Comcast Literally Brought Big Brother into my Living Room

reply to post by Olivine


Congrats, your thread is number two on the first page of a google search if you search " Comcast Bigbrotherbox" or "Comcast Big Brother Box"- I look for my threads ending up on the first page of google within the first ten replies - it happens all the time and to me, it's a much better indicator of the threads importance/popularity than stars and flags because you know your message is getting out to a broader public than ATS alone.

I googled this to see what others have to say about it. I also wanted to get the flip side of the story for perspective. It seems they have been doing this since 2008 - see here gizmodo.com... -

And here,

Gerard Kunkel, Comcast’s senior VP of user experience, told me the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room.

lastfreevoice.wordpress.com...

and a newer 2013 article about it here, proposing a bill that would require these companies to put " We Are Watching You " on the screen for all to see - a good idea - www.washingtontimes.com...

reply to post by Olivine


Your computer has a microphone and camera. It is secretly listening in on you and filming you in real time. Even this site is doing it. If you want to find out if you are being spied on through your computer, scroll over to the advertisement on the right hand side of the screen here on ATS. Right click. Scroll down to global settings. A box will pop up and tell you whether they are listening and watching. There are several icons on top of the box. Click on each icon and scroll down to the line that says, "block all sites from ....."
You will have to click on the one that looks like a microphone... Block all sites... Click on the one that looks like a computer screen... block all sites... ect. Do it with every icon. Once you are finished, X out and go back to the global settings to check and make sure it took. I have had difficulty from time to time and for some unknown reason, the sites unblocked themselves and I had to go back and do it all over again. Keep up with it. Yes, you are being watched. Yes, you are being listened to. Yes, sites are obtaining and retaining all of your information. BLOCK THE SITES... Good luck.

All tech is going this way.... from smartphones listening, filming, there's the Xbox with Kinect that can read lips, listen in on conversations and whatever else it can do, see your pulse I believe.
Smart TVs and Laptops.

Everything is being geared to listen and look and watch and monitor us... BUT being sold to us for our benefit and our needs and to keep in contact with friends and loved ones.

As long as you know what you're buying and are able to keep tabs on what's keeping tabs on you, I guess it's then up to you to decide just how much spying is too much.

Reduce your online footprint. Try some add-ons. I'm running NoScript, Ghostery, Disconnect, Adblock Plus, etc. All free.

reply to post by blupblup


Charter cable is "requiring" us to have a free new HD box also. we received free new modems a few years ago that has the lights flash even when the computer is off, it has one red light all this time but somehow the light just turned green today...how can a red light turn green after years, two colors of lights can't fit in that little space.

Char-Lee
reply to post by blupblup

 

Charter cable is "requiring" us to have a free new HD box also. we received free new modems a few years ago that has the lights flash even when the computer is off, it has one red light all this time but somehow the light just turned green today...how can a red light turn green after years, two colors of lights can't fit in that little space.

Leds

reply to post by Olivine


That is ridiculous. Great O.P., sir. But really, who are we kidding. Big Brother is here for the time being. I guess it is like BlupBlup said, and it is all about being smart.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


The cameras in the set-top boxes is such a flagrant violation of our privacy, but I guess the NSA has long trampled any privacy I thought I had. Thanks for the links to the WashTimes & blog artilcles.


reply to post by ladytamatha

Wow. Thanks for the tips. I had disabled the microphone and webcam on my compy shortly after I bought it. I'll use your steps to see what I can find, now.



Thanks to everyone for your replies.
It's so overwhelming trying to protect ourselves from both corporate and government invasions of privacy.

I'd like to report I am now free of my cable box.

Char-Lee
reply to post by blupblup

 

Charter cable is "requiring" us to have a free new HD box also. we received free new modems a few years ago that has the lights flash even when the computer is off, it has one red light all this time but somehow the light just turned green today...how can a red light turn green after years, two colors of lights can't fit in that little space.

depending on the model of modem the activity light will flash regardless of traffic load. or, if your modem is equipped to offer voice service, that light will also flash. additionally, depending on the model, one of the lights might change, to indicate connection speed (ie; 10/100 vs 10/100/1000) this is achieved with a multi-color LED

SD converter boxes are being slowly phased out, as HD boxes can provide both SD, and HD output, so no matter what kind of TV you have, you only need the one kind of box to support it..that's a cost-saving measure on the part of the cable company. it keeps them from having to stock redundant box types..

introV
Reduce your online footprint. Try some add-ons. I'm running NoScript, Ghostery, Disconnect, Adblock Plus, etc. All free.

Bingo. Take the bull by the horns.

No Script is great but sometimes cumbersome. Ghostery is ok but lets some trackers slip thru so you will need a second blocker to catch the leftovers. DoNotTrackMe works well as a second.

Unplug your mic/camera when not in use (if possible). If you can't unplug them, tape over the camera and tape sound deadening foam to the mic.

Use a VPN or TOR network.


VPN (paid anonymous service) info:

torrentfreak.com...


TOR (free anonymous service) info:

www.torproject.org...


Use an offshore privacy-based email service to protect yourself from email info harvesters. Countermail is one. There are a great many.


If you value your privacy today, you will have to actively work for it.

After looking at your box. It is a RNG200 which is a "hub" for any room DVR. Its is known as the big brother while companion boxes are known as a little sister.

I have no doubt that cameras will be going into our cable boxes at some point..

WTF! I pop into this thread thinking id get a little chuckle. After reading the replys im flipping out here.. Im at huge risk, would explain a few happenings.. Anyways, great thread, time to cloak..

Like someone said, set your location to somewhere you're not or shut off location locators on devices where that is possible, use VPNs and ghosts ((ad-blockers don't really prevent them from tracking you...you just don't see the results), put a Post-It over the camera lens and speak in tongues

It's annoying that this is happening more and more, but I honestly believe it's more in the pursuit of your dollar than for spying unless you're involved in a crime or criminal activity, in which case it's there if they need/want it.

ladytamatha
Your computer has a microphone and camera. It is secretly listening in on you and filming you in real time.

So in other words, you believe urban legends.

Does this work if a computer doesn't have a camera or a mic?

It's is also extremely easy to prove or disprove what you say by firing up Wireshark or any other packet analyzer and see what is actually traversing the wire if you are on Ethernet and taking a similar approach if you are on 802.11.

How does it work if you are not connected to anything ?

I get being paranoid but you should back up your facts and not just report rumor as fact.

ladytamatha
Your computer has a microphone and camera. It is secretly listening in on you and filming you in real time.

opethPA
So in other words, you believe urban legends.

Does this work if a computer doesn't have a camera or a mic?

It's is also extremely easy to prove or disprove what you say by firing up Wireshark or any other packet analyzer and see what is actually traversing the wire if you are on Ethernet and taking a similar approach if you are on 802.11.

How does it work if you are not connected to anything ?

I get being paranoid but you should back up your facts and not just report rumor as fact.

I've seen several stories in the last few years of bad guys spying on people thru their cameras/mics.

One story I recall was high school spying on students thru school-supplied laptops. Another story I recall involved a rent-2-own store spying on their customers. Of course, the bad guys were either reading direct thru an internet connection or they were recording while the machine was offline and uploading when connected.

This is not urban myth. More like urban fact.

juspassinthru

I've seen several stories in the last few years of bad guys spying on people thru their cameras/mics.

One story I recall was high school spying on students thru school-supplied laptops. Another story I recall involved a rent-2-own store spying on their customers. Of course, the bad guys were either reading direct thru an internet connection or they were recording while the machine was offline and uploading when connected.

This is not urban myth. More like urban fact.

How does that answer the questions I asked though?

Yes their are configs that make that possible but that doesn't mean it's the norm.
Additionally if you have one of those configs it's easy to figure out whats ingress or egress from your NIC .
Computers and networking aren't magic, their are very clearly defined models that determine how things work.

how to save a few bucks i never keep anything with a mic or a camera near me why take the risk in the first place smart phones for dumb people and my television is old but still works ok same as my phone and no camera and microphone on my pc

WP4YT

Char-Lee
reply to post by blupblup

 

Charter cable is "requiring" us to have a free new HD box also. we received free new modems a few years ago that has the lights flash even when the computer is off, it has one red light all this time but somehow the light just turned green today...how can a red light turn green after years, two colors of lights can't fit in that little space.

Leds

Wonder why the new one had the red blinking light in the first place all these years and now turns green.

JohnPhoenix
reply to post by Olivine

 

Congrats, your thread is number two on the first page of a google search if you search " Comcast Bigbrotherbox" or "Comcast Big Brother Box"- I look for my threads ending up on the first page of google within the first ten replies - it happens all the time and to me, it's a much better indicator of the threads importance/popularity than stars and flags because you know your message is getting out to a broader public than ATS alone.

But Google tailors their results to the user, and you use ATS, so....



On duckduckgo.com this thread is the 13th result, and they are one of the few search engines left that give results that are not skewed to the individual user.


Mike Grouchy

they are watching you watching them