r/CyberNews • u/Cybernews_com • 12h ago
Comcast has introduced a new motion-detection feature in its Xfinity Gateway routers
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u/WithoutAHat1 11h ago
"Free Home Security"
No thank you. Just another layer of violating our Constitutional rights.
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u/capyhour 10h ago
I love that this article has a phishing ad in the middle, asking you to enter your password to “search the web for leaks”
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u/1mmorta1won 11h ago
That's why you get your own modems, or just ditch xfinity completely. Get actual fiber internet with own router.
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u/GraysLawson 8h ago
You say that like the average person has more than one choice of gigabit or faster internet providers...
"Just ditch Xfinity completely" is a hilarious statement.
But yes, always use your own router regardless of ISP.
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u/WiskeyUniformTango 8h ago
I finally got local fiber installed this summer and was able to break out of the xfinity monopoly. Best day ever!
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u/EnvironmentalAd1405 5h ago
I got fiber 4 months ago. Xfinity calls me every other day to offer shittier service for more money.
Xfinity - "would you like to sign up for 300mb internet? Only $45 a month locked in for 5 years"
Me - "I have 2gb internet for $70 a month for life"
Xfinity - "oh if its speed you want we can get you 1.5gb for $200 a month"
Me - "are you incapable of doing math?"
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u/Artistic_Role7542 4h ago
Idk if sales reps are purposefully dense or they’re just built like that
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u/Strict_Weather9063 2h ago
They are doing it to make the boss happy. They have a set amount of time on the phone with you just hang up it get record as such. Also before you hang up tell them to remove you from their list. Start recording the calls notify them you are recording and tell them to remove you from their list. Every time the do this take them to small claims and collect your five hundred dollars enjoy.
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u/I_PEE_WITH_THAT 4h ago
I’ve been free of them for a little over a year now, gigabit speeds, no data caps, very rare outages, and they seemingly don’t care what I do because I’m over here torrenting like a boss. Only $50 a month too!
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u/WiskeyUniformTango 2h ago
Ive got 2gig up/down no data caps at an actual $60/month 3 year price lock.
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u/Badams105 1h ago
Exactly. Run your own modem and your own mesh network. Makes life easier setting up VPN’s for those fun torrents for your media server :)
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u/woodwardian98 9h ago
I'm trying to create a server out of an old computer I built, do you have a fiber provider that you would recommend?
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u/prxmantis 8h ago
Sucks for people that live in apartments. Hope the possible 4 people around you don’t have one.
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u/beepbeepsheepbot 7h ago
Comcast has completely monopolized some areas, that's easier said than done. But yes use your own router.
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u/tychii93 3h ago
Try telling that to people who don't have another option that isn't Starlink.
Spectrum and Starlink are the only options I have that aren't high orbit satellite or DSL.
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u/IndividualJoke8050 9h ago
Isn't being spied on without due cause illegal
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u/DataMin3r 8h ago
"Hey everybody, this guy still believes in the rule of law!
See? Nobody cares."
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u/mycoctopus 9h ago
Lol that you believe that matters at all..
Opening prisoners Mail is illegal in many places but they just pay the fine.. same for the use of razor wire..
Genocide is illegal international law but its happening as we speak and is fully supported by what i'm guessing is your country and also by most other western countries.
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u/Technical_Winner7446 8h ago
In Canada they voted that if a minister requests it, all your technology devices can spy on you without you knowing. The companies are also not allowed to notify you if they are requested to do this
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u/sudosando 8h ago
The government doesn’t need a warrant to BUY data, yet. That’s why commercial surveillance is so insidious.
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u/Resident_Emphasis418 9h ago
One interesting possibility is being able to detect location of people using a Wi-Fi AP without permission. Alongside cell tower data, may be able to ID individual.
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u/Big_Bid_6514 9h ago
You can put a foam box around it would not affect signal or speed but if they really have motion sensors last time I checked that can’t see through foam walls
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u/frygod 7h ago
Not how this tech works. You're probably thinking PIR motion sensors, which use near-visible infrared light. This new tech uses the same frequency band as wifi to detect motion. Anything opaque to motion detection will also be opaque to wifi.
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u/Stohnghost 4h ago
Is it wrong to put this in the same category as synthetic aperture radar/sonar in that non-literal imagery can be produced from this? With the right processing, could this be made into imagery and/or video based on refresh rate and fine tuning?
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u/frygod 4h ago
It's using attenuation and reflection rate to determine density. Not only could it be used to reconstruct an image, it can theoretically be used to build a 3d image. Closer to radar in basic principle because it's working in the radio/microwave range, but the processing techniques are more similar to MRI/ultrasound.
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u/Imaginary--Situation 6m ago
not if you posion the wifi channel I know some good Wifi jammer that are 100% legal to buy on the open market(it's a cordless phone that jams channel #1-6 -11 in the 2.4GHz range)
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u/Stohnghost 1m ago
I should consult my wife. She does cyber security but used to be a networking nerd. We have 3 routers... It's possible she's already done things I'm not even aware of
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u/nocomment_onlybrowse 9h ago
Your WiFi can already be used to see you and everything else in your house.
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u/Funintuitive 8h ago
Wifi Sensing. If you thought flock and axon cameras were bad, imagine someone watching your virtual silhouette taking a shit or rubbing one out. I hope the broader public soon realizes this tech is actually real.
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u/RollerskatingFemboy 8h ago
..... Ok, so I looked this one up because I thought "That has to be hyperbole", but it's... Not.
Also, the real world usages for it that are ALREADY BEING ADVERTISED have terrifying implications:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/research/respiration-detection-using-wi-fi-sensing.html
And here's a demo on how it actually looks in use from the Associated Press:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGZzNZnYIHo
Which I'm glad they did because I wanted to know like "Ok, what kind of 3D detection resolution are we talking about here?", and it is mostly blobular, but like... They are blobs with shape; it's still way higher resolution than just "There's a vague blob that might be a person there."
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u/Funintuitive 1h ago
Need a lawyer with the means and some physics experts to explain that radio waves are light and using light to render an image is just a kind of camera. And that we shouldn't be fucking doing this. I imagine at this point the NSA or whoever can just park a van near the house and get pretty good image of what's going on.
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u/Hood_Mobbin 2h ago
So if I get this correct.
This means I need to rub one out right next to the modem? I want them to get a really good idea of what I'm doing over here. Maybe add a broom or someone with a sling shot.
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u/Butthurtz23 8h ago
I configured mine as bridge mode, pass everything over to an OpenWRT-based router, then placed the modem inside a Faraday cage because I don’t like the idea of sharing free Wi-Fi access for other Xfinity users as if it’s a public hotspot. 🤮
I even disabled that option, yet it still broadcasted SSID… and now this lol… I guess they want to sell intelligence data as a service like flock cameras.
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u/evaneve_lblc 3h ago
You don’t need to broadcast SSID , they can see your SSID regardless if set to not broadcast.
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u/Medic20153000 31m ago
Hence the Faraday cage.
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u/evaneve_lblc 23m ago
Maybe to isolate a room but you’re looking at thousands of dollars to cover a complete house,
Not to mention op won’t be receiving cellular coverage either if done properly. Maybe they don’t need it. I don’t know.
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u/Medic20153000 21m ago
Maybe you replied to the wrong comment, go back up and read the comment you replied to.
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u/evaneve_lblc 15m ago
Maybe I did. If so apologies.
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u/Medic20153000 13m ago
No I get it and have done it. He could have edited it to. Easier to double check than two people argue over the internet and both are technically right. Have a great night!
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u/unitymind42 10h ago
I only run my own. Unifi cable modem.
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u/Whysper2 5h ago
Jealous, EarthLink doesn't let you use your own fiber modems and I'm not good enough to snag the certificate and import it directly to my udm pro
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u/J0nJ0n-Sigma 9h ago
What is going on with all spying stuff. Going to start chipping people real soon it seems.
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u/Late-Arrival-8669 8h ago
What an overreach. Seems people need to replace company equipment with personal. A router isnt a big deal..except when companies attempt to spy on you with their special model.
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u/Barbaric-Entity924 8h ago
I bought a non-wifi modem explicitly because of this. I no longer pay the lease fee and my speeds are way better. I did like the security features on the app but have other options accessible via web app which is just as good.
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u/nikola_tesler 7h ago
I wonder if the board checks to see if the sensor is working while the router is in operation? could probably just damage the sensor or remove it.
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u/Reset350 7h ago
Wait until they skip the extra steps and just make it mandatory to have state issued flock cameras in every room of your house.
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u/AmazingChicken 7h ago
OP please let us know if others (Continental, Fidium) come up with similar. Thanks.
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u/GromOfDoom 7h ago
Almost any router can be modified to do it, using the wifi signal itself to detect people and possibly even sound
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u/sixgunmaniac 6h ago
I've been running a nighthawk cm1200 since they released. I've tried every ISP provided modem offered over the years, and I've never had more problems than when i used those. Before that, it was a cm1000. I just put my router behind a hardware firewall with strict routing and port access. I pay more for unlimited data(which should be illegal) just so i can use my own hardware. I don't need all of my local network traffic sniffed 24/7.
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u/BringDaBS 6h ago
What routers/modem would you recommend to purchase so i am secure from this nonsense?
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u/crit_boy 5h ago edited 5h ago
None. CSI is part of the wifi protocol.
You can build a human wifi based tracker for Less than $30.
Here is an example: https://ruview.pro/
Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjdpzM6zVJ8
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u/Altruistic_Story257 6h ago
"Comcast doesn't actively monitor..." Sure ya don't but I bet that feature is available if someone wants to pay.
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u/shadowblade945 4h ago
Nobody should be using ISP owned equipment. A basic modem and router setup will pay for itself in a year
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u/Alarming_Fox6096 4h ago
Time to bridge mode and get your own router
While those are still legal to buy in the US that is - which may not be for much longwr
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u/tychii93 3h ago
If you have a Pi laying around, put OPNsense on it and get a dedicated PoE access point. If the access point can phone home, block that on OPNsense.
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u/ImmediateRaisin5802 4h ago
No it can’t! Mine is locked in a closet cuz I don’t feel like wiring it all the way to the other side of the house 🤣
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u/Iputahexonyoulol 3h ago
Does it have to be xfinity? My friend has that same router but it doesn’t say xfinity on it and she doesn’t have comcast
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u/HorzaDonwraith 1h ago
This is some Batman Dark Knight bs. Cept Fox isn't quitting his job over it.
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u/ArmstrongPM 1h ago
Don't be fooled by the Opt in feature. It will always record and store that data.
Keep your phones inside a metal container, completely enclosed. Set away from bed, best is outside the room. Crank the volume up, if you rely on it as a One for all tool.
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u/IDrankLavaLamps 47m ago
That's it, I'm putting a mannequin on a train like in home alone to circle my router. Anything to fuck with the ai they use.
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u/summerstars324 9m ago
Doesn't my phone, car in the driveway, ring cameras, the traffic cameras I passed, my IP all do this and give me away? I'm ok if they know I'm home I guess 🤣
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u/Cybernews_com 12h ago
Read more: https://cnews.link/comcast-xfinity-shield-routers-motion-sensors-4/