3 ms·

This happened to me while I was scrolling through Twitter

54 points by odomojuli 6y ago

httpsterio 6y ago
What's the point, you encountered a visual bug?
- jabroni_salad 6y ago
  It's technically a visual bug, but the content of the bug highlights the disconnect between what everyone thinks is in the T&Cs and what is actually in there. I wonder how many people would tap yes if they had a dedicated prompt to "Can we take a photo of whatever your front camera can see every time you see an ad?"
viraptor 6y ago
I wish there was more information about the behaviour. Realistically, I suspect it's just the last snapshot from the time the camera was opened/closed in Twitter, and the image buffers got mixed up. It would be interesting if that's not the case, but that's a lot more investigation. Edit: From the follow-up tweet: "It was still photo from the exact moment I scrolled over the ad" - now that is very interesting!
sebmellen 6y ago
According to another respondent, they had a photo "taken" from the exact moment they scrolled by an ad. The author of the tweet confirmed the same happened to her in the same thread: https://twitter.com/PickledBoba/status/1338658784391000064 https://twitter.com/PickledBoba/status/1338658784391000064. That's quite strange. Even if we presume Twitter is doing everything aboveboard, why would they activate the camera when the user is not taking a picture or streaming?
- SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
  They are likely computing the target of the user's gaze. It's valuable information for twitter and advertisers. Did the ad draw the user's attention?
samwestdev 6y ago
I thought web browser asked you for permission before using the camera?
- viraptor 6y ago
  Is this a browser screenshot? If it's the native twitter app, it already has the permissions.
lightbulbjim 6y ago
All the more reason to use a third party client.
deckard1 6y ago
I have a OnePlus 7 Pro. When I bought it, having a screen without an ugly notch or hole was the benefit and having a pop-up selfie camera was the trade-off. Or so I thought. And then one week I caught my camera quickly popping up and down when using Firefox. I searched around thinking there must be a bug. It turned out, Firefox had camera permission somehow. I don't recall granting it permission. In any case, it sure seemed like a rogue ad or JavaScript malware was taking pictures at random times. Who knows. But I would never have known this if it were not for a physical camera that has to pop up. Today, I can't imagine having a phone that doesn't have this same mechanism.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Hamcha 6y ago
I have a Mi 9T with a pop-up selfie cam and I really can't think why I wouldn't nowadays. I caught my bank trying to take sneaky selfies when I made any payment (https://twitter.com/Hamcha/status/1259801253527388160 https://twitter.com/Hamcha/status/1259801253527388160) when they only had camera permissions for a completely unrelated reason (QR code scanning for bills and ATM authentication).
sloucher 6y ago
For people like me looking at the linked tweet via a desktop browser: the picture in the tweet isn't shown in full - you need to click on it to see the issue. And... it's horrifying.
nullsmack 6y ago
Well that's terrifying and now I'm shopping for a camera cover for my phone.

54 points by odomojuli 6y ago

httpsterio 6y ago

What's the point, you encountered a visual bug?

jabroni_salad 6y ago
It's technically a visual bug, but the content of the bug highlights the disconnect between what everyone thinks is in the T&Cs and what is actually in there. I wonder how many people would tap yes if they had a dedicated prompt to "Can we take a photo of whatever your front camera can see every time you see an ad?"

viraptor 6y ago

I wish there was more information about the behaviour. Realistically, I suspect it's just the last snapshot from the time the camera was opened/closed in Twitter, and the image buffers got mixed up. It would be interesting if that's not the case, but that's a lot more investigation. Edit: From the follow-up tweet: "It was still photo from the exact moment I scrolled over the ad" - now that is very interesting!

sebmellen 6y ago

According to another respondent, they had a photo "taken" from the exact moment they scrolled by an ad. The author of the tweet confirmed the same happened to her in the same thread: https://twitter.com/PickledBoba/status/1338658784391000064 https://twitter.com/PickledBoba/status/1338658784391000064. That's quite strange. Even if we presume Twitter is doing everything aboveboard, why would they activate the camera when the user is not taking a picture or streaming?

SpaceRaccoon 6y ago
They are likely computing the target of the user's gaze. It's valuable information for twitter and advertisers. Did the ad draw the user's attention?

samwestdev 6y ago

I thought web browser asked you for permission before using the camera?

viraptor 6y ago
Is this a browser screenshot? If it's the native twitter app, it already has the permissions.

lightbulbjim 6y ago

All the more reason to use a third party client.

deckard1 6y ago

I have a OnePlus 7 Pro. When I bought it, having a screen without an ugly notch or hole was the benefit and having a pop-up selfie camera was the trade-off. Or so I thought. And then one week I caught my camera quickly popping up and down when using Firefox. I searched around thinking there must be a bug. It turned out, Firefox had camera permission somehow. I don't recall granting it permission. In any case, it sure seemed like a rogue ad or JavaScript malware was taking pictures at random times. Who knows. But I would never have known this if it were not for a physical camera that has to pop up. Today, I can't imagine having a phone that doesn't have this same mechanism.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

Hamcha 6y ago

I have a Mi 9T with a pop-up selfie cam and I really can't think why I wouldn't nowadays. I caught my bank trying to take sneaky selfies when I made any payment (https://twitter.com/Hamcha/status/1259801253527388160 https://twitter.com/Hamcha/status/1259801253527388160) when they only had camera permissions for a completely unrelated reason (QR code scanning for bills and ATM authentication).

sloucher 6y ago

For people like me looking at the linked tweet via a desktop browser: the picture in the tweet isn't shown in full - you need to click on it to see the issue. And... it's horrifying.

nullsmack 6y ago

Well that's terrifying and now I'm shopping for a camera cover for my phone.