the hardware for false advertising.
I know this is a troll but.....
If you're stupid enough to BROADCAST anything without encryption, then you're waving your right to privacy. There's plenty of cameras out there that don't use wireless. If you're worried about privacy, use those.
What IS illegal is enforcing you're own "justice" with a large hunk of wood.
--
$7.95/mo, 200 GB disk, 2TBxfer, MySQL, PHP, RoR.
Wardialing was coined after Matthew Broderick did that activity in the 1983 movie War Games. It was a little bit clever to mutate that into wardriving, but that took the prefix right up to the edge of Fonzie's ramp.
... just stood up all at once. The worst thing was that out of all my dvds, the one at the top of the pile was Enemy Of The State. Great film, although this story just make you wonder how many electronic eyes are watching you....
chris at darkrock dot co dot uk
http colon slash slash www dot darkrock dot co dot uk
But MWD doesn't relish trying to explain that to the San Francisco Police Department. Even when he's not warviewing, he keeps a police scanner running in his car, to "keep an ear on the pulse on the city," and tonight it provides some comfort by not squawking out calls about strange men carrying alien-looking ray gun equipment, or driving slowly and suspiciously though the city's varied neighborhoods in an ominous black '64 Volvo.
isn't it highly illegal to have a police radio scanner in a moving vehicle? I thought it was only legal to posess them if it was in a fixed location like your living room
*oops*
This is exactly what happens with your typicall baby monitor. People dont realize they are broadcasting their life to all their neighbors.
:)
In fact thats what happened to me, i bought a monitor, but its useless, since all the channels are being used by my neighbors.
At least I have something to do if I'm ever bored.
Its like a baby crying radio channel
sorry officer, left my sig in my other computer.
Unless you are going to build your own hack it seems that for the less technically inclined of us cash will be king. To get in the game the article suggests the two best options. Any feedback on which one gives the most bang for the buck?
t ml
ACN53292
http://www.actiontvusa.com/ACN53292.h
and the
Icom IC-R3
http://www.texastowers.com/icr3.htm
What the hell is this crap? It's NOT neutral. I can see it now...
Reporter: "So Mr. Car Thief..."
Thief: "Please. I prefer the term Vehicle Posession Transferal Agent".
You ARE spying. You're looking where you shouldn't; that's spying, just like eavesdropping on 802.11b is spying; you know your victims are probably not expecting you to be looking, and you know it's wrong. If your neighbor has a 8-foot high shrub, and you stick your head through it to see what's going on in his yard, that's considered intrusive by most of the world unless you know 'em pretty well. It's not considered "viewing". If you put a mirror over the top of the stall in the bathroom to look at the guy next to you, that's spying. Not "viewing".
Why do I get the image of Comic Book Guy reading about MWD? Even the "please, call me..." crap is the same.
Please help metamoderate.
some might tend to think you don't want privacy if you broadcast videos of your life all over the place
Free as in mason.
"The problem is, if the cops take an interest in you while you're doing something like this, the only way to get out of the situation is to admit that you're a dork," says MWD. "I'd almost rather be taken back to the station."
Wow, imagine the interrogation this guy would get:
Cop: What's your name, son?
MWD: Massive White Dude.
Cop: I see that, but what's your name? And what's with this wire and little television?
MWD: It's, uhh... top secret, government stuff. I need to speak with Special Agent Dana Scully. It's a matter of national security!
Cop: Dana Scully... and what department does agent Scully work for?... And did you know the tags on your 1964 Volvo are expired?
MWD: Oh, Appelbaum's Mom didn't send in her regis... I mean, it's the agency's car. You'll have to contact Agent Scully, she can clear all of this up.
Cop: How old are you? You look a little old to be an agent...
13 minutes later...
MWD: yes, it's true, I'm sorry! That thing is an antenna to pick up wireless camera signals of hot chicks in blue dresses. We've been driving around for hours in my friend's mom's car trying to find some naked girls showering on camera. I'm 60! I'm 60 years old, and I all my friends refer to me as "Massive White Dude" I'M A DORK. YES, YES, I CONFESS, I'M A DORK! CAN'T YOU SEE!
Logic anyone?
or maybe he figures because he used is alias, he wont' be found out
It's true: the letter "y" appears several times in *.h files.
Where is this right to privacy documented?
For instance, with respect to attorney client privledge, if you talk to your lawyer in a public place and yell your conversation to the word, you waive your priveledge. If you talk to him behind closed doors in your office, you don't, even if somebody is eavesdropping.
I realize that Joe Everybody probably doesn't realize that unencrypted radio waves can be intercepted by anyone, but golly gee whiz. Broadcasting an unencrypted signal IS yelling out to the whole world.
This is exactly the reason why I opted to use a hard wired camera for my home. Before I hooked up the camera, I search all over the place for an encrypted wireless camera. I could not find a single one, not even a high priced professional camera that James Bond would use. It certainly seems like this kind of product would exist. Anyone know of any encrypted wireless video cameras?
--- I'm Green Hornet's sidekick not Inspector Clouseau's!
Who can find pics of his 64 Volvo? I'd rather see those.
I have a question that EEs or radio enthusiasts might consider banal...
I have a RadioShack Pro-94 handheld scanner...I was under the impression that, because it is passive and not a transceiver, it's not detectable. Isn't that the case with their ICOM scanner as well? Maybe I misinterpreting the reason why they split when they saw the cop waving the antenna.
Any RF experts out there? What's the deal?
He didn't say jail. He said be taken back to the station. There is a big difference between getting hauled in to the station and being booked overnight at county.
They don't strip search you at the station.
MM
--
By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
Damn, I could watch that for hours. Maybe next week they can find a janitor waxing a floor.
um correct me if im wrong but aren't
girl 1 and girl 2 the same ebay user id with different pictures and descriptions???
also the first one is 265$ USD. wow. for that price im SURE you can buy a quality whore or about 10 cheap ones...
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
A relative of mine is a special assistant to the state prosecutor of a New England state which I will not mention here. He works in a pedophile unit. One of their more interesting/disturbing cases involved a fellow in a dense residential neighborhood who was setting up a wireless (I assume X10) video camera to keep an eye on his infant while he was on the other side of the house. He turns on the video receiver, and is rather surprised when he starts receiving video from his neighbor's daughter's bedroom. (We'll say he is in house 100, his neighbor is in house 102). He walks next door, and asks the man of the house why there's a camera running in his (teenage) daughter's bedroom. As it turns out, the next neighbor over (house 104) had given the girl a lava lamp for her birthday... with (you guessed it) an embedded X10 cam. As it turns out, he had a camera running in another neighbor's house as well. Today, he is still in jail.
Did no one else wonder if this might happen after seeing X10 popups, month after month, featuring candid shots of scantily clad women?