Privacy Concerns - Hidden Computer Camera

bayview · January 11, 2009, 08:16:18 AM

Apple files patent for camera hidden behind display

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/01/08/apple_files_patent_for_camera_hidden_behind_display.html

Will I be watched while using the computer? Will it be turned off until I need it?

No more half-dressed, blurry eyed, without my coffee, checking morning emails . . .

Our television has gone from "rabbit ears" to the digital converter box. My girlfriend swears that the new digital tv converter box is watching us . . .

diyfrank · January 11, 2009, 10:04:21 AM

I told My ex about 15 years back this would be coming. They put cameras up all over the city and inside buildings.
They charge more money at the grocery store if you don't use their "membership cards". Every thing you buy is logged.
They push using debit and credit cards also. people use cell phones and think their having a private conversation with another person. They have computers in just about every house now. It was sold to us as entertainment. Every thought in your head is now logged.
Just take a look through the Off Topic - Ideas, politics, rants section on this forum or any other forum.
When someone is arrested now days they grab the computer. It knows you better then your own mother.

There is no such thing as privacy.

January 11, 2009, 11:44:56 AM

That is the rush to the digital change. Cell phones, Digital and HDTV, GPS, printers uniquely identify you, computers, your new car....all are monitoring devices either active or passive. The new bullets are planned to identify you through registered numbers.

They may not be used full time but they are there and ready. Note that any of the new electronic monitors can be remotely activated without your knowledge. A computer geek worked on a girls computer and was having it send pictures of her every few minutes. Cell phones captured the mob without their knowledge - granted, good in that case but...

Car black boxes identify insurance fraud, speed lies etc.

glenn kangiser · January 11, 2009, 02:23:33 PM

I forgot to mention... my computer was calling home daily to the FBI when it came back from Hewlett Packard repair for a hard drive warranty and system software replacement -

I still have the whole set of FBI files but disabled it's call home ability. Don't trust HP repair. Search your computer for FBI files when it comes back if you use them.

bayview · January 11, 2009, 04:58:23 PM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on January 11, 2009, 02:23:33 PM
I forgot to mention... my computer was calling home daily to the FBI when it came back from Hewlett Packard repair for a hard drive warranty and system software replacement -

I still have the whole set of FBI files but disabled it's call home ability. Don't trust HP repair. Search your computer for FBI files when it comes back if you use them.

What files should I be looking for?

January 11, 2009, 11:49:36 PM

Just go to a general search on Start/Search/All Files and Folders/alll or part of a file name/fbi/search

Mine has around 136 FBI files - no answer from HP and others seem to have gotten an answer that it does not exist from HP. I got that and ignored when I sent the second question with a screen shot of the files like below. Some say it is File Based Installer, but it doesn't work and was calling for the net when I caught it after my computer was returned to me.

The answers I found were not satisfactory.

MountainDon · January 12, 2009, 12:49:11 AM

A clue to this is the directory where the files are stored, system.sav. system.sav is a folder, always in the root directory, used by Compaq and HP in their file recovery process. They've been around for at least 4 to 5 years in Compaq's, probably longer.

That file fbigui.exe is another clue. Google it and you will find numerous references for File Based Installer Graphic User Interface Manager on HP computers.

glenn kangiser · January 12, 2009, 02:31:12 AM

I found some of that but other mysterious happenings with it -- and it is of no apparent usefulness if a crash occurs - probably nothing but they don't want to talk about it.

A malware program picked it up as a threat. That is how I found it.

Maybe their technical support just did not now what it was, but that also seems hard to believe. I contacted them twice about it.

glenn kangiser · January 12, 2009, 02:57:19 AM

I finally found some reference to it on the HP site I guess it's likely nothing but a bad attempt at cheapness on their part as there was a class action lawsuit over it-- maybe that's why they didn't want to talk about it a couple years ago.

Seems it was an attempt to get cheaper licensing by not passing out recovery disks and it often didn't work well.

January 12, 2009, 09:20:38 AM

I found similar files on my 5-6 year old Compaq notebook running XP . . .

Not found on my new HP notebook - Vista . . . Maybe a change of file names?

Thanks for the head up.

glenn kangiser · January 12, 2009, 12:24:53 PM

I read some had them on Vista. If you rec'd a system CD for Vista with your computer you may not have them. They got sued for te hidden partition so maybe they quit on the newer machines.

Also - you may have to check - show hidden files or something - I have avoided getting Vista so don't know.

bayview · January 13, 2009, 12:14:00 PM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on January 12, 2009, 12:24:53 PM
I read some had them on Vista. If you rec'd a system CD for Vista with your computer you may not have them. They got sued for te hidden partition so maybe they quit on the newer machines.

I have this hidden partition on my Vista notebook. I am unable to access this partition using windows explorer.

glenn kangiser · January 13, 2009, 12:32:41 PM

My hard drive went out -- the one that had the hidden partition on it, therefore there was no way to recover it. I suppose there may have been a make recovery disk option somewhere but I didn't find it before the crash.

MountainDon · January 13, 2009, 12:45:34 PM

Any laptop I've ever owned has had a recovery partition. My current Gateway has such a partition labeled as drive D. The [partition is not hidden, but the contents are. The following warning comes up in the right pane of windows explorer if I try to access the folders.

Recovery Partition
Warning!

This area of your hard disk
(or partition) contains files used
for your system recovery.

Do not delete or alter these files.

Any change to this partition could
prevent any recovery later.

The files can usually be removed without harming the current operation, but it might prevent fault recovery from working. Don't take that as gospel. I take no responsibility for anything you might do to your computer.

I have had an occurrence when the built in recovery system worked.

As well I've had another experience where it did not.

Personally I don't think the presence of a recovery area on the disk is a big deal. I believe that HP got sued because the partition was hidden and the user could not easily recover the space to use if they wanted to. In other words the x.x GB drive was not really that big to the user. I could be wrong on that.

Our Dell desktops do not have any recovery areas on the hard drives. I don't recall if I removed them or if they just weren't there?

I have a vague recollection of burning the recovery disks I have from the hard drive and then deleting the files from the hard drive.

January 13, 2009, 12:52:12 PM

I forgot the details on the suit, but as I recall, the solution was that when people would ask HP is now sending them disks. I don't like the HP secrecy on their files.

One appeared called HPQTOA - HP toaster module. I have never found a satisfactory answer as to what it does. Unknown files bug me but then I guess there are a lot of them.

Squirl · January 13, 2009, 12:52:48 PM

A complaint was brought to the FTC today against smart phones. The phone companies have logs of everyplace you have been with your cell phone from the onboard GPS.

There was also a story this weekend about how, two years ago, AOL released logs of all searches made by individual users. They changed the names of the users to numbers. Newspapers figured out who some of the individuals where based upon their search terms. Then their picture was front page of the paper along with every search they ever made. Could you imagine that?

glenn kangiser · January 13, 2009, 12:59:07 PM

I remember that--

I am aware of the locating capabilities of the GPS phones and plan on attaching mine to the bottom of someone else's car if I ever commit a crime. In the meantime it is cool to download satellite pix of my location via Google Earth --- who also has everything I ever did in my life (Google does). My ancient searches now popup to assist me in finding what I wnat.

They can also triangulate locations very closely using the standard cell towers on a non-GPS phone.

MountainDon · January 13, 2009, 01:08:31 PM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on January 13, 2009, 12:59:07 PM

They can also triangulate locations very closely using the standard cell towers on a non-GPS phone.

Given sufficient time they can get close enough to enable a rescue team to find you that way.

If this is worrisome to anyone, consider ditching the conventional cell phone plan and go with prepaid plans. Purchase them anonymously with cash. Never use the web to refill the minutes; buy refill cards for cash at Walmart or wherever convenient.

glenn kangiser · January 13, 2009, 01:13:57 PM

Good ideas, Don. Even you have a paranoid streak.