Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2006/04/21/icamu_mobile_phone_mms_surveillance/
Your Nokia phone catches the dog raiding the dustbin
Mobile stealthcam
Posted in Personal Tech, 21st April 2006 16:55 GMT
You leave your Nokia smartphone casually lying somewhere - like, watching the unattended dinner on the table - and when you suspect the culprit is there, you send a text to the phone. And it takes a picture!
And then the software sends the picture - or the video - back to you, automatically, via MMS.
Of course, ICamU (designer of the software) is assuming you've loaded this software onto your own phone, and haven't sneakily put it on someone else's. If you did, of course, the software would give itself away, right?
Actually, it seems that isn't right. According to Mobile Gazette: "In addition to stills photos, iCamCU can also send video and audio clips to an MMS-capable phone. Only the remote phone needs to be a Symbian Series 60 device, it can be interrogated with pretty much any MMS-capable handset. Access to the remote Symbian phone can be controlled through caller groups."
And then, the casual reveal: "It is also possible to run the iCamCU software in what amounts to a 'stealth mode on the remote handset'."
You can, then, turn someone else's phone into a webcam if they habitually leave it lying on its side, pointing at something of interest. About the only feature lacking, apart from a remote motion trigger sensor, is a remote control hand to point it where you want to shoot your video or pix.
Next time you see a phone lying about, cover it.