Yeah I could wear this one out on this thread!
Posted on 04/07/2019 4:39:24 AM PDT by vannrox
Not sure where to put this one, it could go in so many different sub-forums, so I'll just put it here in 'General'.
The other day my laptop crashed and burned. Not sure what happened, but I think the motherboard fried. I managed to get it working enough to attach an external hard drive and mirror off all the data files. Most of it I already had backed up, but I just wanted to get the most recent data. Because many of my keyboard keys were not working I had to use some more global commands to get all the data. Last Sunday I went out and bought a new laptop. I wasn't too mad because my old laptop was 4+ years old and had given me pretty good service. I got the new laptop set up, installed all the software and copied all the data from my old laptop (now on my external HD) over to my new computer. Everything was working great, no problems.
So last night I was busy canning some spicy pickles and eggs and decided to listen to some music from my new machine. I clicked on my normal music directories and all these weird files showed up. At first I just ignored them thinking I would just go back and clean them out later. There were a bunch of them, hundreds even. I was searching for a particular song I wanted to listen to, but all these extraneous files kept getting in the way. What are these files???
The new files were .MP3 files and they had titles like 170901_1554. Always 6 digits with an underscore and then 4 more digits. Okay, so it's an .MP3 file, so let's play it and see what it is, right?
So, I played one of the files. ............ It's a recording of ME, in a conversation I was having with someone else. I hadn't recorded that conversation. So then I listened to a whole bunch of these files, and they were all recordings of conversations. Hundreds of conversations!! Me talking with my wife, me talking with a business colleague...even one of me talking to my dogs! Some of them were just 2-3 minutes long. Some of them were 45 minutes long. Hundreds and hundreds of recorded audio of conversations. WTF??? Like seriously...W...T...F??????
Now, I'm pretty computer saavy (lord knows, I work in the industry) so I'm pretty good about turning stuff off. When I set up a computer I spend hours turning off all the bloatware, all the recording and video. I'm kind of obsessive about turning off all the "big brother" stuff, and I frequently check to make sure updates don't add or turn something back on again. I run pretty damn good security on my machines too. That laptop was tight as a drum...or so I thought. Yet, there are hours and hours of conversations recorded on it. Probably hundreds of hours!!!! Absolutely unbelievable!
I have no idea what software recorded these files. I have no idea what triggered them to be recorded. I equally have no idea what or whom they were sent to. The good news is, there wasn't much of anything particularly notable in the recordings, but the simple fact they exist at all is a SERIOUS WTF moment!!!
Pretty scary!! Pretty scary that something like this could happen to someone like me, and it makes me wonder how much other EVIL-WARE is out there on other people's machines, recording everything they're doing!!
God! That was a good movie! :-)
You're right - this is scary stuff... Was your computer also recording you when you thought it was 'turned off'?
Yeah I could wear this one out on this thread!
Make sure the window of the POD isn’t facing HAL.
Heh, I must copy the 4-pack and add it to my collection.
It probably isn’t and wouldn’t be Microsoft, per se. More likely a bad actor, state agency, or random malware. Microsoft, for all their faults real and perceived, is not known to record conversations.
[[More likely a bad actor, state agency, or random malware.]]
Ah- good point- didn’t think of that- mind is tired-
[Why do you think they just built the HUGE data storage facility out west?]
LOL, when I mentioned something about the big Gooogul facilities (2 huge buildings) many, many years ago, a couple of folks I worked with just scoffed and said something akin to “black helicopters”.
As an aside, I’ve never been a “black helicopter” person, LOL. Then one morning as I was driving into work, on the radio comes the Hollywood Reporter (the guy who reported on Obama’s non-existent b/c and then pretended he didn’t, even after being played recordings of himself saying it) talking about ..... black helicopters - Denver, DNC Convention preparations - 2008, I think it was. The Hollywood Reporter guy said he knew Neil Abercrombie personally.
There used to be some good videos on YouTube, but then....
Guys landing in MD500’s, armed men, helo’s landing on rooftops - there was a report of at least one landing in a grocery store parking lot.
I suppose they were preparing for potential riots in Denver when Hillary was not to be the nominee. At least that was my guess back then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It would appear that the extensions are all, ".MP3" -- which is an industry- standard audio file format. (For example, my soundtrack narrator records my audio scripts and sends them to me as .MP3s -- which I then edit/sync into my videos.)
So -- a global search of the HD for ".MP3" should reveal them -- if the files are not also, somehow, "jiggered"...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Just did that search on my machine. It only turned up video narration files -- and digital audio recordings for an "oral history" done as part of an archaeological project... AND -- the DTG (Date-time groups) in the filenames are exactly as Mr170IQ pointed out in #14...
YMMV...
TXnMA
As a matter of fact, I have owned TWO iWatches....please tell me how you would properly pluralize the spelling, of iWatch. It wouldn't be iWatch's, as that is the possesive form of spelling iWatch...as in, "The iWatch's keen reception is evident".
I now own (my second iWatch) a third generation (I believe...we've had them for maybe a little over a year...I can't recall exact date we purchased them).
I am not fabricating anything, and honestly don't appreciate your suggesting that I have done just that.
One more thing...I have been on your Apple ping list for many years. As an owner of a (getting pretty old) MacBook Pro, three iPads, multiple iPhones, beginning with the first generation and an AppleTV (older generation) I have found your Apple pings to be informative and helpful. You have even answered a couple of questions I have had, regarding my various devices, in the past.
I'm truly disappointed in your accusations, towards me, and expected more from someone I had always considered a FRiend.
Take care.
We live perverted lives
Jane, my apologies, but there is no such thing as an "iWatch" to ever properly pluralize. That product name does not exist. Your description of being eavesdropped on by an Apple product is something that would never happen and in fact could not happen with an AppleWatch by design because they literally do not listen all the time they are on your wrist due to battery constraints, nor does Apple sell any advertising or customer data to third-parties at all, ergo, your experience could not have arisen from wearing one.
If your third generation AppleWatch had independent internet cellular connectivity, you’d know it because you’d have to pay an extra fee to your service provider to make calls on your watch when you were away from your iPhone. It would also have a red inset in the crown, and have cost you considerably more money than a non-cellular version.
I again apologize for my misapprehension, but with your use of the denigrating name of the AppleWatch, usually used only by those who don’t own them, and your description of a functionality that it can’t do, I think my misunderstanding was reasonable as your claim paralleled those I’ve faced before posted to cause people to distrust Apple’s promised privacy policy for its users which I’ve found to be reliable.
I suggest you give it a real world deliberate test. I know I’ve NEVER had such a thing occur with Apple.
I too consider you a FRiend.
I just checked my Surface, and all of my .mp3 files are bought and paid for, so I guess I’m okay.
:-)
My AppleWatch (apologies, I call everything Apple, iWhatever :) does have the red inset and separate cellular.
I didn’t mean to denigrate the name of Watch :)
We just find it really remarkable that the pop ups and emails have stopped, since we stopped wearing our Watches as often. Could be pure coincidence, I’m sure.
Thanks for your reply, FRiend.
;-)
You may want to look at the dates on those files. That may send you in the direction to find out what did it. Also, look at all of the details for the files.
what are you doing, Dave?
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