Anyone seen this.

[HillBill]

Interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ4iIM8Eljc

Not sure if they do it over here, going to take the sky box apart and have a look later.

[andywinkk]

That is really bad, what are they playing at

[Shewie]

That`s shocking if it`s true

The US gov is offering a $40 rebate if you buy one of these aswell

[Nagual]

lol oh dear oh dear oh dear. Chances of anything coming from Mars? A million to one they said. Chances of the general public believing any old conspiracy story? Yup you guessed it... at least evens.

[myotis]

Presumably in preparation for using Skype type services through your TV.

Graham

[BigShot]

Was that camera not an IR reciever?
I know almost zip about electronics (oddly, considering I've fixed an mp3 player by re-soldering part of it) so I don't know what mini cameras or IR recievers for the remote control would look like.

Though I say that out of skepticism, I actually wouldn't put it past some of the people in power to try a stunt like that.

[HillBill]

I don't know weather they really do put them in. There may be a valid reason for them if they do. But.... If they are there, then given what they are in, then it stands to reason that the people controlling your tv box also have free access to the cam and mic. One thing is for sure, you don't

Shewie, the rebate thing only helps to shed some credibility on the story imo.

[HillBill]

Was that camera not an IR reciever?
I know almost zip about electronics (oddly, considering I've fixed an mp3 player by re-soldering part of it) so I don't know what mini cameras or IR recievers for the remote control would look like.

Though I say that out of skepticism, I actually wouldn't put it past some of the people in power to try a stunt like that.

In the vid he says it's not and he shows you where it is. I know jack about electronics either mate.

[HillBill]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle2248355.ece

Just found this too.

[korvin karbon]

STOP PRESS

Mass rush to buy tinfoil has been reported.

[VirusKiller]

Presumably in preparation for using Skype type services through your TV.

My thoughts too.

[Nagual]

I honestly believe that it's not true. Invasion of privacy law suites anyone? There isn't a chance in hell it's genuine camera / mic set up. Seriously consider the potential fallout if someone did this, private company or not. The government has got it's hands smacked by the powers that be before for tapping peoples phones without permission can you imagine if they did this? Naa, my monies on a poor wind-up. Whats next? Men walking on the moon?

[HillBill]

I honestly believe that it's not true. Invasion of privacy law suites anyone? There isn't a chance in hell it's genuine camera / mic set up. Seriously consider the potential fallout if someone did this, private company or not. The government has got it's hands smacked by the powers that be before for tapping peoples phones without permission can you imagine if they did this? Naa, my monies on a poor wind-up. Whats next? Men walking on the moon?

I found the info off a news network.
Did you see what facebook tried to do this week???

They changed their terms and conditions to include this...

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

And.....


The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other.

They are putting it on hold for now due to 20,000 complaints. It will be re written shortly. Basically they are going to sell all your detail's to whoever they like, and there's bugger all you can do about it.

http://consumerist.com/5150175/faceb...ontent-forever

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/analysi...facebook-users

[Humpback]

Hill Billy

Didn't you see the next film shown at the right on the page you linked to wherein a box is shown not to contain the spy kit?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUi3sA1gdfI&feature=re lated

[Tengu]

Its some clever plan to get everyone to dismantle their sky boxes.

And why not? more interesting than watching what it produces, eh?

[locum76]

what motivation would the government (or anyone else) have for watching people watch television?

[HillBill]

Hill Billy

Didn't you see the next film shown at the right on the page you linked to wherein a box is shown not to contain the spy kit?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUi3sA1gdfI&feature=re lated

No mate i didn't, i got the link from another site and just watched that. I had heard of plans to do this a while back though, and not from any dodgy source either

Weather it is true or not. It wouldn't be hard to put contradictory evidence forward.

[SkogKniv]

As much as I believe the US gov would do anything to skirt rights to spy on citizens haha I think this one is a little far fetched. The Digital converter box is for those who DO NOT have a cable connection and receive there TV from antenna signal which is now in digital feed. The camera is not connected to a land line to transmit anything.

[BigShot]

what motivation would the government (or anyone else) have for watching people watch television?

Before I respond to that I'd like to re-state I'm not saying that it is happening, but wouldn't be surprised at all if it was.

So, in response.

They wouldn't be watching you watch television.
They would be listening to your conversations and, if the conversation was in view of the camera, know who was saying what.

It's very "Nineteen Eighty Four" but such a setup would be very attractive to any regime that wanted to know (for example) who people inteded to or had voted for, what they thought of the policies of the day, how people recieved the propaganda allowing them to make it more paletable, who was planning to protest or campaign against them, who had revolutionary ideas and so on.

If you consider the current moves to record all emails and website visits (currently not including content and without the means to make proper use of it - but both are, I think, on the horizon) it really isn't a leap into tin-foil-hat territory to imagine a mic and camera in every home - especially given the digital-switchover meaning every household that wanted to recieve a signal neededs a new box to allow them to do so.

Again - I'm not saying it is happening, just that it could, would benefit those in power enough to make them pursue it and wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if things went that way.



As for people suggesting the government (be it in the US, the UK or any other western country with similar inclinations with regards to privacy, "terrorism", social control and monitoring) would never do such a thing, I think that's a touch more removed from reality than the typical tin-foil-hat views (exceptions made for the lizard-men which is utter baloney).

We already know that the US and British governments have systems in place to intercept and monitor all telecommunications (for example ECHELON as discussed in a recent thread on either here or BB - can't remember which) - is it really so far fetched to believe they would go a step further and monitor in-home conversation without permission too? I don't believe it is.


Final caveat:
I'm not convinced that it's a camera and mic as opposed to an IR reciever, though that's more gut feeling than knowledge of electronics.
I don't think it is happening, but wouldn't be surprised if it did.

[SkogKniv]

Before I respond to that I'd like to re-state I'm not saying that it is happening, but wouldn't be surprised at all if it was.

So, in response.

They wouldn't be watching you watch television.
They would be listening to your conversations and, if the conversation was in view of the camera, know who was saying what.

It's very "Nineteen Eighty Four" but such a setup would be very attractive to any regime that wanted to know (for example) who people inteded to or had voted for, what they thought of the policies of the day, how people recieved the propaganda allowing them to make it more paletable, who was planning to protest or campaign against them, who had revolutionary ideas and so on.

If you consider the current moves to record all emails and website visits (currently not including content and without the means to make proper use of it - but both are, I think, on the horizon) it really isn't a leap into tin-foil-hat territory to imagine a mic and camera in every home - especially given the digital-switchover meaning every household that wanted to recieve a signal neededs a new box to allow them to do so.

Again - I'm not saying it is happening, just that it could, would benefit those in power enough to make them pursue it and wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if things went that way.



As for people suggesting the government (be it in the US, the UK or any other western country with similar inclinations with regards to privacy, "terrorism", social control and monitoring) would never do such a thing, I think that's a touch more removed from reality than the typical tin-foil-hat views (exceptions made for the lizard-men which is utter baloney).

We already know that the US and British governments have systems in place to intercept and monitor all telecommunications (for example ECHELON as discussed in a recent thread on either here or BB - can't remember which) - is it really so far fetched to believe they would go a step further and monitor in-home conversation without permission too? I don't believe it is.


Final caveat:
I'm not convinced that it's a camera and mic as opposed to an IR reciever, though that's more gut feeling than knowledge of electronics.
I don't think it is happening, but wouldn't be surprised if it did.

To add to that the US federal government has confirmed that the FBI and other departments do and have used cellphones to spy on suspected terrorists and criminals. The FBI has the capability to turn on the Mic in your cellphone and ease drop on conversations.

Scary stuff. What's even scarier is that when they announced this people did nothing.

[HillBill]

Before I respond to that I'd like to re-state I'm not saying that it is happening, but wouldn't be surprised at all if it was.

So, in response.

They wouldn't be watching you watch television.
They would be listening to your conversations and, if the conversation was in view of the camera, know who was saying what.

It's very "Nineteen Eighty Four" but such a setup would be very attractive to any regime that wanted to know (for example) who people inteded to or had voted for, what they thought of the policies of the day, how people recieved the propaganda allowing them to make it more paletable, who was planning to protest or campaign against them, who had revolutionary ideas and so on.

If you consider the current moves to record all emails and website visits (currently not including content and without the means to make proper use of it - but both are, I think, on the horizon) it really isn't a leap into tin-foil-hat territory to imagine a mic and camera in every home - especially given the digital-switchover meaning every household that wanted to recieve a signal neededs a new box to allow them to do so.

Again - I'm not saying it is happening, just that it could, would benefit those in power enough to make them pursue it and wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if things went that way.



As for people suggesting the government (be it in the US, the UK or any other western country with similar inclinations with regards to privacy, "terrorism", social control and monitoring) would never do such a thing, I think that's a touch more removed from reality than the typical tin-foil-hat views (exceptions made for the lizard-men which is utter baloney).

We already know that the US and British governments have systems in place to intercept and monitor all telecommunications (for example ECHELON as discussed in a recent thread on either here or BB - can't remember which) - is it really so far fetched to believe they would go a step further and monitor in-home conversation without permission too? I don't believe it is.


Final caveat:
I'm not convinced that it's a camera and mic as opposed to an IR reciever, though that's more gut feeling than knowledge of electronics.
I don't think it is happening, but wouldn't be surprised if it did.

I'd say that was pretty accurate. They have many reasons to intrude. There is a general bad feeling brewing worldwide. The governments are in real trouble. Things are going to change pretty dramtically over the next 3 years. Probably sooner. The worlds leading players have been struck a major if not fatal blow. They won't go down without a fight. A power vacuum is emerging which many countries will be very quick to try and fill.

[Eric_Methven]

What a load of old tosh! Where are they going to get the millions of people from to keep an eye on the tens of millions watching their tellys? How could it be administered? It couldn't!

Even if they got a million people to sit in (what would have to be) massive office complexes, and paid them a measly £100 per week, that would cost £100million per week.

Still, there will be some who believe it to be true.

Eric

[BigShot]

Eric
Not that I think George Orwell was some kind of prophet (though sometimes one could be for thinking it) but a quick read of the classic 1984 would answer that for you.

Allow me to quote:

The telescreen transmitted and recieved simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether or not you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even concievable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug into your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live - did live, from habit that became instinct - in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinised.

Of course, Orwell did not (at least in his books) forsee the technology we have today.

Where he imagined the Thought Police picking up on individual feeds at random or to a pattern looking for something the party objected to, with today's technology every single feed could be monitored 24/7 using computers.
Simple voice recognition software would be able to monitor for key words which would then pass the feed to a human listener, or record the feed, or assuming all were recorded (and that's entirely possible) flag it for later review.

Even with today's technology it would be entirely possible to put such a system in place.

There's no need to have millions of people to keep an eye on the tens of millions watching their tellies. Nor would such a system be limited to just those watching telly, the microphone and camera could record every conversation that reaches them from different rooms, or held in the room with the TV off.


Again...
...I'm not saying this is happening, but I do believe it is entirely plausible, would be very much to the benefit of those in power, and could be set up with far greater ease than you might expect; and apparently do expect, given your assumption that it would require millions of staff - I believe it could be successfully run with just a few hundred, maybe a couple of thousand - well within the scope of government funding - all they'd need to do would be cut an unnoticed service or bump up another stealth tax to pay for it all.


As a concept it would be affordable, plausible and (with present day technology) achievable to at least a major degree.

[trail2]

Just buy a digital TV and you will not have to worry about it
Jon R.

[MartinK9]

Or just leave the box in the corner turned off and go and do something outside



oooooo just sounded a bit like why-don't-you

[HillBill]

What a load of old tosh! Where are they going to get the millions of people from to keep an eye on the tens of millions watching their tellys? How could it be administered? It couldn't!

Even if they got a million people to sit in (what would have to be) massive office complexes, and paid them a measly £100 per week, that would cost £100million per week.

Still, there will be some who believe it to be true.

Eric

They monitor every communication, be it internet or phone. They would not be permenantly active. Just able to activate at will. Either that or recorded and stored.

[wanderingblade]

If it's true I pity the poor sod in the government monitoring station - just imagine the average days work.

REPORT:

6:00 - 8:00 - Cbeebies on constant stream while kids dribble cornflakes down the sofa.
Information gathered - Bob the Builder does cash in hand work - inform IRS

8:00 - 9:00 - News channel.
Information Gathered - Male occupant of the house believes Natasha Koplinski is a 'nice bit of skirt' and 'that bloke that does the footy results' is a bit of a 'wet kipper'

9:00 - 3:00 - Various freeview channels
Information Gathered - Female occupant of the house leaves the telly on all day - even when out. Occasionally has a cup of tea while shouting at Trisha.

3:00 - 4:30 - CBBC
Information Gathered - I've got a crappy job and James Bond this aint.

4:30 - 5:00 - TV switched off!
Action taken - Check local grip for power outage. Check local news station for fire / explosion report. Discover TV was actually turned off on purpose by male occupant of house.
Information Gathered - Male occupant may suspect monitoring equipment present in home and may have disabled it to enable covert discussions with other possible operatives in the house. Place reserved at Guantanamo Bay just in case.

5:00 - 7:00 - Jettix channel
Information gathered - Delta team managed to get the Giganotasaurus card from Alpha team by using the Hurricane attack move. There is dissent among the ranks of the Power Rangers (Jungle Fury) as the Yellow Ranger thinks she can do better on her own. She goes on to discover the meaning of teamwork, friendship and trust. Message lost on children as they proceed to Kung-Fu the crap out of each other while stoked up on Haribo and Orangeade.

7:00 - 11:00 - Channel hopping between Soaps, Celebrity game shows and cooking channels.
Information gathered - I want to die.

11:00 - 11:04 - Female occupant of house retired for the night - male occupant switched to unknown channel and - I don't get paid enough for this!

Signing off.

[Tengu]

<Nods> I still favour the idea of dismantling all your appliances, though.

[MartinK9]

If it's true I pity the poor sod in the government monitoring station - just imagine the average days work.

REPORT:

6:00 - 8:00 - Cbeebies on constant stream while kids dribble cornflakes down the sofa.
Information gathered - Bob the Builder does cash in hand work - inform IRS

8:00 - 9:00 - News channel.
Information Gathered - Male occupant of the house believes Natasha Koplinski is a 'nice bit of skirt' and 'that bloke that does the footy results' is a bit of a 'wet kipper'

9:00 - 3:00 - Various freeview channels
Information Gathered - Female occupant of the house leaves the telly on all day - even when out. Occasionally has a cup of tea while shouting at Trisha.

3:00 - 4:30 - CBBC
Information Gathered - I've got a crappy job and James Bond this aint.

4:30 - 5:00 - TV switched off!
Action taken - Check local grip for power outage. Check local news station for fire / explosion report. Discover TV was actually turned off on purpose by male occupant of house.
Information Gathered - Male occupant may suspect monitoring equipment present in home and may have disabled it to enable covert discussions with other possible operatives in the house. Place reserved at Guantanamo Bay just in case.

5:00 - 7:00 - Jettix channel
Information gathered - Delta team managed to get the Giganotasaurus card from Alpha team by using the Hurricane attack move. There is dissent among the ranks of the Power Rangers (Jungle Fury) as the Yellow Ranger thinks she can do better on her own. She goes on to discover the meaning of teamwork, friendship and trust. Message lost on children as they proceed to Kung-Fu the crap out of each other while stoked up on Haribo and Orangeade.

7:00 - 11:00 - Channel hopping between Soaps, Celebrity game shows and cooking channels.
Information gathered - I want to die.

11:00 - 11:04 - Female occupant of house retired for the night - male occupant switched to unknown channel and - I don't get paid enough for this!

Signing off.

[BigShot]

Hahaha!
Wanderingblade - that was bloody hilarious!
Nice one!