Coming Your Way - New and "Improved" Cable T.V.!!!

[Ken]

Well, maybe I'm cynical when people start denying things..........


"Your article on “Comcast Cameras to Start Watching You” portrayed some assumptions that require correction and clarification. I want to be clear that in no way are we exploring any camera devices that would monitor customer behavior.

To gather information for your article on Comcast’s exploration of cameras you picked up on my conversation with another conference attendee. The other attendee and I were deep in a conversation discussing a variety of input devices offered by a variety of vendors that Comcast is reviewing.

The camera-based gesture recognition device is in no way designed to – or capable of – monitoring your living room. These technologies are designed to allow simple navigation on a television set just as the Wii remote uses a camera to manage its much heralded gesture-based interactivity.

We are constantly exploring new technologies that better serve our customers. The goal is simple – a better user experience that allows the consumer to get ever increasing value out of their Comcast products.

As with any new technology, we carefully consider the consumer benefits. In fact, we do an enormous amount of consumer testing in advance of making a product decision such as this. I’m confident that a new technology like gesture-based navigation will be fully explored with consumers to understand the product’s feature benefits – and of course, the value to the consumer."

Gerard Kunkel, Comcast Senior VP of User Experience

http://newteevee.com/2008/03/23/upda...-camera-story/

[Justin Case]

Dell Tech Support Remotely Turns Woman's Webcam On Without Permission

Snip,

Dianne Annunziato is accusing a Dell technician of becoming a virtual peeping Tom during a support call by remotely turning on her webcam.

"First, the technician started asking me what time of day it was," she said.
When she looked at her screen a minute later, Annunziato said she could see herself in a little box.
"He turned on the webcam; he never asked, 'May I? Can I?' Not a word, he just turned it on," she said.

http://current.com/items/92002107_de...permission.htm

[Ole WV Coot]

I would give you a better answer than Rick, but it's time for me to check my monitors........

[Batch]

How are the speakers connected to any usable input circuit?

Just because it is possible to use a speaker as a microphone does not mean your equipment is set up for that.

[Ken]

How are the speakers connected to any usable input circuit?

Just because it is possible to use a speaker as a microphone does not mean your equipment is set up for that.

If the audio can come in, it can go out. Once it's outside your home, a simple equipment switch reverses the audio.

[Rick]

Nope. Not gonna buy it. You'll have to show me a schematic to prove it to me. Some of the appliances guys on the forum can chime in but I think most speakers in TVs today have an integral amplifier so they won't work that way. For a speaker to work as a microphone it has to be driven. In any case, a speaker used as a microphone can only be used where a microphone would be. In other words, the circuit it is in has to be an input circuit rather than an output circuit. Savvy? So just reversing the circuit won't cut it because you have thingies in there like diodes that won't let you just reverse the circuit. TV Repair Here! Lookin' for a TV repair guy!

[Ken]

Nope. Not gonna buy it. You'll have to show me a schematic to prove it to me.

The last time I looked at a TV schematic was when I built a Heathkit black and white set sometime around '72. I couldn't even begin to read one today.

All I'm doing is telling you what the techie guys I know have told me - and I believe them.

[Justin Case]

All Speakers are Microphones

http://www.zyra.org.uk/sp-mic.htm

[Justin Case]

Electronic surveillance built into the algorithm?

Snip,

Rogue government agents or private sector video vandals who dare to violate constitutionally-protected rights by using DTV technology as a tool of psychological harassment and control wouldn't necessarily need the precise "address" in advance. A technically sophisticated operation could decrypt the access key just by being in proximity to the set or converter box. That's because each set or box (or computer, for that matter) radiates an electronic field that can be accessed by hi-tech equipment in possession of spy outfits such as the National Security Agency -- providing another possible gateway to remote manipulation of DTV broadcast channels.


http://www.nowpublic.com/world/digit...sors-and-spies

[Rick]

No they aren't. If they are powered they can not be a microphone. They have to be driven to be a microphone. From your link...

"Note that if a device has an integral amplifier like some of the things plugged into computers, it's not "a speaker so the same logic doesn't apply."

I'm not one to say I told you so but I told you so.

[Ken]

Electronic surveillance built into the algorithm?

Snip,

Rogue government agents or private sector video vandals who dare to violate constitutionally-protected rights by using DTV technology as a tool of psychological harassment and control wouldn't necessarily need the precise "address" in advance. A technically sophisticated operation could decrypt the access key just by being in proximity to the set or converter box. That's because each set or box (or computer, for that matter) radiates an electronic field that can be accessed by hi-tech equipment in possession of spy outfits such as the National Security Agency -- providing another possible gateway to remote manipulation of DTV broadcast channels.


http://www.nowpublic.com/world/digit...sors-and-spies

Good link. Thanks!

[Justin Case]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone

[Ken]

Remember the "Clipper Chip?"

http://epic.org/crypto/clipper/white...ment_2_94.html

[Ken]

And how about this?

".........cell phone microphones can be activated remotely, without any need for physical access. This "roving bug" feature has been used by law enforcement agencies and intelligence services to listen in on nearby conversations. A United States court ruled in 1986 that a similar technique, used by the FBI against reputed former Gulfport, Mississippi cocaine dealers Bennett Branch and Don Tomlinson dealing cocaine under the direct authority of kingpin David "The Eagle" Easterling after having obtained a court order, was permissible."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_...ne_microphones

[Justin Case]

How Comforting

[Justin Case]

And how about this?

".........cell phone microphones can be activated remotely, without any need for physical access. This "roving bug" feature has been used by law enforcement agencies and intelligence services to listen in on nearby conversations. A United States court ruled in 1986 that a similar technique, used by the FBI against reputed former Gulfport, Mississippi cocaine dealers Bennett Branch and Don Tomlinson dealing cocaine under the direct authority of kingpin David "The Eagle" Easterling after having obtained a court order, was permissible."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_...ne_microphones

Yeah,, Ya gotta take the Battery out or they can listen or activate the camera ,,

[Rick]

You guys need to invest in the Cone of Silence.

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

[Justin Case]

LOL,, one of my favorite shows

[Rick]

See? You guys never listen to me. Go back and read post 20.

Honestly, you'd stand a better chance of someone listening to you through your phone than the TV. After all, that's what the phone is designed for.

[Rick]

True story. After the Cone of Silence appeared on the TV show Get Smart the KGB stole the design to be used by their agents. It was successful but abandoned after a short run because of two problems. Bad breath coming through the rubber speaker hose and B.O.

Now that's funny I don't care who you are.