“We have a variety of tools that we as a government can use to deter behavior on the Internet outside of norms”, Comey insisted, adding that a lot of the things the United States can do against the Russians or others wouldn’t necessarily be visible to the public.
Advertisement
“Heck yeah, heck yeah”, Comey responded to a question whether he still uses tape during a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Wednesday.
Comey was pilloried online earlier this year after he revealed that he puts a piece of tape over his laptop camera to keep away prying eyes.
In June, the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg published a photo which showed that he too covered his MacBook’s webcam.
But The Hill reported that Comey said the webcam trick was a common precaution taken by all government staff: “You go into any government office and we all have the little camera things that sit on top of the screen”.
He explains that it is common practice in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as government offices to put tape on their cameras, so people who do not have any authority to spy can’t see them. “I think that’s a good thing” the official said. There were many sceptics to this who believed this to be ironic as Comey recently made fights into the high-profile case against Apple with an aim to gain data access from the iPhone used by one of the terrorists.
But he still uses the tape on his laptop.
Advertisement
“I think people ought to be taking personal responsibility for their own safety and security”, Comey said. “I hope people lock their cars, lock your doors at night. It’s not insane that the FBI Director cares about personal security as well”.
