<p>I’m not so worried about the invasion of privacy through a webcam but I’ve had 2 people (only 1 of my kids is on Skype and his is the only name I have on my list) whose screen names I don’t recognize send rather nasty notes that appear briefly on the lower right corner of my screen.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s very dangerous. People can steal your identity through seeing you on the camera, and invade your home based on the room you are in. Also, people may see you and hear you. Do not use this if you care at all about protecting the view through the camera and the sound coming from the microphone. I’d also recommend avoiding public places, like parks, because people can also both see and hear you – you never know what can happen.</p>
<p>Sense of irony and dry humor in your posting “Businessguy”; </p>
<p>-Would you like to talk with your children about their grades, school status, health, credit card, tuition payments, and a system is open to unknown others to hear what you are discussing?</p>
<p>-Would you be in pajamas in your house or dress in whatever way you want and have a possibility others than your children be looking at you too to the service discussed?</p>
<p>It seems you are confusing privacy with simple act of life such as “avoiding public places, like parks, because people can also both see and hear you – you never know what can happen.”</p>
<p>Extremes are bad, so read the previous posting before you go to extremes measures to avoid a public place…
and yes I installed the “Skype” and yes will take the precautions other serious poster had suggested…</p>
<p>can anyother person apart from me n the one whom i chat with see my video calls by any means even not in my skype friend list ???</p>
<p>I have Skyped with my daughter in Thailand. It’s great! We’ve done video and audio skype, and the audio is actually better than cell phones in the same city. The only thing I’ve found is that occasionally there are scam calls that come in when I’m offline. I have blocked them, but they still came in with different numbers. So I set my preferences so that only contacts that I already have can call me. But I still can accept contact requests from anyone. That seems to have eliminated the scam calls, which were pretty weird. They warned about computer viruses and such, so I was worried at first. But some research put my mind at ease. That would be my only warning, but it seems that it can be handled well through the preferences.</p>
<p>Skype is like a phone call. Do I worry about people listening in on my phone calls? Maybe, but not much.</p>
<p>Here is one thing that might help you feel better. I am embarrassed to admit I do it, and my husband and son just roll their eyes. </p>
<p>When I am not using my webcamera for Skype, I keep a piece of lightweight cardstock over the camera lens. The way my computer is made, I can just cut a piece about the size of a postcard, fold it with two angles, and slip it over the top edge of my computer. It covers up the little round aperture. When I use Skype, I just slide the cardboard to the side to uncover the camera.</p>
<p>I know it is silly, but at least I don’t think about people watching me when the camera is covered!</p>
<p>Don’t know about other computers, but my computer has a little light when the camera is on. Is that reliable? I don’t know, but I do try to think it is. It is never on, except when I want it to be… (photo booth, skype, whatever else?) In fact, I don’t even know how to turn it on separate from an online application, so I don’t think I can forget that it is on and leave it going.</p>
<p>We use Skype weekly to call DD. to be honest, I’ve had more issues with my cell phone. We use our iPad. Voice quality is terrific. </p>
<p>“Privacy” is a funny word these days. Just take a look at the ads on the side of this site. They are “reflective” of things YOU have posted about.</p>
<p>the web is a dangerous place! never trust what you read, see or hear on the internet ;-)</p>