Camera in DTV converter box

[genlock]

Seen the YouTube video that shows a guy cracking open his new DTV converter box, only to find a tiny camera and microphone hidden inside? Where's my tin foil hat?
Wired has the scoop on the popular YouTube video, which was first posted last week and has racked up more than 230,000 views so far.

In the 97-second video (which you can find right here), we see a shaky-cam shot of a new Magnavox DTV converter box—the kind you'd need to receive over-the-air digital TV signals on an older analog TV.

The guy behind the camera explains that a friend warned him that "they put cameras in these things ... you set it on your TV and someone, the government or whoever, has the ability to spy on you."

The man then opens the DTV box, points at a black box soldered on the circuit board, and proclaims that "lo and behold ... as you can see, right here, is the camera unit." He goes on to point out a flat, pea-sized component that's the "microphone," and promises to check out some different makes of DTV boxes to see "if this is an ongoing trend."

Ah ha, I knew it! This whole DTV transition thing has smelled fishy from the get-go, and now we know why: These boxes are nothing more than Trojan horses designed so "they" watch our every move. Right?

Well, hold on. Wired tracked down the creator of the video—a 28-year-old software engineer named Adam Chronister—who now admits that yes, it's just a hoax. No tiny camera, no microphone—although Chronister claims that a pal did, indeed, tell him the rumor about the hidden DTV camera.

So—know anyone who got fooled? Think the hoax is just a "smoke screen" (as Wired puts it) for the real DTV conspiracy?

[AmpedNow]

They are passive receivers. How can they "relay" any information back to whoever?

If he would have chosen a cable converter box, it would've been more believable, since many of them do relay back info. But even then, the question would be, why?

[genlock]

So the NSA and Clear channel can gather info.

[Bob Campbell]

No surprise. I think we all know DVRs are recording everything we do also.

[Big Media]

The government is everywhere...

[Lee]

No surprise. I think we all know DVRs are recording everything we do also.

Better get something to cover up with next time I'm watching Skinemax...

[AmpedNow]

The crackpot conspiracy guest on Coast to Coast AM brought this up last night and passed it off as truth.

He listed a million and one ways the government, the Illuminati, and the perv next door can spy on us.

If only he would refocus all of that energy on finding a cure for cancer...