State govs saying 'No thanks' to mystery laptops

State govs saying

news.yahoo.com

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Even during tight budgetary times, a growing handful of state governors are proving too wary to accept laptop computers that have shown up at their offices this month, unsolicited.

Officials in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington state have reported receiving between three and five laptops, each over the course of two separate deliveries — but none had ordered any of them.

"They immediately raised a red flag," said Matt Turner, spokesman for West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin. "No one said, 'Hey, we got a free gift.'"

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 8/28/2009 by Cuhail]

Kickbacks from the electronics industries, maybe? Send a Governor a virus Month? I gotta say, they can send one to me and I'll use it!
They (the senders) used credit cards to pay for them, but, they weren't purchased by State offices. State police are looking into Identity Theft, but, what I don't get is just "Why?"

Cuhail

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Edits to fix title

[edit on 8/28/2009 by Cuhail]

I wouldn't touch them either, without at least replacing the hard drive. They're probably loaded with all sorts of malware designed to steal info and send it back via the web to whoever gifted these to the governors.

I suppose it's not as sinister a plot as shipping anthrax, but you still gotta wonder why?

I wouldn't trust it either. It could have a bomb in it unabomb style or a tracking device.
I never accept packages unless I ordered something or someone sent me something.

These appear to have been sent straight from the HP/Compaq factories to the government agencies. This made me wonder why they were so scared about what could be on them. It further made me wonder what the PTB know computer makers can place on new computers intended for the public which would be a major threat to a government agency. (Think about this, pretty much all the newer laptops have built in web cams and mics advertised as tools for communicating, video conferencing, and VoIP... there couldn't possibly be any mechanism which allows those "tools" to be remotely activated and used as a perfect snooping device, is there? Nah, just me being paranoid!)

The only other thing I can imagine could be going on here is some sort of bait and switch tactic. Some scammers planned on sending a couple orders of free laptops to the government clean and straight from the factory. They anticipated the laptops would be used and then, sometime in the near future, they send a shipment of manipulated/hacked laptops out and hope the agencies that get them think "Oh, more free pcs!" and use them, too.

Other than those 2 scenarios, I'm at a loss to explain this.

reply to post by Cuhail


I wonder if these could have been laptops from the borders that were seized.

You know, baiting a trap, with child porn on them.

For some reason I suspect someone is trying to stage a coup against these Governors.

reply to post by burdman30ott6

Burd, you make a very good point. There are plenty of rootkits out there that will do just what you speak of, turn on mics, cameras, send email contact lists...etc...



[edit on 28-8-2009 by deadbang]

reply to post by deadbang


Thats very true a few months back i checked the log for my built in camera, and notieced that it had been activated many times on its own it!!thats when i put a sticker over the lens.

I have also seen the litle green light on it light up on its own.

the best thing to do if you are worried. is to uninstall its drivers, epsecially the built in mic drivers.

i swear the computer companies are building personal spying machines on perpose.

[edit on 28-8-2009 by MR BOB]

Originally posted by deadbang
Burd, you make a very good point. There are plenty of rootkits out there that will do just what you speak of, turn on mics, cameras, send email contact lists...etc...

You're right a rootkit could do that, but for someone to access your camera and microphone, all you have to do is install adobe flash player and not pay attention to the settings:

This is the flash player help site by Adobe:

www.macromedia.com...

To specify whether websites must ask your permission before using your camera or microphone, you use the Global Privacy Settings panel.

My guess is a lot of people don't even KNOW about those settings, and I read that 99% of PCs have the flash player installed!

I too would be wary of gift laptops, but if they don't want them, I'll take one. I could just use it without connecting it to the internet, then it might be ok.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


yes until it mysteriously dissapears a few months later.