polite people blind the all seeing eye

In Oliver Stone‘s respectful movie Snowden, among the many powerful revelations Edward shared with us is the constant and thorough surveillance we are under.

In their Hong Kong meetings reporters’ cell phones went into a microwave oven as those are specifically designed to block microwave transmissions from getting out, which includes audio as well as video information via microwave transmitters built into our electronic tools.

The rulers love to put stuff like this in plain sight where we never see it. Thus their all-seeing-eye on every dollar bill we carry, and use in our private, cash transactions. Funny guys.

Many of us getting our world view from non-mainstream sources have known for years that Big Brother can turn on and watch our personal world through the cameras we eagerly purchased and enthusiastically carry, even when we think we have them turned off.

Stone’s 2016 movie of events three and more years old includes solid depictions of surveillance state operators activating personal, private cameras and microphones to view and record private lives.

From the story at inverse.com, Cover Your iPhone Camera With More Than Tape:

Sharyn Alfonsi, a CBS reporter, witnessed firsthand how easy it is for hackers to access a phone camera. She offered up herself and her devices for a 60 Minutes story on hacking, and her phone camera became a major issue.

“The hackers were able to exploit a hole in the global cellular network and get into our phones, turn on our cameras, listen to us, and all they needed for that was a phone number,” Alfonsi says.

Being exposed has not slowed it down at all. The surveillance state continues to grow like a cancer consuming liberty around the world.

Many cell phone, computer and web experts cover their cameras except when they want to use them, and recommend all of us do the same. Even the head of the FBI publicly made this suggestion to all of us.

Heck, there are now mainstream products for covering your cameras including some with sliding windows and one called the Eye Patch, targeted initially to I-phones.

The EyePatch Case is unlike any other. A simple switch protects your front and rear phone cameras from the elements and creepy hackers. Each time you slide the EyePatch switch open or closed, the fiber interior wipes your lens clean no more using your sleeve to get rid of fingerprints or smudges. You can’t hack a piece of plastic:

It’s becoming increasingly easy for hackers to gain access to your phone and inevitably, your camera. Malware is becoming more sophisticated and inexpensive. It’s happening right now on laptops and many Android phones, and only a matter of time before it’s common on all devices.

You must be aware, however, that the microphone is still alive and well. Were I really going for it, I would install a physical switch in the microphone circuit. Cutting off the video track is good enough for me. Without it, the audio is pretty boring stuff… as if the rest is interesting. 😉

You could, of course, keep your devices in microwave ovens. They are a bit awkward to carry around that way though.

Web-search “cover your camera” for links to products and many more articles recommending the practice.

I applied a piece of paper with clear tape and called it “done”… but I almost never use my computers for taking photos and videos. I have a dedicated, unconnected device cleverly called “a camera” that does all that for me.