Do no evil.
Google Video has been a marginal success, so when I first ran
across the preference option to allow Google to "allow video.google
to access your camera and microphone" I wasn't really that
concerned:
I'm still not that concerned, but the news of Google buying
YouTube puts stuff like this on a vastly larger scale. Google's "Do
no Evil" mantra rings even more hollow now than it ever did.
Think of it this way, computer users like you have nothing to worry
about. You know how to find stuff like this and make sure your
camera isn't being used to broadcast everything you do in front of
you Mac or PC. But what about the users who don't know how to track
down every last thing their computer is doing? They're
vulnerable.
Besides, there's something flat wrong about an option to allow
Google Video to control your camera and microphone: their service
was built on the idea of pushing video to you, not the other way
around. Sure, Google has "plans" to so I'm not seeing the entire
picture (rumor has it that they are engineering software to
"listen" to ambient noise in a room that then sends the appropriate
ads) . I'm aware of that possibility, but until then, check your
preferences.
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