Why I Don't Want a WiFi Camera

A while back I was listening to a technical pundit lament about how cameras can't wirelessly connect to PCs to download pictures. I think it was Eric Schmidt of Google at Charlie Rose, maybe this one, or this one, or this one (too bad Charlie doesn't have free online transcripts or I would look it up).

I thought to myself, yeah wireless is cool, but it automatically brings up new security issues. A wireless camera is now vulnerable to viruses and hacking. For most people using a cable isn't a big deal and the value of wireless might be less than the new security worries that come up. And who thinks that a camera company would know anything about wireless security in order to set it up properly?

And today, my skepticism paid off. Engadget reports:

According to Informit, in addition to sending your vacation pics flying through the air, the P1 can also open up your PC to a whole range of attacks, including DoS attacks and infected JPGs and executables, not to mention allowing others to potentially intercept your photos. The bad news, if that wasn't bad enough, is that there apparently isn't any easy fix outside just not installing Nikon's WiFi software on your PC -- thus killing the phone's only wireless functionality.

Until they get these security issues worked out I think I will stick with the cabled version.