Why would an ad need to access my camera and microphone?

1. 88

   Georgie Loweryposted 11 years ago

   Why would an ad need to access my camera and microphone?
   
   I right clicked on an ad at the bottom of one of my Hubs. Since one of the options it gave me was "settings," I decided to give it a look-see. I have the default settings on my laptop to disallow anything to use my camera and microphone, but why on earth would an ad need to do that? And what happens to folks who haven't set those preferences? This is an actual screenshot, by the way.
   
   

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2. 61

   StayAwakeNowposted 11 years ago

   Don't worry about it, most ads make use of adobe flash player. When adobe flash is used, and you right-click it and choose settings, it will always show the same dialog box. It doesn't matter if they want to access your microphone or webcam, it's just always there.
   
   Hope this answer your question.

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   1. 88

      Georgie Loweryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Well that's good. I would hate for the whole internet to see me picking my nose! Thank you for the answer.

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3. 81

   Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years ago

   Applications that run in Adobe (including ads) Flash Player have the ability to request access to one's camera or microphone. It is the company that created the application that is requesting access, however, and not Adobe.
   
   You can opt-out by selecting both "deny" and "remember." That should save your privacy settings for that particular application.
   
   There is more information about this on the Adobe site.

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   1. 88

      Georgie Loweryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I already have mine set to disallow use of the cam and mic. It just seemed strange to me! Thank you for the informed answer.

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4. 65

   peanutroasterposted 11 years ago

   To spy on you.  They take over your camera and some creep can watch you.  Put a piece of black tape over your camera when not using it.

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   1. 88

      Georgie Loweryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      See, that's exactly what I thought!

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5. 79

   debrisposted 11 years ago

   I'm not saying this was their intent, but there have certainly been pieces of malware created that can access your webcam and let others see the video feed.
   
   Actually, Rent to own stores have done this: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ … _customers
   
   While I believe the FTC had banned this, that doesn't mean malicious people have stopped. Again, I don't know if this has anything to do with what you ran into, I just wanted to let you know what's possible. Have a wonderful weekend! :-D

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   1. 88

      Georgie Loweryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'd heard that rental companies had done this, but I wasn't 100% sure. Glad I bought my laptop from Walmart - only they could easily do it, too! Thanks for the info!

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6. 60

   TerryK81posted 11 years ago

   Do be very careful with that! I caught a story on the news where it was brought out that there are actual computer hackers who can hack into your computer camera (i don't know about the microphone) and they can virtually SPY on you. I kid you not one ounce. Google it. Im not worried. if they have nothing better to do than to stare at me then they must have a sad life

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   1. 88

      Georgie Loweryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I still don't like the idea that someone could spy on me. It's kind of crazy!

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