The Cellar - Optic Nerve: millions of Yahoo webcam images intercepted by GCHQ

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- - Optic Nerve: millions of Yahoo webcam images intercepted by GCHQ (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=29937)

Carruthers

02-28-2014 09:24 AM

Optic Nerve: millions of Yahoo webcam images intercepted by GCHQ

Quote:

Britain's surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the US National Security Agency, intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal.

GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats in bulk and saved them to agency databases, regardless of whether individual users were an intelligence target or not.

In one six-month period in 2008 alone, the agency collected webcam imagery – including substantial quantities of sexually explicit communications – from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts globally.

The complete article.

I wish to make it clear that I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Yahoo webcam account holder:eyebrow:

Sundae

02-28-2014 09:27 AM

Am I glad now I've never shaken my titties on Yahoo!?
Well, maybe. They'd have reached a wider audience than I realised, if I had.

glatt

02-28-2014 09:35 AM

The takeaway, other than all the spying on citizens BS, is that 7.1% of Yahoo webcam traffic contained nudity.

7.1% !!!

Gravdigr

02-28-2014 11:17 AM

I would have expected a higher percentage.

glatt

02-28-2014 11:33 AM

If these are "broadcasts," able to be viewed by multiple guys, then I'd also expect it to be that high, but if it's person to person, like Facetime, it seems high to me.

footfootfoot

02-28-2014 02:01 PM

Optic Nerve: millions of Yahoo webcam images intercepted by GCHQ

I wonder when the whole set of images and videos will be available on the pirate bay? I'm probably gonna need a bigger hard drive

NoEdwonun

03-02-2014 11:59 AM

Quote:

Yahoo was not aware of the reported activity. “This report, if true, represents a whole new level of violation of our users’ privacy that is completely unacceptable,” Yahoo stated, adding that it is committed to preserving its users’ trust and security and will continue its efforts to expand encryption across all services.

http://goo.gl/bmyEMM

Yahoo claims that they have not been involved in spying. They will encrypt all future communication, which they should have done a long time ago.

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