I guess "big brother" IS "big brother".......

[Esther Knapicius]

my work lap top has one of those little camera eyes at the top in the middle. I have a pink smiley face stuck on it. They say the IT guys can at anytime hook up to our computers to see what they are doing. Saving them from a big scare, I am, if I decide to work at 4AM with no make-up on and my hair a mess. my own laptop also has one of those, have not covered that one.

 

[Sheal]

I think you'll find they can't see you Esther, that camera is for video calls and photo's.

 

[tNtRanch]

Ok I'll help you guys decide how crazy I am or if I have a clue what I'm talking about.

Back in 2010 IT staff members put software to look at History, browser, keylogging and filters in place on all district-wide computers. The software also could remotely turn on the camera. The kids even took some of these home. This was happening with over the counter software in 2010 that's 9 years ago... This software can be pushed by GPO on windows, or through device management console with chromebooks without even being on the same continent. Businesses regularly use this kind of software to "remote in" to your computer but mainly for actual legitimate purposes. Programs like VNC <--(click there) are common and still in use. Link below to the school that got caught activating webcams.

Pa. School Faces FBI Probe, Lawsuit, for Using Webcams on Laptops to Watch Students at Home

The FBI and a Philadelphia-area prosecutor are looking into whether a school district broke the law when it remotely activated cameras on school-owned laptops and watched students in their homes. The parents of 15-year-old Blake Robbins have filed a lawsuit against the Harriton High School...

abcnews.go.com

Other programs include Go Guardian for chromebooks that can track your location to your house, take photos of you using the device and even pretend to be a device that has no password to make it easier to catch the user. I used this software to recover several carts of chromebooks for a school district that were stolen. We saw the guy on webcam with law enforcement approval and warrants were obtained. We had his Facebook, usernames, passwords, picture and everything together. he was planning on robbing a bunch more places and had a history of robberies in his facebook chats. They waited for him at his next place he planned to rob and when he broke in all of his buddies got caught too.

So yeah, if regular IT guys can get into your webcams on your phone, laptop tablet ect so can the bay guys. Unfortunately some people are both. The rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper. On a lighter note I should be posting about my seedlings that are getting setup for the season in the Garden project thread

 

[Sheal]

That was interesting but shocking reading tNtRanch. There is no such thing as privacy any more!