Not long ago, surfaced documents revealed the NSA had collected Yahoo webcam chat snapshots in the millions. Private Internet Access VPN service recently posted an article covering the many issues that this video chat reveal stirred. The government doesn’t care that you were nude, but they do want to know who you were nude with. People that are simply on edge over the fact that their nude body was exposed, are failing to realize the larger issue at question.
Yahoo Video Chat Interception
It has been just over a month that people have become aware of the governments intrusion on your privacy in chats. Now it is common knowledge that government agencies have explicit video footage that was meant to be private and sexual in nature. You might think that this would only affect a few people, but try about a few million. There is no question that recorded nudity is a part of the spying, and GCHQ even affirmed in their own report that about 10% of the conversations contained some form of nudity.
It is an immense invasion of privacy and is pretty horrible to think about, but this recorded nudity is not all that valuable. This means that having you captured nude on video can’t be used against you. It might be unsettling to think that you can be viewed in this light by the spooks, but thankfully, you are not at risk.
Nudity is pretty normal and it is not illegal, so there is no way that you can be extorted over your choice to video chat in the buff. However, the more important reason that you are safe is due to the fact that this type of extortion would look bad on the extortioner. Nothing can be gained from using your nudity against you.
Your Conversational Partner Is The Issue
It is important to realize that a nude video chat is really a conversation. Nudity can’t be used against you, but the person on the other end of the conversation can. Who you are talking to is the information that can be used. This means that every lawmaker that had a video chat online is now completely at the mercy of the NSA. Who cares that the senator was nude, but who was he accompanied by. Now, the government agencies are in the know.
It would be foolish to think that all is fine and we should have no concerns and that only political figures should be concerned. The NSA is the largest player in these webcam snapshots that will certainly contain nudes ones, but you also have to remember online predators. Security is key and I personally cover my webcam and mic when not in use. For my laptops, I simply use black electrical tape to cover the webcam since I rarely use it, might not be too fashionable, but I can have it by my bedside with no concern that someone is snooping in.
In a day and age where more and more cameras are entering our homes, we call for vigilance overall, be safe and stay informed.
