Sen. Rand Paul’s campaign store is selling spy cam blockers that supporters can use to block the National Security Agency from spying on them.
Good branding.
The “NSA spy cam blocker” sticks to the top of the laptop and slides over the computer’s camera.
“That little front facing camera on your laptop or tablet can be a window for the world to see you – whether you know it or not! Stop hackers and the NSA with this simple camera blocker,” the description for the $15 NSA spy cam blocker reads. “Safe and practical.”
The Kentucky Senator formally launched his presidential campaign on Tuesday and privacy issues will be a huge part of his campaign and appeal to libertarian-leaning young voters he hopes to attract in the primaries and a potential general election.
As The Intercept reported, “the NSA uses a plug-in called GUMFISH to take over cameras on infected machines and snap photos.” And as Wired pointed out, “Cybercriminals, sextortionists, law enforcement, and even school districts have all been doing this kind of spying for a number of years.”
Unfortunately, Paul’s spy cam blocker will not prevent the NSA from hijacking computers to listen in on conversation. The Intercept revealed that the NSA uses a plug-in called “CAPTIVATEDAUDIENCE” to do that.
Paul has been one of the most vocal critics of the NSA’s spying, even suing the agency for collecting the phone records of unsuspecting Americans in bulk.
“Today we ask the question for every phone user in America: can a single warrant allow the government to collect all your records, all the time?” Paul said when announcing his lawsuit alleging the NSA’s metadata collection was unconstitutional. “I don’t think so.”