Topic 'Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing' in forum 'Security'

Topic 'Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing' in forum 'Security' - dslreports.com http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16270329 en Wed, 23 Mar 2022 15:00:15 EDT Wed, 23 Mar 2022 15:00:15 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906487 quote:

i'd like to see what they can hear over my CPU fan.....

........it sounds like a harrier is taking off from under my desk

LOL! :p]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906487 Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:29:16 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906441
A/C is on in computer room... it's REAL cold in here! :o
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906441 Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:13:45 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906406 ...Now, watch that language, y'hear? :mad: ...

...and I really don't know about Steve X. That excuse he came up with for the pictures was real lame. Unfortunately I could not pick up her reaction -- the connection got lost...

...As for you, B. H., you know who you are, for $5000 in small, used, nonconsecutive bills I won't pass it on to the FBI....

When Metcalfe was saying the net was going to implode, I'm sure he did not imagine it would be this way... : :(]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906406 Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:09:15 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906230 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906230 Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:39:40 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906068 said by dadkins:

Some newer laptops have built-in webcams too, should we all take an icepick to them? :huh:I don't know about an icepick, but some of us wish you would at least put on underwear, while your on-line. :p
BTW: Does your laptop cam have a wide-angle lens? Somethings just seem out-of-proportion or exceptionally small... ;)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16906068 Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:10:06 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16904568 The Rutherford Institute
Big Brother and Google Are Listening to You
By John W. Whitehead

quote:
“The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it.”—George Orwell, 1984

In George Orwell’s vision of the future, Big Brother was always watching and the Thought Police were always listening. Little did Orwell realize when his futuristic book was published in 1949 that his conception of an eavesdropping technology would one day become a reality.

Yet if Google succeeds in its pursuit of a new Internet technology that would enable your computer to “listen” to what’s being watched on your TV, that reality may happen sooner than you like. The prototype software for the ambient-audio identification technology, which was described in a research paper presented by Google officials earlier this year, would be a boon for marketers and advertisers.

John Dvorak at ABC News:

quote:
...So I had to laugh out loud when I first read reports about some Google software subsystems that supposedly will turn on your microphone (and eventually camera?) to eavesdrop on you. Google wants to do this because of some distant hope that the system will be able to hear just enough sound so that when it compares it with an apparently infinite database, it can determine what you are watching on TV at any given time.

MIT Advertising Lab:
Google Proposes Ambient -Audio Identification Technology to Track TV Viewing Through PC

Technology Review:
Prototype software from Google Research could listen to your TV and send back useful information -- and ads of course.

quote:
A system recently outlined by researchers at Google amounts to personalized TV without the fancy set-top equipment required by previous (and failed) attempts at interactive television. Their prototype software, detailed in a conference presentation in Europe last June, uses a computer's built-in microphone to listen to the sounds in a room. It then filters each five-second snippet of sound to pick out audio from a TV, reduces the snippet to a digital "fingerprint," searches an Internet server for a matching fingerprint from a pre-recorded show, and, if it finds a match, displays ads, chat rooms, or other information related to that snippet on the user's computer.

Letting Google listen in on your living-room activities may sound like a privacy nightmare.

quote:
Peter Norvig, director of research at Google, says the company's work on audio and video processing -- such as a system that provides Web content matched to what's playing on a user's TV -- will show up eventually in real products.

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16904568 Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:04:04 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16904393 a) a looong run-up to April 1, 2007 ;)
b) misinterpretation by a reporter. :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16904393 Thu, 14 Sep 2006 19:37:08 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16903928
»sf.indymedia.org/news/20 ··· 2264.php]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16903928 Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:24:25 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16319002 said by dave:

said by foxsteve:

W but according to law it is prohibited recording the voice of someone else by using any recorder.

So, all those phone services that say "this call may be recorded" are illegal?

Like the one at my local police station, for example?

I think I need more context to understand your statement. In MA, for example, I believe it is simply illegal to record a telephone conversation without the consent of the parties invovled.
Some states require both parties to be aware of the recording some only one party. If both parties are aware of the recording, as when they say "This call may be recorded", it is legal in all states. At one time an audible beep every ten seconds had to be heard on a recorded call to prevent tampering.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16283252 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 17:34:37 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16282248 said by foxsteve:

W but according to law it is prohibited recording the voice of someone else by using any recorder.So, all those phone services that say "this call may be recorded" are illegal?

Like the one at my local police station, for example?

I think I need more context to understand your statement. In MA, for example, I believe it is simply illegal to record a telephone conversation without the consent of the parties invovled.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16282248 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 13:53:14 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16282227
Lets pay attention on the legal side of that Google Research project. A law does not ban getting the picture of someone else by using any camera, but according to law it is prohibited recording the voice of someone else by using any recorder.

Who is initiator of that project, i.e. who is the customer of that project?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16282227 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 13:49:13 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16281007 said by Nancymca:

Exactly who in their right mind would consider listening in on *their* room a "service"?Well, there is a useful cell-phone service I've heard about - some music's playing somewhere, you'd like to know what it is, so you dial up this service, it listens for a few seconds, derives a fingerprint, and identifies the music for you.

In principle, this Google thing could work the same way - i.e., when you want, and to answer questions you want answered.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16281007 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 08:23:46 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16280506 said by Frydays:

if its a mic just put a piece of duck tape over it and thats it they cant listen no more
That doesn't work. Try it--use the sound recorder in Start/All/Programs/Accessories/Entertainment to record your voice with and without duck tap over the microphone. If you want to disable it you must either disconnect it (not easy on a laptop) or take a needle and poke at it until you destroy the diaphragm--assuming you can reach it through the hole(s) you can see. If the microphone is at the end of an acoustic tube, good luck getting to it, but you might be able to deaden the microphone enough with a 1/4 inch ball of "fun tack" or museum putty pressed over the opening.
Flash *used to* have the ability to listen through the microphone but that got turned off in default security settings a long time ago. You can turn it back on, however. Although why anyone sane would do that and then forget to turn it off is beyond me, applications like Breeze conferencing do use the feature for very useful purposes.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16280506 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 02:27:11 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16280117 said by Link Logger:

I always leave my mic and web cam on and code in the nude.I've met him in person: this is a denial-of-decency attack on the hackers.

-shudder-

:-)
--
Stephen J. Friedl • Unix Wizard • Microsoft Security MVP • Tustin, California USA • my web site]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16280117 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 00:17:34 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16280103
Anyone who knows me, I apologise for the scary mental image now burning into your brain, but sacrifices are sometimes needed.

Blake
Speedo season is almost upon us, and my new part time job, scaring hurricanes back out to sea....
--
Vendor: Author of Link Logger which is a traffic analysis and firewall logging tool]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16280103 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 00:12:45 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16278728 said by just this time :

well you people have had your joke and let makes this clear at any time in my post did i curse or degrade or accuse anyone of you of taking drugs. or cal you crazy and other slangs?
No!!! Was all this needed and called for i have respect for people even if they are a strangers.

No problem i will make it a point to NOT post here. and as for the help you all have provide me in the past 4 year here thank you. best wish to you all.
Sorry you feel that way, but that's not true. People DID try to help you but you didn't like the answers that entailed anything that required you to help yourself.
--
~~Tears from the moon, fall down like rain, I reach for you, I reach in vain, tears from the moon...~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16278728 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 19:57:45 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16278620 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16278620 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 19:35:52 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16277986 No!!! Was all this needed and called for i have respect for people even if they are a strangers.

No problem i will make it a point to NOT post here. and as for the help you all have provide me in the past 4 year here thank you. best wish to you all. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16277986 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 17:18:38 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16277491 how do you stop areal time hacker]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16277491 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 15:48:03 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16277312 said by Kilroy:

Get out your tin foil hats and listen to Security Now! episode 6 - Mechanical & Electromagnetic Information Leakage.
That was amazing technology, a little bit over kill for the average user’s threat threshold. But it will crank up, the paranoid among us. They will have to get chin straps for there foil hats.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16277312 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 15:13:45 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16276440 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16276440 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 12:11:14 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16276024 Security Now! episode 6 - Mechanical & Electromagnetic Information Leakage.

Most people have a hard enough time getting the microphone working when they want it. Getting it working to listen to background noise sounds more like a can we do it kind of project.
--
Never argue with an idiot, they'll just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16276024 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 10:44:03 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275718 --
BOClean means never having to run a HJT log again.
www.boclean.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275718 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 09:36:59 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275709 said by 61999674:

WOW people sure have become paranoid, first it was the camera in your monitor(guess the monitor itself IS the camera) that watches you watch the monitor(going to go blind doing that) and what is going on in the background, now it is a mic "listening" in. :uhh:
There is a "good" level of paranoia, but this is WAY outside tolerances.Applications that are created with Macromedia Flash may want to have access to the camera and/or microphone available on your computer. Privacy settings let you specify whether you want applications from a particular website to have such access. Note that it is the person or company that has created the application you are using that is requesting such access, not Macromedia (unless Macromedia has created the application that wants access to your camera or microphone).

It is the responsibility of the person or company requesting access to make it clear to you why they want access and how they plan to use the audio or video. You should be aware of the privacy policy of anyone who is requesting audio or video access.

The Microphone object lets you capture audio from a microphone attached to the computer that is running the Macromedia Flash Player.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275709 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 09:34:18 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275706
Maybe it could be used as a baby monitor, determining by the type of cry from the baby whether it's hungry or needs changed or is sick. :hmm:
--
~~Tears from the moon, fall down like rain, I reach for you, I reach in vain, tears from the moon...~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275706 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 09:32:32 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275677
No built in microphones on my PCs, monitors or webcams.

No laptop, but now I know what to do when I get one.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275677 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 09:25:09 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275582
It's a tad "1984" for my mind......
--
BOClean means never having to run a HJT log again.
www.boclean.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275582 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:47:18 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275563 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275563 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:40:57 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275494
»zapatopi.net/afdb/]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275494 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:06:55 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275446 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275446 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 07:45:04 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275409
........it sounds like a harrier is taking off from under my desk :D
--
you can't stop Rossi.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275409 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 07:28:47 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275225 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16275225 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 04:56:21 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274923 --
Think outside the Fox... Opera]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274923 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 02:09:54 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274825 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274825 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 01:37:15 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274800 --
Dawn,n,The time when men of reason go to bed. (Ambrose Bierce.)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274800 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 01:30:40 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274771
A couple days ago I downloaded either google bar or my bar.I uninstalled it and ran spybot and adware. upon reboot..for the first time ever i had a microphone sitting in my task bar. I had to follow it to my sound speech and audio devices to get rid of it.... ??]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274771 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 01:18:54 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274754
Ok, many years ago I stopped smoking grass because it tended to make me paranoid(being illegal may have been a factor), everyone was watching me, everyone knew I was high, etc.

Maybe a few more people need to stop the drug use ?? Or maybe see their Doctor and have their Med levels checked ....

There is a "good" level of paranoia, but this is WAY outside tolerances.
--
There is nothing more valuable than a man whos loyalty can be purchased with cold hard cash.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274754 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 01:12:05 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274641 said by dadkins:

This is the Microphone Check, I am playing Joe Satriani - Follow.
Blasting at 120WATTS Per channel, continuos. 0.005 THD, Screen is blurry even as I type this! :)

Trust me, if there was a mic, it would register something... ;)I heard that, dadkins!! :D
--
After eliminating the possible, we must consider the impossible.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274641 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:40:51 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274065 I have to use my webcam for a mic to even voice chat.

Vintage 2001? PCG-FXA63... no way it has a mic!

Maybe when I purchase a new laptop... not any time soon though. Both VAIOs working as new still! ;)

EDIT: This is the Microphone Check, I am playing Joe Satriani - Follow.
Blasting at 120WATTS Per channel, continuos. 0.005 THD, Screen is blurry even as I type this! :)

Trust me, if there was a mic, it would register something... ;)
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera

Nope

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16274065 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 22:48:50 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273996 said by dadkins:

said by Steve:

What "internal microphone" ?

Yeah! What internal microphone? :hmm:
Every late model notebook I have seen has an internal microphone. I also have recently seen both CRT and LCD monitors with built-in microphones, so I suspect that many desktop systems also arguably have internal microphones (internal to the monitor) as well. The ubiquitous Macromedia flash player browser add-in has the ability to turn on local microphones and cameras from a web site, so actually implementing it is not so far fetched or difficult (for Google, or the FBI, or the NSA).

EDIT:
For Macromedia microphone settings go to »www.macromedia.com/suppo ··· p03.html
For Macromedia camera settings go to »www.macromedia.com/suppo ··· p04.html

--
Outsourcing is not the same thing as Offshoring!!.
Test your firewall.
Smell the flowers.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273996 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 22:37:28 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273994 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273994 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 22:37:13 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273968
We'll go back to "What the Hell, internal mic?".]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273968 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 22:32:52 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273778 said by Steve:

What "internal microphone" ?
Yeah! What internal microphone? :hmm:
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273778 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 22:04:57 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273760 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273760 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 22:02:02 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273269
Microsoft would just do it and when it was discovered would make some marginally plausible excuse about "improving the user experience" or some such rubbish.

Spyware makers would do it (and have done with Flash, IIRC) and argue that it's not illegal and sue anyone who called it spyware. The NSA would do it secretly and cite "national security" to deny the public any information about it.

Google's approach is the best of these. They'll bundle some real benefit with it and actually persuade people to sign up.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16273269 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 20:44:59 EDT Re: Using computer's internal microphone for overhearing http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16271317 said by dave:

It's part of the DRM hardware, silly. The NSA insisted on it. You mean Microsoft, right?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Using-computers-internal-microphone-for-overhearing-16271317 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 15:38:50 EDT