This doesn't even mention location data from phones which is so persistently on and hard to disable, yet any usage of maps requires it. I want it off after that...
Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
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Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#42Note that a physical switch can be overridden just as easy as a soft switch, the vendor can just put a soft switch in parallel with it and you would never know it. The hard switch could turn off the display, speaker etc. while the processor and radio can stay on.
I like the way the lens works on the new Lenovo Thinkpad camera. It slides sideways, thereby blocking the camera. That's how I like to see it done
That was my first thought when seeing Sanger's initial tweets about this. Someone else replied to the tweet pointing it out, and his response was along the lines of "that's not an off switch, it just blocks it". I'm not really sure why blocking the camera isn't strictly _better_ than a physical off switch, at the very least from a trust perspective
Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where’s it been shown that Amazon Echos spy on you?
The purpose of a knife is to cut. You simply trust the wielder of it, perhaps more than you should.
Don't think this analogy really applies. I mean you have complete control of the knife - it's a physical tool you hold in your hand. Can't compare this with any electronic device at all, which always does lots of stuff behind your back.
Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#44This doesn't even mention location data from phones which is so persistently on and hard to disable, yet any usage of maps requires it. I want it off after that...
As a workaround if you're on Android you can use Tasker to toggle GPS based on selected apps opening or closing, works rather well
Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#45Note that a physical switch can be overridden just as easy as a soft switch, the vendor can just put a soft switch in parallel with it and you would never know it. The hard switch could turn off the display, speaker etc. while the processor and radio can stay on.
I like the way the lens works on the new Lenovo Thinkpad camera. It slides sideways, thereby blocking the camera. That's how I like to see it done
It would be awesome if the physical sliding of the lens lid was also the physical circuit of the mic.
So if closed, the Mic could not EVER function as it would have been physically disconnected.
Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#46Note that a physical switch can be overridden just as easy as a soft switch, the vendor can just put a soft switch in parallel with it and you would never know it. The hard switch could turn off the display, speaker etc. while the processor and radio can stay on.
We may be back to building our own devices again.
We need a Bespoke Laptop Boutique
Such that we have an open-ish platform built on a sound foundation of security.
Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#47Thanks to Purism laptops and phone for taking the lead on kill switches for sensors, https://puri.sm/learn/hardware-kill-switches/
Why do I trust my WiFi cards disable pin, but not the "soft button" on my laptop that triggers it via the OS? I get that there is more software when it goes through the OS, but I trust that a whole lot more than the firmware on the WiFi card.
This is from the same group that tries to explain how they don't use proprietary firmware blogs by using the Redpine chips just because the blog is already flashed on it rather than loaded into RAM on boot.
I wish they would just say it how it is rather than overselling.
Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#48Its about time this idea has caught some traction, ive been taping over cameras, and stabbing microphones with a safey pin and stating the absence of lens covers for years.
Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where’s it been shown that Amazon Echos spy on you?
The purpose of a knife is to cut. You simply trust the wielder of it, perhaps more than you should.
But as the owner of the Echo, which only transmits after the wake word, you are the one that wields that knife.
Re: Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
#50Janie Crane: “An off switch?” Metrocop: “She'll get years for that. Off switches are illegal!” —Max Headroom, season 1, episode 6, “The Blanks” https://www.maxheadroom.com/index.php?title=Episode_ABC.1.6:...
a real life blank reg here. I live in an RV operate a MESHNET and do everthing i can to foster a common persons free decentralized infrastructure.
As mentioned elsewhere ive been taping cameras and stabbing microphones for years now.