Saigonauticon

@Saigonauticon@voltage.vn

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Saigonauticon,

In the interests of being wholesome and helpful, I used a secure method to retrieve the contents of that URL without providing my own cookie info.

I accessed and extracted the .png image directly using a similar method, then dug through it with a hex editor. As best I can tell, there’s nothing particularly weird about the image itself or its metadata.

The HTML file pointing to the image contains a bunch of trackers from imgur. Google analytics, Facebook, scorecard research, etc. Those are certainly things to be concerned about, but I didn’t specifically notice anything unusual beyond the ordinary corporate-surveillance crudware (which was indeed written in JavaScript). None of these were in the image itself though.

Obviously it’s impossible to prove that anything is safe, and I only spent 10 minutes looking into this, so you should still follow the OP’s advice about not clicking on random links without thinking. However my quick analysis did not find anything particularly alarming.

Saigonauticon,

That looks like something Imgur is doing then. Which is not surprising at all. If it’s a free service, you’re the product, right?

Honestly the sketchiest thing I found was the use of BTLoader, a self-described ‘adblock revenue recovery service’.

Do you think there will be a future where your phone can automatically detect if you are trying to record police activity and disables your camera? What do you think the odds of this happening is?

I remember a while back Apple filed a patent that allows concerts to disable iPhones cameras if a certain signal is emitted from the stage. Apple never implemented this, but my pessemistic ass always try to think of worse case scenarios, like being used by government. Do you think this could occur in the future?...

Saigonauticon,

Haha, what a great idea! I love it! Sending me a signal about things you don’t want me to record!

I would build two things. First, an antenna that detects and (using multiple copies) locates these signals on a real time, public-access map.

Second, I’d build a security camera with a wide angle lens that turns ON whenever this signal is received.

Sure, 90% of people don’t know how to do these things – but I do, and I can put them in a store and the results on a website. Most people know how to buy a thing and plug it in, or access a website!

Then I’ll manufacture a ton of them at a factory here in Vietnam, and you will be able to buy them at a reasonable price. I’ll make a tidy sum, pay a bunch of taxes that will build highways and schools, and you’ll have more freedom than you started with.

We all win!

Saigonauticon,

I’m some sort of mercenary science hermit. So take any statement I make about human beings with a grain of salt :D

Saigonauticon,

Excellent news!

The science gets done, and we bake a fresh bun, for the people who are still alive!

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