Privacy
Many users do not wish the continuous exposure for which webcams were originally intended, but rather prefer privacy. Such privacy is lost when Trojan horse programs allow malicious hackers to activate the webcam without the user's knowledge, providing the hackers with a live video and audio feed. Cameras such as Apple's older external iSight cameras include lens covers to thwart this. Some webcams have built-in hardwired LED indicators that light up whenever the camera is active. It is not clear whether these indicators can be circumvented when webcams are surreptitiously activated without the user's knowledge or intent, via spyware.
In mid-January 2005, some search engine queries were published in an on-line forum which allow anyone to find thousands of Panasonic- and Axis high-end web cameras, provided that they have a web-based interface for remote viewing. Many such cameras are running on default configuration, which does not require any password login or IP address verification, making them viewable by anyone.
Some laptop computers have built in webcams which present both privacy and security issues, as such cameras cannot normally be physically disabled if hijacked by a Trojan Horse program or other similar spyware programs. In the 2010 Robbins v. Lower Merion School District "WebcamGate" case, plaintiffs charged that two suburban Philadelphia high schools secretly spied on students - by surreptitiously remotely activating iSight webcams embedded in school-issued MacBook laptops the students were using at home — and thereby infringed on their privacy rights. School authorities admitted to secretly snapping over 66,000 photographs, including shots of students in the privacy of their bedrooms, including some with teenagers in various state of undress. The school board involved quickly disabled their laptop spyware program after parents filed lawsuits against the board and various individuals.
Read more about this topic: Webcam
Famous quotes containing the word privacy:
“The privacy of reading frees us to entertain the alien.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“A new father quickly learns that his child invariably comes to the bathroom at precisely the times when he’s in there, as if he needed company. The only way for this father to be certain of bathroom privacy is to shave at the gas station.”
—Bill Cosby (20th century)
“Isn’t privacy about keeping taboos in their place?”
—Kate Millet (b. 1934)