Re: [privacy] Internet surveillance device the size of postage stamp

["Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rMslade () shaw ca>]

Date sent:              Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:57:10 -0400
From:                   rms () computerbytesman com

> Want to spy on a family member, friend, or co-worker?  Just install one of
> these WiFi-enabled SD cards in their digital camera.

Indeed.  Install/config it on your own camera, and then the work of a second to 
swap it out on theirs.  Or, give it as a gift ...

Of course, it isn't fair to target Eye-Fi, since:

> Camera makers already build the popular wireless technology, called Wi-Fi,
> into some models. Eye-Fi hopes to differentiate itself by upgrading the tens of
> millions of cameras that have already been sold that use the stamp-sized card
> format called SD. It also plans to make the photo-transfer process easy.

And it'll certainly make the swap-out option easy.  But how good is the security 
on these WiFi enabled cameras?  How long before we see viruses that will reconfig 
the settings on your camera (sending anything with a sufficiently high ration of 
skin tones to porn sites in Bulgaria)?

> Another alternative for consumers is to use cellphones that have digital
> cameras, which are improving in quality rapidly. In many cases, however,
> customers don't upload the photos they shoot with cellphones either, in part
> because of charges imposed by cellular carriers, Mr. Glaz said.

And so, is Eye-Fi going to get into that market?  A SIM chip that keeps your 
phone settings, but also allows you to freely send the pics to flickr (or, more 
likely, MySpace) would probably have a huge market.  And the malware already 
exists for that market.

> Mr. Koren said he got the idea for the venture when he attended a wedding,
> at which many of his friends took pictures. "Everybody promised to share
> them," he said. "A year went by and I still never saw those photos."

Yeah, know *this* story.  He'll make a ruddy fortune.


======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.  Your
people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I
will die, and there I will be buried.                 - Ruth 1:16,17
Dictionary of Information Security  www.syngress.com/catalog/?pid=4150
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm
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