Hidden Spy Camera & Mic Found Inside Digital TV Box

Important news alert:

Tiny wireless transmitters in tongue studs and nose rings will allow government agencies to monitor what 70's TV theme song has been stuck in your head for the last two hours.

LOL, good one, douglas.

douglasq,

Tiny wireless transmitters in tongue studs and nose rings will allow government agencies to monitor what 70's TV theme song has been stuck in your head for the last two hours.

...and especially, what is going up your nose.

LOK, Karl, LOL.

it has to be a hoax.

I remember one night a couple years ago I wasn't hungry but got up, made a bowl of cereal, and when I went to sit back down to eat the news @ 9 came on to announce that people were starting to eat breakfast foods at night.

We now have cable(I don't approve and I don't pay for it), which my roommate always watches sports center. One night I was practicing for spanish and the sports center hosts said some spanish words for no reason at all.

Just a couple instances I found odd.

Coincidence? Once is a coincidence, twice is ?, three times is enemy action.

Gather 'round kids, it's story time.

So, many years ago when I was realizing first hand what sorts of jobs one can get with a bachelor's degree in History, I worked as technical support at Dish Network (the satellite TV people who aren't DirecTV).

Dish makes and supports a bunch of receivers and, as anyone who's worked tech support will tell you, certain calls just go down in history for being chock full of awesome. One such call was actually bandied about the call center in the training programs as an example of "what not to do."

This old and crazy lady calls in talking about how Dish is spying on her through her satellite TV receiver. She seemed to think that the red light on the front of the receiver - the one that means "Hi, I'm a satellite receiver and I'm on right now" - was the "recording" light on a video camera. She thought we were watching her every move.

So the tech goes on and on and on with her about how no we're not watching her. He goes above and beyond the call of duty, explaining how electromagnetic radiation dissipates at the square of distance, how her satellite system simply doesn't have the power to transmit, how our satellites simply didn't have the bandwidth to receive from millions of receivers, how the whole this was simply impossible.

And slowly... very slowly... he brought her down to earth and showed her the light of reason. By the end of the call they were chummy and there was a great report between them so... just as he's about to sign off he says "and that's a lovely red sweater you're wearing."

Now remember, this is phone support. Guess what she was wearing.

She. Freaked. Out. (And he had to go find a new job).

Now, hilarious as that story is, it does illustrate several points.

1 - There's no way anyone could use a bug like that to spy on a large number of people. It's just too much data and the transmission range would be too small. You'd need hundreds of thousands of collection points and vast amounts of storage.

2 - Even if you could somehow pull this off, you'd get a bunch of video of slack-jawed Americans staring at their TVs. Who, really, cares? It's so much easier to just tap your phone without a warrant.

LOL, killfile, great story. Butl, if it would be colossally impracticable (not that this has ever stopped them...look at Vietnam, Iraq), how is it they want authority to surveil the internet? That would have as many problems, no?

Killfile THAT IS A GREAT STORY!!! Made water come out my nose!! I hope the guy who lost his job went into fortune telling... Maybe he is working for a police department somewhere as a psychic!

And thanks for the dose of reality, as well...Although this story still made me glad I cleaned up my act years ago:)

There's no way anyone could - if there's a will there's a way

1) Not if it was selective

2) It is illegal to own a cell phone w/o gps, also cell phones are receivers at all times(as long as they are turned on, including video if you have it)

I guess anything is possible, but it puts me in mind of "Bruce Allmighty" with all of the praying...how could they sort through the drivel?

There's no way anyone could use a bug like that to spy on a large number of people. It's just too much data and the transmission range would be too small. You'd need hundreds of thousands of collection points and vast amounts of storage.

Great point, Killfile. I think this is paranoia at its finest creating fiction, not news.

It is illegal to own a cell phone w/o gps, also cell phones are receivers at all times(as long as they are turned on, including video if you have it)

Neal, GPS and location-based services are optional on every cell phone I've seen. Turn it off. It sucks your battery life anyway.

LOL, Cyntia. Remember all those emails? hahaha.

Yes! And the E-mails! What a hoot:D

Facebook installs a tracking cookie onto your computer to follow everywhere you go, they have recently gotten in trouble for selling the information but I'm sure they help out the Information Awareness Office when it needs it.

Anyways, wouldn't running programs that sift through phone conversations searching for keywords be efficient? I've seen a couple news stories about the passive storage of phone records.

lucid - I'll get back to you I have to go to class

great story Killfile. roflmao. as far as this one though, I watched the video and it's bs. that really is a camera but it's not connected to anything...it's the guts out of a webcam with the wires cut off and glued to the transformer, which by the way would generate enough inductive power to prevent the CCD in the camera from functioning.

if "they" wanted to spy on us there are a lot of simpler and more effective ways.

They do want to. There are easier ways, and they are using them. :)

I am not so paranoid as to believe this story.

I need to see it to believe it.

Who wants to watch someone that is so poor they can't afford a new digital TV ($50 used maybe)? Makes no sense.

lucid

http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/2404301.html

Who wants to watch someone that is so poor they can't afford a new digital TV ($50 used maybe)? Makes no sense

See,that's the problem! Near-sighted and under appreciated value for humanity.

Are you implying that the $50 makes or breaks someone in their worth?

How simplistic! If he/she buys the converter(40-70$$) then they are worthy of being watched?

Like someone above wrote...it's selective .Intrusive. Immoral. Unethical.

For you Rushrules...a monitor/sensor for your toilet.Like in Singapore. 50 lashes for not wiping the seaty,sweetie.

Not farretched.I mean far fetched.

Then a "monitor" for your car.

And the most important issue is the fact that what used to be "free" is now only accessible at a premium....cable,satellite,dish or converter.And the "commercials" are still sold and imposed over and over on your poor little minds.

Reunion,reunion,reunion...that's all I see and hear...20 year reunion...the slob,the player,the wannabe,the slut....WHORE's,,,lol!!hahahahahaaahaaa...(that's what you get for your $100 ...prime entertainment...and to boot,surveillance of your petty ,obscene lives). You're right...they don't care about most of the pathetic,complacent,apathetic ,insolent...they are right where they are wanted...nowhere,distracted by the pettiness to understand the real agenda. The corralling and lobotomization of the human creation.

Too late for me...can't... go ...on...Bwaaaahaahahaaha.

Are you implying that the $50 makes or breaks someone in their worth?

Not what I am saying at all. What I AM saying is that if someone is too cheap to go buy a digital tv, then chances are pretty darn good they aren't out on the black market buying high explosives or taking flying lessons in Florida.

Then a "monitor" for your car.

Actually, I am one of those that does have a pc, always on high speed internet, and cable television built into my car. Not really too worried about anyone watching me drive. lol

understand the real agenda. The corralling and lobotomization of the human creation.

Wouldn't it have to be TRUE in order for there to be an agenda? ;)

Good story killfile, but must you post in those striped boxers???

Wouldn't it have to be TRUE in order for there to be an agenda? ;)

In your case...it's TRUE!! Hahahahaha...lol. [comedy] [sarcasm]

Yeah...they are so sexy(the striped boxers) Killfile.

And in the future technology will make it possible for this threat to be viable.Programs and pograms.When every other neighbor is coerced by their own pettiness to turn you in for "thought crime". Unacceptable facial expressions. Farting.swatting the rear of your own child.

Giving them soda before 12 pm.

These stressors are applied way in advance to desensitizes the populace and acclimate them to the idea of Big Brothers infallibility and to gain your unwavering support and willingness to conform.Unquestioning.Blind allegiance. Just the first step.

"Conform. Conform. we are back in control.red Sector A is back in our control"

Low and high frequency waves emmitted by HDTV can/might interfere with aural and visual processing...add a couple of RealID chips to recipe and voila...controllable species.

High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program - Wikipedia, the free ...

Re: GPS and cellphones, What we have said is there may be a surcharge in the future [for non-GPS cellphones] because with the older technology, we're not going to be able to do a number of things that may be required

Good link, neal. The net is tightening, the water is heating up, whatever metaphor you like. Some of us are noticing, many if not most, do not want to be aware of what's happening because it's too inhuman to contemplate.

Only people who find interest in this stuff are the people that are aware and the people that want to discredit those who are.

neal242: Wow. I am still trying to figure out what you said, but its like having bees living in my head!

Usually people just say 'my head hurts' : )

neal, users are required to have phones with that technology, but I've still never personally seen a phone that has location-based services "always on." If there are phones that exist with that mode, please tell me which ones, but I'm still doubtful that this is anything other than pandering to paranoia.

Try this lucid, turn your gps off call 911 and see if they can find you without telling them your location.

Why are you trying to get lucid arrested? Cell phones ping off towers even when there is no GPS available.

He can try it out when the need for calling 911 arises. Unless of course everybody who dials 911 is arrested.

If one calls 911 just for the fun of it, they could, in fact, get arrested. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

ha ha...

After careful consideration, I'll pass on the suggestion.

For the record: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/02/dtv-converters.html