December 15, 2025
Your TV’s a snitch?
Former CIA spy: agency's tools can takeover your phone, TV, and even your car
Internet shrugs: 'Vault 7 told us' while others rage and joke about Range Rovers
TLDR: A former CIA officer says agency tools can hijack phones, TVs, and even cars, citing the 2017 Vault 7 leaks. Comments split between “old news,” skepticism of his flair, and outrage over government snooping, with jokes about Range Rovers and taxes framing a bigger fight over privacy and trust.
Ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou looked into the camera and said the quiet part: the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) can spy through your phone, smart TV, and even mess with your car. He points to the 2017 “Vault 7” leaks, which detailed hacking tools for iPhones, Androids, and certain Samsung TVs. The community? Split between eye-rolls and alarm. One camp shrugs: this is old news—Vault 7 spelled it out years ago, so why the dramatic rehash via LADbible? Another camp is furious that taxpayer-funded agencies are building tools to peek into living rooms instead of protecting citizens’ privacy. A third camp side-eyes Kiriakou himself, calling his car-crash claims theatrical and warning he loves a controversial headline.
And then the memes arrived. The Range Rover bit—“buy one, nobody can operate it”—had the thread crying, while “My taxes at work” became the wry chorus. A hot take accused the NSA (National Security Agency), NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), and CIA of undermining public cybersecurity. For clarity: Kiriakou says the capability exists, not that everyone is being watched. But the mood is unmistakable—paranoia meets punchline, with the internet debating whether this is a sober warning or recycled spy-movie hype.
Key Points
- •Former CIA officer John Kiriakou claims the CIA can intercept communications through phones, laptops, smart TVs, and control cars via embedded computers.
- •He references the 2017 WikiLeaks “Vault 7” leak as evidence of these capabilities.
- •Vault 7 documents (2013–2016) detail tools to compromise iPhones and Android devices and exploit Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- •The leak describes methods to turn certain Samsung smart TVs into covert listening devices, even when they appear off.
- •Kiriakou states the capability exists but does not assert that these actions target everyone.