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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.
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!
Oh, here it is: FBI can spy on you through your webcam without triggering the indicator light... and has had the technology for several years. That's from 2013. I really doubt anything has changed in this regard, i.e. most, if not all, computer webcams are spying devices.
Bitch I run Linux on my laptop!
If the NSA can get the camera to work in the first place, then more power to them!
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality"
- George Orwell, 1984
Sounds like Orwell's "facecrime" is dangerously close to becoming a real thing.
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.
How does black tape stop a microphone from working?
You put it on your lips.
Personal anecdote: I have installed Linux Mint on a fair number of different semi-modern laptops over the last few years. On every single one of them, everything has simply worked, out of the box, including webcams, networking (wired as well as wireless), bluetooth, sound and graphics.
So, I get the joke, but it doesn't have much bearing on reality these days, in my experience.
It has been alleged for years that they can also remotely activate the built in microphone(s).
This is problematic as the internal microphones - such as the one(s) used in most Apple MacBook models - are internal, and don't feature a single, easily plugged or taped-over hole. Rather they use the thousands of perforations in the speaker grille (in the MacBook Pro) or other non-obvious openings.
The real issue here is that Americans used to believe their intelligence services were careful, and used traditional investigative techniques to build significant evidence to obtain wiretapping or eavesdropping warrants. In the post-Snowden world in which we live, that curtain was savagely ripped away, revealing the malevolent bulk meta data trawling, phone tapping, email sifting cloud storage plundering intelligence agency wizards trampling the constitution underfoot on a scale that should have Mount Rushmore weeping giant granite tears.
I have yet to see a single article where a single one of these federal agencies has been asked by a journalist to provide an example of a spectacular attack that was thwarted by all this Stazi level intelligence apparatus. Not one. You would think they would trot out precrime planning stage arrests on a regular basis to assuage the fears of an anxious public, but NooooOoOo, no such luck. Just trust us, folks!
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.