Don't almost all cameras activate their "on" light when being used?
Yeah, but you may not notice it if it takes a snap and then turns off
The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
21–30 of 218 posts
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#22I don't really understand the webcam paranoia. If my computer is completely compromised, somebody watching my face is the least of my worries.
To me it's not about the computer being compromised, but rather joining a WebEx/Hangouts/other conference/meeting software that suddenly decides to start sharing your webcam without prompting you. There's been numerous times where I've joined meetings and someone gets caught with a goofy face or working from home in their PJs because they mis-clicked something on a crappy e-meeting UI.
Yep that's why I do it. I don't take it off either. Voice is good enough for anything remote.
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#23I don't really understand the webcam paranoia. If my computer is completely compromised, somebody watching my face is the least of my worries.
The first Apple iSight cameras, back in the days of Firewire, had this nifty mechanical iris that covered the lens. A twist of the bezel ring and it opened, another and it closed. Granted, just that feature was 6 times the volume of a modern webcam and probably three times the cost, but it did perfectly address people's discomfort with the eye staring at them. For some reason, the ear listening to them doesn't seem t…
Exactly, microphone provides much more useful information and requires similar permissions. Not many people seem to be unsoldering them.
Regarding webcam, led is OK, but it shouldn't be driven by some firmware, it should be a simple circuit - when there is a voltage on the camera Vdd, the led is on. I don't know how it is with the newest macbooks and if the led is still hackable.
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#24Don't almost all cameras activate their "on" light when being used?
Yes, as long as someone hasn't figured out how to turn it off.
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#25Don't almost all cameras activate their "on" light when being used?
Like phones, most laptop webcams have no "on" light.
You have to trust that the software you have on your device isn't using the microphone and camera without your permission.
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#26All these little wires [0] emit electromagnetic radiation that be intercepted and turned back into whatever you see (and more).
Despite what you read on Hacker News no amount of encryption or software trickery is going to stop this.
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#27I don't really understand the webcam paranoia. If my computer is completely compromised, somebody watching my face is the least of my worries.
The first Apple iSight cameras, back in the days of Firewire, had this nifty mechanical iris that covered the lens. A twist of the bezel ring and it opened, another and it closed. Granted, just that feature was 6 times the volume of a modern webcam and probably three times the cost, but it did perfectly address people's discomfort with the eye staring at them. For some reason, the ear listening to them doesn't seem t…
And then there's the accelerometer ;)
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#28If it's a company laptop, put tape on it.
What are you doing while using your company laptop???
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#29I care about audio so much more than video, and text/keys/etc captured from the machine even more. As long as my screen and keyboard are out of the frame of the camera, I don't really care about it getting RATed. At worst, you'll see me naked, or making angry/etc. faces at someone on irc or email. While embarrassing it would be less bad than most of what you could accomplish by stealing actual information.
OTOH, carrying around a microphone connected to the Internet which can be remotely enabled at any time without leaving any real trace (battery use/network use is the only real sign, although even that could be covered up to a great degree -- there is probably a way to do either low-fidelity or infrequent audio pickup, maybe keyed on location and charger state, and on-device pre-processing) -- people do this all the time Mostly because there's no real alternative to carrying smartphone yet.
Plus, of course, there's the fact that no modern desktop OS is particularly secure -- either you give up auto-updates and likely fall to bugs, or use auto-updates and are at risk to your OS vendor or anyone who can compel him. So sensors attached to it, as well as stuff processed on it, is also at risk. You can somewhat mitigate this through a large combination of other protections, but it's almost impossible for a single user single machine to solve that problem.
I'd love a custom run of Dell Chromebook 13 or Lenovo Thinkpad 13 Chrome Edition with no built-in mic/camera, and an EPROM vs. EEPROM, and some special case features. Would be willing to commit to buy 10k units at ~$800/unit retail in 8-16GB x 32GB config.
Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
#30>"I saw something in the news, so I copied it. I put a piece of tape — I have obviously a laptop, personal laptop — I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera." Such a telling statement. It's my belief that this man does not adequately comprehend the magnitude of the issues at hand. General Hayden, on the other hand, is a man whom I believe to…
> "Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera."
And there's (tens of) thousands of people smarter than you telling you how wrong you are about encryption, yet you're ignoring them.