IT Repair Installs Webcam Spying Software

Vapon writes "A lady noticed her computer was running slower after she had brought her computer in to be repaired. She took the computer to a second repair shop where they found that one of the problems was that her webcam would turn on whenever it detected her around and was taking photos and uploading it to a website. The repair technician that installed the software has done this to at least 10 women and has photos of at least one undressing."

If you've got nothing to hide...

...you've got nothing to fear.

First question is...

Does this count as being a private dick [slashdot.org]?

Second question is...

Will anyone dare to click on a link labeled "dick"?

WTF

Why on earth would he go to all this trouble when there's any number of friendly Filipino women out there willing to do the same at a low-low cost?

It's a valid question

I see it got modded off-topic, but it seems to me like a valid question. What the heck was this guy thinking? Or the recent story on The Register [theregister.co.uk], where a 47 year old techie got jailed for a similar stunt, except he also tried to blackmail a 17 year old girl into underessing in front of the camera. (Which is how he got caught.)

I mean, seriously. What. The. Fuck.

Didn't these guys find enough photos of naked women on the internet? I mean, seriously, how did that train of thought go? "Man, if only I could see some photos of women at least partially undressed... Nah, surely nobody publishes something like that. I guess I'll just have to bug someone's web-cam." Or what?

Or was it just a psychopath's power game?

Since the story is about him, it doesn't seem to me offtopic at all. No, seriously, I want to know. What goes in the head of that kind of idiot? How do you recognize one?

Re:It's a valid question

Most of the time in cases like this it makes them feel much better knowing that they have some kind of power over the victim. He could have of course found regular porn, but maybe in his mind regular porn is too boring?

Link to video?

Not that I would watch it, of course.

Re:Link to video?

I am concerned about the validity of this story, and I agree that seeing the video would help lend credibility.

Speaking of technicians doing things....

a friend of mine is real paranoid. So when he took his computer into a large Office Supply Store Chain for optimization, he wrote the serial number down. When he got his machine back the serial numbers didn't match. But it did match for the "new" display model. The techs swapped his machine for the display model. He got his money back. I had egg on my face and now I wear tin foil hats too.

Lesson. Whenever taking your machine into those places, write down the serial numbers. Unfortunately, if you buy a new machine, repairing it yourself is not an option if you want it done under warranty.

Extended warranties are rip-offs - no exceptions.

Re:Speaking of technicians doing things....

Did the swapout comp at least work? I knew a guy that took his PC into "BigBoxStoreA" for repair becuase the thing 'squealed' and then stopped. They returned it a few days later stating they couldn't find the issue and ultimately determined the mobo had fried. He took it to a different repairshop for a second opinion. Turns out a mouse wiggled his way ontop of the HDD and chewed through the IDE cable; squeek; crash. BigBoxStoreA didn't even open the case, LAME.

Heck for ranting on terrible repair shops, someone else I knew bought a computer from BigBoxStoreA (Yes, same company) which bust in a week. He took it back, they neglected to repair it for two weeks and ultimately voided the warranty on the HP machine because they were not licensed to repair those PCs.

I got more, and I'm sure everyone else does. Computer repairmen are becoming the new age Mechanics. Yes, they can do it, some are sketchy, and a lot will rip you off. The simple answer is to learn on your own and know exactly what to look for.

Re:Speaking of technicians doing things....

    Cars, like computers, require a certain level of knowledge, and the required tools.

    PC's have come to the point where they don't even require tools. I always bring my phillips screwdriver with me to fix a computer, and have realized that I rarely use it any more. The tools required are more likely anti-virus and anti-spyware cleanups, followed in popularity by hard drive replacements (and data recovery tools), and CPU fan cleaning.

    For a car, there are more tools required, but the parts on different cars do the same thing. They may not be interchangable, but they look similar, and act identically.

    Despite the "complexity" of the computer system, that's usually the rarer of parts to fail. If you can just follow a simple flow chart, you can repair a car. Does it start? No. Does it get air? Fuel? Spark? No. Repair the source for this component.

    People have mystified the working of an automobile so much that it seems like black magic, but as we work on computers, others see our work as black magic too. Oh my gosh, you type on the keyboard, and stuff happens? Wow. It's not that dissimilar to turning a wrench and making a car work again. You just have to understand the underlying technology, and the rest falls into place.

Re:Speaking of technicians doing things....

Extended warranties are rip-offs - no exceptions.

so are "optimizations"

Whenever taking your machine into those places

Never take your machine to one of those places, no exceptions.

Unfortunately, if you buy a new machine, repairing it yourself is not an option if you want it done under warranty.

That all depends on where you bought it in the first place. If you built it yourself, you have nothing to worry about.

Re:Extended warranties are rip-offs - no exception

Apple's warranties are absolutely worth it. The three year extended warranty is dirt frickin cheap compared to any repair you might need down the line. Hard drive failed? Replaced. Keys fell of your keyboard? Replaced. Little rubber feet come off the bottom of the laptop? Here's a sheet of extras, just in case they come off again in three years.

Seriously, if you buy a Mac, buy the extended warranty.

Woman?

"The repair technician that installed the software has done this to at least 10 woman and has photos of at least one undressing."

I believe the correct word is womans, duh it's plural.

Credit where credit is due...

Ars Technica had this first. They should get the credit. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080805-high-tech-peeping-tom-rigged-laptop-webcam-to-snap-nude-pics.html [arstechnica.com]

pedant alert

She took the computer to a second repair shop where they found that one of the problems was that her webcam would turn on whenever it detected her around and was taking photo's and uploading it to a website.

Vapon and Taco, meet Bob [angryflower.com].

I got nothing to fear

A webcamera is one of the things that I will never again attach to my computer. I rigged up a webcam to my computer once so while I chatted with some chicks they could see me. My sister used my computer while I was away for a week. Looks like she would just invite some random lusers to use the webcam.

Well a message popped up one afternoon and it was from some luser telling me I was cute. I ask him how he know he said my webcam was on. Then he ask me if I would get naked for him. And it was a guy.

Camera in box.. box back to store. Now when some chick wants a picture I just direct her to a website where I have a picture of J. Random. Hunk.

Works for me.

Re:undressing?

I need to see a naked girl to shit in a cup/i>

You can't shit in a cup without seeing a naked girl? Not to mention the other two items.

You have issues.

Oblig. South Park

Once you jack off to Japanese girls puking in each other's mouths, you can't exactly go back to Playboy!

Re:Lawsuit!

"not just lawsuit.. It is criminal offense that the technician will go to jail."

Depends on the state and its laws.

A few years ago...in L.A. we had a guy that was sneaking video cameras into peoples' homes, and video taping them doing pretty much everything.

Turns out, they could not prosecute him since there was no law on the books against it. He got off scott free, but, they did pass a law down here making it a crime.

I dunno what the exact wording of the law was, but, if it specifically mentioned video taping equipment...the computer trick might be legal?

Anyway...it depends on the states laws as to if this will be illegal or not. Unless the Feds try to get in on it...if they try to argue that the signal over the internet might cross state lines or something....hmm.

Re:Lawsuit!

Speaking as someone who actually RTFA...

Craig Feigin was arrested and held on $20,000 bail after he admitted to rigging Marisel Garcia's computer, and other women's computers, with Webcam Spy Hacker. Under Florida law, he could be charged with a felony and face jail time.

Re:Lawsuit!

It's illegal to secretly record people, especially in their own homes (reasonable expectation of privacy). If you install a little camera in your neighbor's ceiling, you can bet you'll end up in jail. This is the same.

On top of that, there is the computer hacking, not performing the correct service (after all, by "fixing" the computer he made it slower)

And while there is no "right to privacy" explicitly state in American law, the Supreme court essentially created it in rulings during the later half of the 20th century (I want to say this was Roe v. Wade, but it may have been before).

Even if there is no criminal case (which, as I stated above, I'd be quite sure there is) she could always go civil. After all bugging someone else's computer and posting pictures of them undressing on the internet without their knowledge is definitely something you could get a civil judgment for. If that isn't intentional infliction of emotional distress, I'd be pretty surprised.

Re:Lawsuit!

Right to privacy, as a conjectured right, dates back to the 1890s. The Supreme Court decision "Griswold v. Connecticut" (1965) established the idea that a "right to privacy" did exist. But (and this is true for Roe vs. Wade as well) the privacy spoken of there (however you feel about the rulings) has to do with the right of a citizen to have privacy from the government. The only laws which may have been violated may have been anti-stalking laws (enacted in the early 1990's) and (to cite California's) this does not seem to fit, "alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes the person, and that serves no legitimate purpose" as "two or more acts occurring over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose." As to civil suit, well, they have to prove damages. As far as I can tell, that could be solely dependent on what happened with the images. Those who had their computers trespassed upon would be lucky to get even a small amount of compensation.

Re:Lawsuit!

A little offtopic but I don't understand why people say there is no explicit "right to privacy" in American law. I wonder if this was a talking point invented for some political reason at one point that filtered out into the mass consciousness somehow.

Anyway, Amendment 4: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

The word "privacy" is not used but this is a right to privacy in a large sense, isn't it? That the government can't search you, can't search your house, can't go through your papers, without a warrant?

This particular case is more of a civil action since the government didn't do it, but I find it a little unreasonable to say there is "no" right to privacy or that the Supreme Court "created" all our privacy rights, when there is clearly at least some privacy explicitly written in the Constitution.

Re:Shoot him

We can't keep wasting tax dollars on court cases for stupidity, which is exactly where this case will go. Just shoot him and be done with it.

Hmm it seems I landed in a pub. Have you ever driven beyond the speed limit? I suggest you be shot as well.