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GCHQ Intercepted Webcam Images of Millions of Yahoo Users

Posted by Unknown on from the in-case-any-of-them-run-for-office dept.

An anonymous reader writes with more chilling news from the Snowden files. Quoting the Guardian: "GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats in bulk and saved them to agency databases, regardless of whether individual users were an intelligence target or not. ... The system, eerily reminiscent of the telescreens evoked in George Orwell's 1984, was used for experiments in automated facial recognition, to monitor GCHQ's existing targets, and to discover new targets of interest. Such searches could be used to try to find terror suspects or criminals making use of multiple, anonymous user IDs." Remember, friends don't video conference with friends unless they're using SIP and TLS.

9 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Hey, GCHQ and NSA ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

    How many fingers am I holding up now?

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    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Hey, GCHQ and NSA ... by SpankiMonki · · Score: 5, Funny

      How many fingers am I holding up now?

      Don't know about you, but I'm holding up one.

  2. Chatroulette Failed by number17 · · Score: 5, Funny

    They first tried this experiment with Chatroulette only to find that the facial recognition software didn't work with cam pointed below the waist.

    1. Re:Chatroulette Failed by jolyonr · · Score: 5, Funny

      The document estimates that between 3% and 11% of the Yahoo webcam imagery harvested by GCHQ contains "undesirable nudity".

      But what percentage was desirable nudity?

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      Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
  3. Re:Cue the false outrage from Yahoo by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    I find it hard to believe anything the big tech companies say after years of favors from the government.

    "We are, um, shocked and outraged by these revelations, and wish to assure our customers that, honestly, we are a bunch of incompetent second-stringers, so we probably can't do too much our current level of security. Also, even if we could, we have a long and ignoble track record of being a bootlicking toadies who give our best customer service with the PRC is hunting down dissidents for Labor Camp Adventure Time, we're actually pretty good at that. So, yeah, try to think of us as 'Google': By AOL, it's give us a nostalgic tinge.

    Thank you.

  4. Re:Wow by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    That is so fucked up.

    So is the footage from your laptop (in the garage?) at 3 AM last Tuesday, citizen. That raccoon, seriously?

  5. Re:Aaaaaand by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shit.

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    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  6. no no, Batman was causing problems by SuperBanana · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, their software kept getting confused from Batman.

    (I promise, SFW, not a rickroll, etc. Just a guy with a Batman costume blowing some minds on CR.)

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    Please help metamoderate.
  7. Re:this isn't the only one by AdamThor · · Score: 3, Funny

    so the punishment for being a perv is that you get to be a voyeur as well?

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    -- "Oh. This guy again."