Can the Internet and PC monitors take photos of people?

OK, call me paranoid, but this is the second time in a few weeks that I could swear my monitor flashed, like taking a photo of me.

I was searching for images of Snowden, to make a comment on the joke forum here, and just as the images popped up ... flash, just like a photo!
Yeah, like my monitor just took a photo of me...with a flash!

I've heard about cameras and mics being used, even when users think they are switched off.
It could just be that something flashed the search results and kept them.
That is, it took some record of the screen page, but didn't actually photograph me.
My immediate feeling was however that I'd just been photographed.

But is this even conceivably possible?

There may be many other explanations, but right now I feel somewhat spooked.
It just seems like too much of a "coincidence".
If this is possible I'm going to start dressing up, trim my beard and wear concealer before surfing the Web.

It probably won't be much of a thread as people say it's not possible, but I'm starting to think that any screen might also be a lens (1984?), or any speaker can also be a bug.
I really don't care that much, since they'll have nothing but a pretty ugly mug, but it does make me wonder.

of course sir..if you use WEBCAm..

Originally posted by halfoldman


I'm starting to think that any screen might also be a lens (1984?), or any speaker can also be a bug.

edit on 26-6-2013 by halfoldman because: (no reason given)

that there made my tin hat jump up on my head. never thought of that before.

Hmmmm, i wonder.

Short answer: No.

Long answer. Dude.... NO..

No its not true and if it was, we would of heard about that long time ago. Simply not true.

Well, thanks for the reassurances.

I know that practically I should be convinced it's not possible.

They already have ALLLLL the info about what your doing online, who you talk to on the phone as well as the every conversation and are tracking you through your cellphone. WHY would they need to take a picture of you at home? Your drivers license photo is already in their database. They already have all they need.

If your monitor/tv is new as in the past 2 years it is "possible"!
New draft standards of HDMI include networking abilities and extra data lines.

If it is not already, it will certainly be that way.

Originally posted by halfoldman
OK, call me paranoid, but this is the second time in a few weeks that I could swear my monitor flashed, like taking a photo of me.

Paranoid yes, and sounds like a problem with your monitor or graphics card.

I was searching for images of Snowden, to make a comment on the joke forum here, and just as the images popped up ... flash, just like a photo!
Yeah, like my monitor just took a photo of me...with a flash!

It didn't, because a monitor is a monitor. Not a camera with flash.

.
It could just be that something flashed the search results and kept them.
That is, it took some record of the screen page, but didn't actually photograph me.

Could you please explain what that means? "flashed the search results"?
A screenshot is a screenshot.

But is this even conceivably possible?

Absolutely not.

There may be many other explanations

Yes, see above.

but right now I feel somewhat spooked.

Don't be. Thinking that things that you have in your own home that are not cameras are taking pictures of you, is quite paranoid indeed. Please think about why that is and whether or not it is healthy.

If this is possible I'm going to start dressing up, trim my beard and wear concealer before surfing the Web.

Let's assume that all of this is true, could you explain what makes you such an important character that a power of some sort cares the slightest bit about you being interested in Snowden - like so many others?

It probably won't be much of a thread as people say it's not possible, but I'm starting to think that any screen might also be a lens (1984?), or any speaker can also be a bug.

You should quit thinking that, because it doesn't sound healthy at all.

I really don't care that much, since they'll have nothing but a pretty ugly mug, but it does make me wonder.

edit on 26-6-2013 by halfoldman because: (no reason given)

Exactly, they have nothing but a pretty ugly mug. Not only does your computer not take pictures of you with the monitor, no one cares about you reading about Snowden.

If standard monitors could do such things, Microsoft wouldn't push so much to sell Kinect 2.0 in every home (it's even comming to pc).

Btw, if you are still paranoid after reading all the answer, just get an older monitor...
One with DVI Output, which can still send datas to your pc, but too basic ones (such like your monitor device id, supported modes, and such things) to allow for "credible bandwidth to transfer pics", or better... a VGA Monitor (with a DVI or HDMI Converter), since VGA simply don't send anything to the pc, it's only receiving datas.

Like someone suggested, you probably have an hardware issue with your monitor. More specifically the backlight.
Btw, I'm still curious about your monitor brand + model ?

reply to post by halfoldman


Yes it is possible and happens 24/7.
Depending on the targets system devices and
level of interest.

S A V V Y ?

S&F

Wikipedia explaining how LCD works.

en.wikipedia.org...

Educate yourself!

reply to post by Atlantican

Well, I actually recall posting about getting the monitor on Christmas day, 2011.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

If this potentially works somehow, I'd guess the monitor is only part of the technology, and perhaps it's something people are only becoming aware of, if it is something new?

It's frightening what some people can do with things that look or sound like rays alone nowadays.
They really connect everything like cables once did, and we can't really see them.
So I'm starting to think nothing is impossible.

reply to post by Nevertheless

Good questions and points.

I'm not saying I'm important.

I just think I might have noticed something.
If other people haven't that's fine, but it might be happening to millions.

Yeah all they have is a mug.
Just like they have my open pics on Facebook, yet once to confirm my identity they showed me my face from a group photo that was never put on that social site by anybody.

When it all gets gradually revealed in a decade, I hope I didn't look terrible.

Just in case.

Take a piece of paper, tape it over the tiny hole, security ensured. Now we just have to figure out what to do about those pesky drones.

reply to post by Iamschist

Now we just have to figure out what to do about those pesky drones

uscrow.org...

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by Iamschist

 

Now we just have to figure out what to do about those pesky drones

uscrow.org...

Wow! how serious are they?? I know it probably isn't funny as I contemplate a world where big brother is literally watching me everywhere, all the time. Still I just want to laugh. Must be my silly whistling in the dark self. I won't be laughing in those reconditioning camps huh? Won't be funny then will it? At least no worries about the retirement plan eh? Uncle Sam thinks he can cut off the medicare, I'll be his guest another way.

Smiles and waves at the tiny hole over my laptop monitor, as my screen flashes.

reply to post by halfoldman

en.wikipedia.org...

Van Eck phreaking is the process of eavesdropping on the contents of a CRT or LCD display by detecting its electromagnetic emissions. It is named after Dutch computer researcher Wim van Eck, who in 1985 published the first paper on it, including proof of concept.[1] Phreaking is the process of exploiting telephone networks, used here because of its connection to eavesdropping.

Van Eck phreaking might also be used to compromise the secrecy of the votes in an election using electronic voting. This caused the Dutch government to ban the use of NewVote computer voting machines manufactured by SDU in the 2006 national elections, under the belief that ballot information might not be kept secret.[2][3] In a 2009 test of electronic voting systems in Brazil, Van Eck phreaking was used to successfully compromise ballot secrecy as a proof of concept.[4]

They can get information off of latent vibrations in glass (and worse, they could do this back in the 80's or even earlier).

Did you ever hear of the wooden seal that Russia gave us, that was really a non-electronic bug? (so it passed every bug sweep)

www.spybusters.com...

(and this was in the 40's!)

In 1946, Soviet school children presented a two foot wooden replica of the Great Seal of the United States to Ambassador Averell Harriman.

It went undetected for 6 YEARS.

On May 26, 1960, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. unveiled the Great Seal Bug before the UN Security Council to counter Soviet denunciations of American U-2 espionage. The Soviets had presented a replica of the Great Seal of the United States as a gift to Ambassador Averell Harriman in 1946. The gift hung in the U.S. Embassy for many years, until in 1952, during George F. Kennan's ambassadorship, U.S. security personnel discovered the listening device embedded inside the Great Seal. Lodge's unveiling of this Great Seal before the Security Council in 1960 provided proof that the Soviets also spied on the Americans, and undercut a Soviet resolution before the Security Council denouncing the United States for its U-2 espionage missions. – U.S. Department of State

Never understimate the ingenuity of spies. They've got stuff you've never even fathomed. (and won't, until it is leaked years later).