Imagine if out of control government agencies were able to go against their countries' constitutions and access your personal computer files? That would be outrageous and something out of 1984, right? Well the good 'ole U.S. of A and its (literal) partner in crime Great Britain has done just that.

The two spy agencies responsible were the National Security Agency and the Government Communications Headquarters or GCHQ for short. Now don't worry, your webcam selfies are safe, unless, like, you're absurdly attractive. In all seriousness, it seems that only Yahoo users are the ones at risk here. Yet, with all the knowledge heaped on our laps thanks to the efforts of Edward Snowden and investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian, it wouldn't be all that crazy to think that Google and other websites have been tampered with as well.

The GCHQ created a program called "Optic Nerve" that was put into effect in order to make their previously existing facial recognition software more accurate and comprehensive. Millions of images were collected by Optic Nerve in five-minute intervals during webcam chats. Not surprisingly, the unsuspecting people who were photographed in five-minute intervals while in comprising positions and/or will less than normal clothing. A GCHQ agency document leaked by Snowden had this to say about the pornography Optic Nerve came across:

"Unfortunately, it would appear that a surprising number of people use webcam conversations to show intimate parts of their body to the other person," the leaked document stated. "Also, the fact that the Yahoo software allows more than one person to view a webcam stream without necessarily sending a reciprocal stream means that it appears sometimes to be used for broadcasting pornography."

OMG. Webcams are used for the creation, broadcast and consumption of pornography? Just the fact that the GCHQ was unaware of this when it started snooping concerns me. Do GCHQ agents and employees not have common sense?

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo! Inc. was outraged when it found out its users security and privacy was, effectively, hacked.

"We were not aware of, nor would we condone, this reported activity. This report, if true, represents a whole new level of violation of our users' privacy that is completely unacceptable, and we strongly call on the world's governments to reform surveillance law consistent with the principles we outlined in December."

Attorney Alex Abdo of the American Civil Liberties Union had this to say about Optic Nerve:

"In a world in which there is no technological barrier to pervasive surveillance, the scope of the government's surveillance activities must be decided by the public, not secretive spy agencies interpreting secret legal authorities," Abdo said in a statement.

Do you find it acceptable for the U.S. and U.K. governments to be spying on its citizens? Does government surveillance get on your nerves? Let us know in the comments section below.