Using firefox web cam goes off at http://x17online.com/ when I visit site

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Ubuntu better. Examining the information you have given us, this does not appear to be a bug report so we are closing it and converting it to a question in the support tracker. We appreciate the difficulties you are facing, but it would make more sense to raise problems you are having in the support tracker at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu if you are uncertain if they are bugs. For help on reporting bugs, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#When%20not%20to%20file%20a%20bug.

Unfortunately this forum is not well suited to explaining why certain domains behave the way they do.

My suggestion would be:

1. Send feedback to the domain with your concerns, or find a CEO/Owner email and correspond directly with them.
2. Contact your local governments Privacy Office, if you feel this behavior either violates local or other privacy regulations. Keep in mind some sites terms of service may state that they will do this, and you agreed to this by having an account.

If it was me, my single suggestion (to myself :) would be:

1. Never visit the site, and blacklist it via firewall or other means.

But these really could happen (and do...) to any user regardless of OS, computer, web browser, etc.

Good luck,

Jervy
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I believe Linux is more
secure than windows and was a little surprised that a website could activate
my webcam and take my picture. This does not not happen in windows so I
thought it might be a security issue. I rarely visit this website, its about
hollywood celebrity site and there are so vain I find it humorous. If this
webcam spying becomes popular it seems to me it is a security flaw. I am
farily new to Linux all though I have tried it several times over the years.
I think Ubuntu is now ready for anyone to use with all the hardware support
and great applactions. Its the best and it now my primary OS. I dual boot
with windows becasue I can not watch netflix movies with Linux at this
point. I fell much safer using Ubuntu than any OS to date
Thanks Scott.

On Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 2:12 PM, Jeruvy
<email address hidden>wrote:

> Your question #81931 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/81931
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Jeruvy proposed the following answer:
> Unfortunately this forum is not well suited to explaining why certain
> domains behave the way they do.
>
> My suggestion would be:
>
> 1. Send feedback to the domain with your concerns, or find a CEO/Owner
> email and correspond directly with them.
> 2. Contact your local governments Privacy Office, if you feel this behavior
> either violates local or other privacy regulations. Keep in mind some sites
> terms of service may state that they will do this, and you agreed to this by
> having an account.
>
> If it was me, my single suggestion (to myself :) would be:
>
> 1. Never visit the site, and blacklist it via firewall or other means.
>
> But these really could happen (and do...) to any user regardless of OS,
> computer, web browser, etc.
>
> Good luck,
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
>
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/81931/+confirm?answer_id=1
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/81931
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

Hey Scott,

Believing in 'more secure' does not make one 'more secure'. Many folks are surprised to know that their devices work without their intervention but I fail to see what this has to do with Ubuntu specifically. I also fail to see how this is a 'security issue'. If you camera is plugged in and 'working' well gee, it's going to be able to take images and/or video. This may entirely be a 'PRIVACY' issue as I stated previously, so I'd suggest working from that avenue to determine is this is 'by design' or something more nefarious.

Maybe the firmware in the camera itself is susceptible to some flaw, but I'm going to try to stop speculating about this :)

But if we were to accept this as a possible bug or 'security issue' in Ubuntu then far more detail would be required. If this were a bug, then I'd expect all web sites (or even possibly not web browsing) to cause the cam to take pictures. Also 'something' would need to initiate a transfer of the picture to the network/Internet and this traffic would be highly visible to a network monitoring tool or packet sniffer. It's possible Flash could be responsible for this (as there have been many reports in the past of javascript initiating cams and mics without user intervention) so simply not executing the javascript would effectively stop such behavior.

But as I stated earlier, if it just this evil site causing the problem or concern for you, wouldn't 'not visiting' the site solve the problem?

According to community feedback on OpenDNS, this site tends to display Adult related content, so it could be deemed offensive to some:

http://domain.opendns.com/x17online.com

Many folks seem to think this site is a bit Adult focused.

Checking it via Norton SafeSites does not indicate any issue with the site as I speculated above, so my guess is this camera is operating 'by design', and not due to some flaw. More detail would be needed to think otherwise.

Cheers.

you need to go to the adobe web site an look for the
settings manager
you do the settings on the adobe site
click never allow

On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 9:16 AM, john
<email address hidden>wrote:

> Your question #81931 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/81931
>
> john requested for more information:
> you need to go to the adobe web site an look for the
> settings manager
> you do the settings on the adobe site
> click never allow
>

Hi John the problem stopped on its own and I have not been to that site for
a week or so.
If it does happen I will use the instructions you provided.
They had ad on the web site with something about people taking there own
paparazzi shots.
I also use adblock plus for firefox some maybe it stopped the add.
Thanks for your help, I really do appreciate you taking the time to help.
Scott

>
> --
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/81931
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

Hi I have used Ubuntu and Linux off and on for some time, now it is my primary OS. I am not familiar with where to send problems but I am leaning. I now think this is a firefox problem and not Ubuntu bug. I try always to be as secure as possible thats why I ask this problem and thanks for everyone's help. This seems to be in termination and is problem related to Java. Thanks again Scott

Thanks Jeruvy, that solved my question.