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The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam (npr.org)
Martin Kaste, reporting for NPR: FBI Director James Comey gave a speech this week about encryption and privacy, repeating his argument that "absolute privacy" hampers law enforcement. But it was an offhand remark during the Q&A session at Kenyon College that caught the attention of privacy activists. Kaste points to a tweet by The Kenyon Collegian, "Comey admits he puts a piece of tape over the webcam lens on his laptop." The thought of the FBI chief taping over his webcam is an arresting one for many. His comment Wednesday was in response to a question about growing public awareness of the ways technology can spy on people, and he acknowledged sharing in the surveillance anxiety. "I saw something in the news, so I copied it. I put a piece of tape -- I have obviously a laptop, personal laptop -- I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera." Not everyone is a fan. Security and privacy activist Christopher Soghoian said, "FBI Director Comey has created a "warrant-proof webcam" that will thwart lawful surveillance should he ever be investigated. Shame on him."
The only people who would object to such surveillance are those who have something to hide.
I'll bet he also locks his doors, doesn't write his passwords on sticky notes, and doesn't believe the Nigerian "Princes".
Tempest, teapot.
Seems to me that in the beginning, webcams in laptops had little sliding covers on them.
Personally, I believe manufacturers should add a mechanical switch that disables camera and microphone that cannot be overridden via software.
That is some high-quality satire right there. Too bad it will be lost on pretty much everyone outside our community. It is rare to see something so concise and on-point - thanks for including that quote!
I've always had tape on devices I own with embedded cameras (which are few), so this is not much of a 'thought' for me. Controlling the embedded microphone is far more difficult, especially on a tablet running a proprietary OS. For Android, there's always cyanogenmod,
Here in my area I'd say about 1 in 20 have the cameras taped over and once in awhile I see someone with the camera taped over on their phone and tablet.
Although I have not seen one person that's set up a defense for a hot mic yet.
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
Maybe my trust is misguided, but when the light is off on my MB's camera, I – perhaps rather naively – trust that the camera really is off.
Yes, silly me, I know.
However he, perhaps, is in the best position to know about any back doors that the government may have in his laptop's OS.
Seems to me like possibly he has just spilled the beans on something that perhaps he shouldn't have.
Not as I do!
Seriously, are there really people who don't put tape on their web cams?
It was about 10 years ago, the PCs were loaded with spyware where laptop cams could be viewed remotely without the user knowing. No indication at all that the cam was on. I tell everyone NOT to leave their laptop or smartphone anywhere that they wouldn't want spying eyes.
This guy continually says things that make me doubt his technical competence, but this summary reads like an april fools headline.
"I saw something somebody smarter than me did, so i copied it"
If it takes someone smarter than Comey to think of taping over a webcam then that should be a pretty major no-confidence indictment of his leadership.
I vividly remember that one of Snowden's documents said that CIA had been dealing with webcam OEMs for years and CIA basically made them implement a special feature in their drivers which allowed them to spy on the user without turning on the camera LED.
Which means you cannot trust your camera LED anymore. Which means you should cover it at all times unless you're OK with someone unknown videotaping you.
I use medical adhesive tape because it's opaque and doesn't leave much residue. And a 1/2" wide roll was the first thing I found last time I looked for tape. It's not about back doors and government spying for me. It's about malware. I don't put tape on my phone, tho. Most of the time, one camera's pointed at the ceiling and the other is pointed at the table.
If you want something less tacky, you can get slider covers. Search for "webcam cover".
Dont really care about watching him.....
Now using the built in microphone to listen? a LOT more information is gained that way... If he was a competent FBI director he would order hardware WITHOUT a webcam or built in microphones and would have a team inspect it first.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera." Snowden.
Yeah sure everyone else has to submit to being surveilled by law enforcement in order to be a Good American -- unless you're in the 'above the law' category, like apparently law enforcement themselves.. and politicians, I'm sure.. and people with enough money..
Fuck this bullshit. They worry about terrorists? The fucking terrorists won a long time ago. Our entire system of government is completely rotted on the inside. Just burn the whole goddamned planet down to the ground and all of us with it, we don't deserve to continue living if this is the way shit is going to go.
Works far better, because then the hackers see the tape and say, "Oh, it must just be a warehouse full of tape, better mark it down on our list of the least interesting places." When they see black, they say, "Oh, it must be someone smart, like an FBI Director, better mark it down on potential targets for follow-up."
See?
It's defense in depth. There are extortion trojans which tell the victim that child porn / illegal downloads have been found on their computer, and they need to pay a given amount of money to the FBI to make the problem go away. Those trojans turn on the camera and show the picture to the victim, as proof that they've been "caught".
BTW, if you also tape the camera, make sure that it's very dense, dark tape. Cameras can see through two or three layers of clear tape with black marker.
Snowden might be smarter than Comey, but so is my pet gerbil. And he's been dead for years.
As thick as they come.
I also tape over the little MIC hole, even on my Wii U console and any other devices that comes with a camera/mic.
Other than that, I've got mechanical switches on my Studio Mics. They're almost always set to OFF.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Comey admits he puts a piece of tape over the webcam lens on his laptop.
And I just thought his webcam was broken. Silly me.
The only people who would object to such surveillance are those who have something to hide.
If one were to look closely enough at anyone, one can find something they are doing that is illegal. On average, everyone commits three felonies a day. I guarantee you that if I looked into your life, I'd find something to put you in jail for.
And with out wars on drugs, terrorism, child pornography, and the Patriot Act, we have turned into a police state. And with political parties having the elite choose who we get to vote for, I for one do not think we live in a free country any longer.
We have given our freedoms away for security and there's no turning back.
Good.
That means the Director of the FBI did not think of putting tape on his laptop camera or that it was a security concern before seeing it on TV. This is why we should be be afraid of the FBI when it comes to technology. Just ignore them and they will die off like all the other old out of touch people.
Remove the mic and video drivers on boot, install a script to keep them unloaded. Or use windows and put tape over the one and hope someone isn't listening.
I actually remember it well, the day all those years ago I was sitting at my laptop, about to start jacking off to something that some people at the time might have found "creepy, or downright worthy of scrutiny" and thinking, "Hmm, if someone's in here with me, not only will they have footage of me with a ridiculous look on my face, but they'll be able to lean on me knowing what's on the screen right now," and at that moment, I folded up some cardboard and hung it on top of the camera. Without the whole dick jacking angle to tie it in to, I mean, hey I'm just looking at some pics of Victoria Justice. You know, innocuous.
It's something I've done ever since, out of habit, at all times when on a laptop with a cam.
Whatever sick shit the director of the FBI may or may not be up to, this isn't a big deal, and the only thing it says about you when you do it is that you're not a brain dead idiot with no care for personal security and privacy.
That would probably add 25 cents of cost to a $500 device.
It would cost far more than that just to handle all the tech support calls from people complaining that their cameras and microphones don't work.
But yes, yes they should.
No, they shouldn't. I trust black tape far more than I trust a mechanical switch that someone else installed.
How does black tape stop a microphone from working?
I use Linux, my WebCam Works. So does the LED. But there was a previous Kernel revision where the Camera LED did NOT turn on. This was fixed. If I wanted to be sure my Camera couldn't use used to spy. I either could tape it or unload the driver.
EVERYbody is smarter than *he* is....
I had a Chiquita Banana sticker on my notebook cameras since they day they didn't come anymore with that plastic slider to close them.
First it was having an 'indicator light' when the camera was in operation, and we were assured it was absolutey secure - until this came to light. () I read about someone who overcame a physical switch but have lost the link.
Nonetheless, I would not assume any physical switch on a computer. It's read and execution based on the sensor is still software (or firmware, or microcode).
It's not just the camera you need to protect. I used to carry a small audio adapter - plug it into the laptop and the built-in microphone is disabled. I got out of the habit, but the tape is always there.
Redundancy is good; triple redundancy is twice as good! - Me.
I guess we shouldn't have been surprised by this.
but mine is covered in a crust, a dry semen crust
It is a good idea to mask a laptop's camera, but what about smartphones? They could be hacked too.
but don't forget the microphone! You may need to manually extract it.
JFK was actually presented with a plan from our own military to bomb Miami, Fl. and blame it on Cuba in order to justify a war with Cuba. JFK thankfully rejected the idea. My point being is that even when government has good intentions it can be very, very dangerous. Another example is police agencies handing data to places outside of government such that there is no way to subpoena records. Even local police agencies often have exhaustive yellow sheets on almost everyone in their jurisdiction. Those yellow sheets are illegal. But they absolutely do exist. They may be held by groups such as the Officer's Retirement Council or some other gimmick which is not part of the government. But make no mistake. The cops have vast collections of knowledge about almost everyone. Departments do know how to share that information as well. For example, a machinist that i know was awakened in the wee hours of the night and taken to an interview. A vault had been drilled into and the cops were aware that he had machined armament metals in Hungary and Germany. How's that for a handy yellow sheet directory?
"... I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera ..."
Apparently, Forrest, there are a lot of people smarter than you.
The who system - the way we approach life - needs to be seriously and deeply retrospectively reviewed. If pot smoking were accepted, then pot smokers will not care if you see them smoking. Remove narcissism and half the problem is solved.
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
come on, there has been software to use your camera and microphone to spy on you since the 90s at least.
I have an empty jack to plug in to the external mic to block out the internal microphone, it's the best that can be done without opening the laptop and manually and permenantly disabling the microphone (read: yank).
Electrical tape is pretty good, you put a confetti over the area on the lense, and it doesn't leave any smudge so I can use my web cam at will (anyways, I have an external hi-def cam now... (read: yank ?)
Well I know what I'm doing on Sunday next week ;-) (read: Yank !)
A couple of years back I purchased an ex lease T410 lenovo, it contained an internally located microphone that was only visible if you literally tore the laptop down.
A non standard driver appeared to be required for usage under windows.
However with smart phones literally everywhere, its kind of redundant nowadays as a spying device.
From what I've been reading about the FBI, I'm betting he put tape over the microphone. Then again, we'd all be more interested in what he's saying in his office than we would watching him pick his nose.
Um, that wouldn't help. It needs to be the milky colored scotch tape, or even better electrical tape.
Also, the microphones are just as insecure, but much harder to disable.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Let's face it ... your face ist mostly boring. They may take a funny photo of your mimic while watching porn, but that's it.
The more important part is the microphone and in most laptops it's not that easy to disable it in hardware.