Video Games – Invitation to Snooping? | istralive.info

In the mid- to late 1970s, “video game” meant either a Pong unit connected to a television or a bulky arcade monstrosity. There still are arcades, but with plasma displays and 60-inch LCD panels in many homes, you can have state of the art arcade gaming in your own living room, surround sound and all.Today, it’s all about the “consoles” – meaning the new Nintendo Wii, the Sony PlayStation 3 and the XBox 360 from Microsoft. They are all fairly small, have powerful CPUs, advanced graphics subsystems and the full range of CD and DVD compatibilities for music, audio, video and compressed multimedia files. Hackers have even found a way to install computer operating systems on some of these devices, and use them variously as gaming machines, word processors and even Web browsers.Holy grail of virtual realityOf course, video arcades are still around, too, and the newest models have “feedback mechanisms” installed so that, for instance, in a race-car game the “driver” feels engine vibration, hears the tuned exhaust note and gets a nice, throaty squeal by stepping on the brakes. Enclosed game structures promise better and more realistic action all the time as the holy grail of “virtual reality” draws closer all the time through the march of technology.Computer gaming has matured, too, although entry-level computers are not up to the challenge. Gamers either “super-size” their own computers or buy from specialist PC builders, because the software makes tremendous demands on the CPU, the graphics processor and the display. Video game manufacturers have the market covered, though, as their titles are usually released to all the major platforms and computing environments.The “in” and “out” issueOne trend in video games that disturbs for parents of teenagers is the rise of crime-centered story lines, where the bad guys are, well, the good guys. Titles like “Grand Theft Auto” have caused tremendous controversy, as they show shootings, sexual assaults and 100-mph car chases with no legal, social or moral context to the tale. However, adults can decide for themselves what is appropriate and choose from thousands upon thousands of game titles – and decide for their minor children, too. When parents are interested and involved in their children’s lives, video games present no special problem.One special problem that these multiplayer games, and social networking sites, do present is related to security. At the social sites, and in some of the “networked” games, participants view each other with webcams and can hear each other, too, as long as players have microphones connected to their PCs. All of Apple’s laptops and iMacs, as well as most PC laptops, come with webcams and microphones installed.It would not be difficult for advanced computer users – “hackers” and “über-geeks” – to trick, cajole or manipulate the less advanced users into configuring their own systems as spycams. That is, a felonious nerd could use an unsuspecting person’s always-on computer-with-webcam to peer into the latter’s room, and pick up an audio signal, too. This is not a particularly difficult thing to do, especially to someone who is trusting and insufficiently security-oriented.In fact, there is low- and no-cost software available for download that will turn your webcam-connected computer into a home surveillance and video security system. You can log on from anywhere in the world and take a gander around your house to see if the lights are on or your college-student child is throwing a party while you’re out of town. There is nothing to stop a motivated hacker from using a game community or social networking site as a hunting ground for unsecured webcams and setting up the same capability, unbeknownst to you.Vigilance is keyThe only way to protect against this sort of intrusion is to follow certain simple and specific security steps of your own. If you have an always-on computer with a webcam, disable the camera until those times that you actually want to use it. Turn off the microphone, too. In fact, it may be easier simply to question why it is your computer always has to be on. The fact is, it is better for your computer and its components if you do turn it off, at least if it is not being used for a couple of hours or more.There are also ways to allow and disallow various kinds of “network traffic” and communication links. Although this takes a bit more expertise, there is plenty of help available on the Internet, and any experienced computer- and/or video-security professional should be able to advise you on this matter. There are many downsides to the video game boom, and pointless violence in the story lines is not even the most dangerous.The threat to your privacy is quite real here, and your security holes could be exploited by people a lot more menacing than “El Destructo” from the war games community your teenager belongs to. Whether it’s a telemarketing firm or a terrorist group trying to snoop on you through your webcam, you still have the right (last time we checked) to bar all these kinds of “black ops” nutjobs from your home. If there’s any video surveillance to be done around your house, make sure you are the one doing it.