Spyware (cameras & mics) everywhere , A True Wonderful World

Seem that in the latest couple of years some million  of Spy devices (cameras and mice) have been installed everywhere
inside  the smart Tv (led,lcd & co ) internet  modem-routers and other devices able to connect to the net
and ready to be activated remotely in any moment by  "Unknow" ,

without informing customers at the moment of purchase ,

what a True Wonderful World,

"Urban" cameras and Mics placed around city , roads , highways , airports , train stations , markets , bars , etc… apart ,

are the peoples considered a herd inside a fence ?

is this Democracy ? ….. Freedom ?

Street cameras have been useful in identifying terrorists (after the fact). It seems to be a fixture of modern life for the near future.

What I find remarkable is how many people willingly pay for and install web connected microphones in their homes, expecting a good outcome.  :

There was at least one TV maker caught surreptitiously recording customers voices, and even one or more children's toys that were harvesting personal data from kids.  There should be a special room in hell for those folks.

JR

Same can be said about mobile phones ,I saw a recent clip from a tv program ,with the owners permission a guy was able to hack a smart phone with a laptop , listen to convos in the back round ,even snap a picture off the phones cam ,gps location was used by the phone ,so once the hack software was installed ,the person was also like a blip on the screen , they could be tracked and their home located ,times and movements etc

Might be worth looking at how the Indian government have brought in an ID card system there ,its already been hacked to sh1t ,and now over 1billion peoples private details are up for grabs , we have a similar system being brought in here in Ireland .
All these big ideas by governments towards biometrics and centralised databases is going to end up a disaster, not only will we be facing ever more precisely targeted adverts ,but in fact ultimately it will used by government back room boys to supress decent ,freedom to protest ,its everything we were warned about in '1984' and more.

So now were told that every computer made in the last ten years or so is vulnerable ,so what ,we have to replace everything to stay safe until the next back door  is found ? Hmmm suits the manufacturers thats for sure.

I see now Mr Facebook has conceded things arent quite right in the biggest marketing company on the planet ,pledging to 'fix' facebook this year.He's created a monster that wont go back into its box easily ,sure he can tinker with the software and re-organise his company a bit ,but what he has done has fundamentally changed the way we interact as human beings ,no consideration whatsoever given to possible downsides . Unfortuneately the tech owns us ,not the other way round .There used be that age old saying keeping up with the Jones' ,now its keeping up with the Kardashians etc. Ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up these days ,most likely they will say famous ,like its a career choice in itself .
If Zuckerburg thinks he can fix human nature then good luck to him .

Hi R2D2 ,
interesting post ,but freedom and democracy are just illusions painted by politicians to keep us in line ,in reality their comodifying us and our personal data for personal gain of one kind or another .

Tubetec said:

... has fundamentally changed the way we interact as human beings ,no consideration whatsoever given to possible downsides . ...

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Yes, it is very true what you are saying, that´s what always stunned me, the blue eyed naivety with which new technologies get integrated in everyday life, like industries big goal were primarily to bring you convenience and goodness 
If so, they could start by not drenching our planet in poison, lol

(Recollections of those old 50´s books, where the future looked like people where sitting in big armchairs all day, being served cold drinks by robots!)

Tubetec said:

Ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up these days ,most likely they will say famous ,like its a career choice in itself .

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What happens to kids in this bullsh*t society (in my case german, but it´s really worldwide) is dramatic, I´m around kids all day, they´re little minds get a good  workout by the media. How can we be so stupid f**ks to let that happening? Only hope is their natural anarchistic streak ;D

Posted this in the sh*thole thread, but it´s fitting here too:
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self imposed immaturity"

So how is called the re-entry in his self-imposed immaturity? The age of endarkenment? We´re right there on the doorstep...

Tubetec said:

Hi R2D2 ,
interesting post ,but freedom and democracy are just illusions painted by politicians to keep us in line ,in reality their comodifying us and our personal data for personal gain of one kind or another .

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Which in itself is nothing new. How much information has been available to the intel agencies (both national and commercial) through things like medical records and insurance policies since such things began?

Do not our machines themselves tell us they have 'Intel inside'?  How blind must we be?

Democracy exists if we believe in it. Yet we have been dissuaded from our belief.

1984 was predictive all right, but perhaps not as a warning but a blueprint. More likely a form of autosuggestion.  Just my suspicion. How well does such a piece serve as a warning when there is no mechanism by which to prevent something from coming to pass?

Good responses to this post ,I had been wanting to start a thread on privacy (the lack of) .
Really what all this intrusive snooping and capturing of data will lead to in the end is an ever more concentrated power and money base ,and thats who this system really serves .

There seems to be a prevailing attitude towards the internet particularly from the younger generations that being horrible to others online and at a distance is perfectly acceptable behaviour ,thats the real mind virus were up against here .
Something like facebook often dont punish bad behaviours if it doesnt contraviene the rules ,the problem here is if there isnt a line in the sand drawn it quickly becomes a free for all . I hear the big players saying we need better verification of user identities to help protect vulnerable people ,end of the day any extra morcels of info these tech giants can get they'll gladly take and it will be duly used to help them market to us down the line. Always beware of the big money trying to pose as a front for philantropic endevours ,its all lies and just a way for the likes of Zucherburg to assuage his guilt and make himself feel good about what he's done .

I try to be protective of personal information (I even saw one person steal my garbage trying to find identity info in my rubbish).

It is almost amusing to get web ads pushed at me telling me about some new disruptive company from my hometown, but since they don't know what town I live in I see multiple different versions of the exact same ad just using different towns in their sundry guesses.  : :

Yes the younger generation seems less concerned about personal privacy , we'll see how well that works out for them. Some kids have already experienced negative consequences from colleges admissions offices checking their social media postings and then rejecting them because of what they saw.

JR

I don't pay much attention really, but I was thinking the other day how nice it is that everyone has a video camera on them these days, rather than just tv stations having them.

JohnRoberts said:

I try to be protective of personal information (I even saw one person steal my garbage trying to find identity info in my rubbish).

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Two things. Cross-cut shredder, but throw only a little bit out each week to spread between multiple collections. Do not bag it, makes it easier for these thiefs.

Cheap strip shredder, and save up the strips for kindling, for the next barbecue on that dense log you have.

Old credit cards get cut up into many tiny pieces and spread out between multiple waste cans throughout the house, as they only get emptied when they are full.

Am I paranoid, or just careful? In this day and age, both.

In the early days of the web, I read the cookie file in Netscape Navigator, and in clear text, there was my credit card number. WTF???

Gene

Gene Pink said:

In the early days of the web, I read the cookie file in Netscape Navigator, and in clear text, there was my credit card number. WTF???

Gene

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I have been doing some programming work on an online administrative system. In the current iteration, they have credit card data, expiration dates, and security codes....displayed in plain text for the admin to read. In fact, in another section of the system, the persons full address is avaliable.

That to me is just plain shocking in 2018!

I recently saw this experiment on BBC.
Seems China is ahead of the time.
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-42248056/in-your-face-china-s-all-seeing-state

cheers

iampoor1 said:

I have been doing some programming work on an online administrative system. In the current iteration, they have credit card data, expiration dates, and security codes....displayed in plain text for the admin to read. In fact, in another section of the system, the persons full address is avaliable.

That to me is just plain shocking in 2018!

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I accept credit cards on my website and there are pretty strict rules about handling credit card information. Every year it gets stricter. I finesse the security issue by never even touching the customer CC data.

I vector customers to a secure web link maintained by my credit card servicer so I never even see the actual CC data... I just get the last 4 digits, along with the transaction verification.

If I never collect the data I can't very well lose it to a hacker.  8)

JR

If you havent read it, I highly recommend reading the book "How to disappear" https://www.amazon.com/How-Disappear-Digital-Footprint-without-ebook/dp/B00MJD7AN6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516422956&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+disappear

Its written by a guy who used to track people (think finding people in the witness protection program), and then flipped to the "good side" and helped people disappear by covering their tracks, its a great interesting read since it basically explains how easily one's info can be obtained in ways that you wouldnt even believe,  for instance the author tells the story of how he tracked a person using something like a refrigerator warranty sticker to gather info from the manufacturer, and thats considering that the book was written in 2010, imagine what can be done today!

scott2000 said:

Just got off the phone with my son. He was telling me about the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities........

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Yes those are related to a flaw(?) in processor architecture that allow secure data to be sniffed out...

We need to always be cautious.

JR

JohnRoberts said:

I accept credit cards on my website and there are pretty strict rules about handling credit card information. Every year it gets stricter. I finesse the security issue by never even touching the customer CC data.

I vector customers to a secure web link maintained by my credit card servicer so I never even see the actual CC data... I just get the last 4 digits, along with the transaction verification.

If I never collect the data I can't very well lose it to a hacker.  8)

JR

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Good, thats exactly what I do as well.  8)

I was just amazed to see a small business mishandling so much sensitive information. Weird thinking how easy it would be to steal the identities of these people if the wrong people every saw the data! Not to meantion it was stored in a database (nonencrypted) too!

scott2000 said:

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/04/26/old-offensive-tweets-could-jeopardize-josh-allens-draft-standing/23421022/

Kinda feel bad for the kid..... Should've practiced more on the other game......

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It's called karma.... but nowadays the internet allows us to screw up more widely, and share it with more people.

JR

PS; Year ago I was optimistic that this pervasive smart phone recording capability would cut down on politicians presenting different messages to different audiences, but now social media allows them to push out multiple different micro managed messages.