NWS RADAR request

[knightrider]

We finally got some rain in my part of Central Texas today. Figured I'd bring up the NWS RADAR site, and see if it was a brief shower, or if we might be lucky enough to have a couple hours of rain coming through. As I was watching, I noticed a request for NWS to use my video camera, and my microphone...
So, it may be part of the Big Brother operations from NSA via NWS. Just watch close on what you might have pop up. I'll keep using it, as I have nothing to hide. My lady has terminal Stage IV colon cancer, and is getting worse, so anyone who tunes in, will see me caring for her.
Now, to get this back on topic, and away from the Admins, we did get a couple of nice showers, and have more moving S.W. across the area. Hoping for more soon. We even had thunder and lightning!! No activity from Spotters need, but we keep the Nets going, and keep practicing.
73 from CenTex.

 

[Thunderknight]

Were you at weather.gov or a 3rd party site?
It could have been related to Adobe Flash. They used to use Flash for the radar loops.

 

[RRR]

So did you accept their request to access your microphone and camera?

I don't buy into the "I don't care if they spy on me, because I have nothing to hide" claim. You do have an expectation to privacy in your home.

 

[rdale]

So did you accept their request to access your microphone and camera?

The NWS makes no such request. Now, or ever. That is a simple prompt if you aren't properly set up on Adobe.

I don't buy into the "I don't care if they spy on me, because I have nothing to hide" claim. You do have an expectation to privacy in your home.

Of course you do. But you should know what you're posting about before posting, and clearly that wasn't the case tonight.

 

[krokus]

I second the question on which site you were pulling radar data from. NWS, Weather Underground, Weather Channel, and the other legit sites will not request such a thing.

 

[searingxheretic]

If flash was just updated, or it was your first time using it, you will get that prompt on your first run. Go back into your flash settings and disable both. You will not encounter any problems with NWS with the settings disabled. Wish you and your wife well, stay strong.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin

 

[knightrider]

Firdt of all, IT DID HAPPEN. Second, I was on the DFW site of The National Weather Service, Third, I DO NOT have anything to hide, for real! I don't give a Rat's behind if they do spy, there is NOTHING to gain here. I am in the system, have been since at least 1969, and don't do anything unlawful.I spent over 30 years in law enforcement, and some of that was with the Feds... Fourth, I DENIED the request, and was allowed in. The Request was made stating the National Weather asks for permission to access your webcam and microphone. I really wish I was born last night, and was as dumb as many seem to think, but nope, wasn't so. As I said, it's a WARNING, LOOK closely BEFORE you do anything, click, or approve. Just a WARNING, not asking for a full run down, on what YOU think happened HERE... Attitude was bought and paid for LONG before many of you were able to upset me. Do as you want though....

 

[ecps92]

RDALE answered the question.

Your adobe likely was not configured properly or has too high a security restriction which resulted in ADOBE for the NWS site asking for access.

No Spooks, No Gobblins.

Firdt of all, IT DID HAPPEN. Second, I was on the DFW site of The National Weather Service, Third, I DO NOT have anything to hide, for real! I don't give a Rat's behind if they do spy, there is NOTHING to gain here. I am in the system, have been since at least 1969, and don't do anything unlawful.I spent over 30 years in law enforcement, and some of that was with the Feds... Fourth, I DENIED the request, and was allowed in. The Request was made stating the National Weather asks for permission to access your webcam and microphone. I really wish I was born last night, and was as dumb as many seem to think, but nope, wasn't so. As I said, it's a WARNING, LOOK closely BEFORE you do anything, click, or approve. Just a WARNING, not asking for a full run down, on what YOU think happened HERE... Attitude was bought and paid for LONG before many of you were able to upset me. Do as you want though....

 

[searingxheretic]

Just a WARNING, not asking for a full run down, on what YOU think happened HERE... Attitude was bought and paid for LONG before many of you were able to upset me. Do as you want though....

Wow, we were just trying to be helpful...


Sent from my cm_tenderloin

 

[n5ims]

We finally got some rain in my part of Central Texas today. Figured I'd bring up the NWS RADAR site, and see if it was a brief shower, or if we might be lucky enough to have a couple hours of rain coming through. As I was watching, I noticed a request for NWS to use my video camera, and my microphone...
So, it may be part of the Big Brother operations from NSA via NWS. Just watch close on what you might have pop up. I'll keep using it, as I have nothing to hide. My lady has terminal Stage IV colon cancer, and is getting worse, so anyone who tunes in, will see me caring for her.
Now, to get this back on topic, and away from the Admins, we did get a couple of nice showers, and have more moving S.W. across the area. Hoping for more soon. We even had thunder and lightning!! No activity from Spotters need, but we keep the Nets going, and keep practicing.
73 from CenTex.

It wasn't anything from the NSA. They have much better things to do than to watch folks using their webcams and if they did, they're smart enough to activate it without any prompts telling you what they're doing.

What may have caused the prompt is, as others have said, is some misconfiguration in your web browser or one (or more) of the add-ins. It may also be that although they're correctly configured, they're running versions that have security issues that allow hackers to use them to make your system do things you may not want it to do. There are many such issues with older versions (or even newer ones) that don't have all of the necessary patches installed. Adobe Flash, the Java plugin, and many of those browser menu bar add-ins have had serious security issues.

Other things that may have caused what you saw are caused by hackers. It may be that your system has something (virus, Trojan, unwanted browser add-in, etc.) that caused it. It could've also been a script planted on the web server you accessed that caused it. Be aware that even the best virus scanner may not catch everything every time. There's one very common one of these that turns on your camera and has your picture placed onto the page it displays saying you have some illegal material on your computer (porn, downloaded music or videos, software, or whatever they think you may have). They then say that for $100 (or some other fee) they'll report that you have corrected the problem and remove your computer from their list (really they'll just take your money and flag you as an easy mark for other scams they may run).

Some articles on the above:
http://www.bbb.org/blog/2012/08/scam-alert-virus-freezes-computers-and-demands-200-fine/
http://botcrawl.com/how-to-remove-the-fbi-moneypak-ransomware-virus-fake-fbi-malware-removal/
http://www.scambusters.org/webcamsafety.html
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/...and-control-your-computer-20130328-2gvwv.html

 

[RRR]

Quote:
I don't buy into the "I don't care if they spy on me, because I have nothing to hide" claim. You do have an expectation to privacy in your home.




Of course you do. But you should know what you're posting about before posting, and clearly that wasn't the case tonight.

Well, apparently it was. He was in his home, and the request came in on his home computer. My statement came after a statement to the effect of, they don't care as they have nothing to hide.

My reply seems pretty on the mark to me, I'm sorry that you didn't comprehend fully, maybe you should re-read the entire posting.

 

[rdale]

I did comprehend. Read what you wrote.

You referred to "their" request. NWS made no such request. Pretty clear?

 

[KD0TAZ]

It wasn't anything from the NSA. They have much better things to do than to watch folks using their webcams and if they did, they're smart enough to activate it without any prompts telling you what they're doing.

You would think they'd have better things to do than to sift through our phone calls, emails, and forum posts too, but.... Oh.. Wait.. They do that in the name of 'national security' and catching terrorists - which is total bull excrement, because the damn terrorists aren't stupid enough to communicate their plans in a way any alphabet soup can monitor. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not really out to get you.

But bottom line, the OP needs to get a tinfoil hat and some meds if he thinks NWS is trying to spy on him.

 

[AZScanner]

You would think they'd have better things to do than to sift through our phone calls, emails, and forum posts too, but.... Oh.. Wait.. They do that in the name of 'national security' and catching terrorists - which is total bull excrement, because the damn terrorists aren't stupid enough to communicate their plans in a way any alphabet soup can monitor. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not really out to get you.

But bottom line, the OP needs to get a tinfoil hat and some meds if he thinks NWS is trying to spy on him.

Yes. Also, we at the NWS would like to request that the OP wear clothing while watching our radar. *

-AZ

*Merely a joke - not really affiliated with the NWS, nor do I think the NWS watches people's webcams.