One More Thing: the iNote. This magical pad of sticky notes will elegantly cover the camera and preserve the structural integrity of your display.
Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
91–100 of 990 posts
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is in the design: by not providing a hardware switch, all we have is trust. As we can see from the past, unfortunatly it's not enough.
I had a laptop with a physical switch for WiFi/Bluetooth in 2006 or so (with a matching orange/blue light that would turn up when you toggled it). The problem was that this was actually all done by a software driver - when I booted into Linux with the laptop I was surprised to find that the bluetooth/wifi modules were on regardless of the switch's position. At the end of the day, unless you have a really nice microsc…
I had another laptop with a hardware switch and a corresponding LED, and it worked exactly as it should - the hardware was completely inaccessible under Linux. So yes, it can be done and it's not rocket science.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is in the design: by not providing a hardware switch, all we have is trust. As we can see from the past, unfortunatly it's not enough.
I had a laptop with a physical switch for WiFi/Bluetooth in 2006 or so (with a matching orange/blue light that would turn up when you toggled it). The problem was that this was actually all done by a software driver - when I booted into Linux with the laptop I was surprised to find that the bluetooth/wifi modules were on regardless of the switch's position. At the end of the day, unless you have a really nice microsc…
It would be pretty impressive for someone to get the camera to work through a physical cover.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#94Apple should have an indicator light for the microphone as well, and to avoid confusion,far from the camera. I don’t think it’s possible to block the mic.
It's possible to have hardware kill switches that can't be compromised via software. Apple opts not to include them. Purism laptops include them. https://puri.sm/products/librem-14/
Apple includes this on the latest iPads and Macs with the T2 chip.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/03/apple-hardware-microphone-...
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is in the design: by not providing a hardware switch, all we have is trust. As we can see from the past, unfortunatly it's not enough.
I had a laptop with a physical switch for WiFi/Bluetooth in 2006 or so (with a matching orange/blue light that would turn up when you toggled it). The problem was that this was actually all done by a software driver - when I booted into Linux with the laptop I was surprised to find that the bluetooth/wifi modules were on regardless of the switch's position. At the end of the day, unless you have a really nice microsc…
>tens of thousand of hours
>electrical engineering
Yea gluing a piece of tape is a piece of art even Marx wasn't able to.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#96I don't understand this debate around blocking camera. If your laptop has already been hacked such that the attacker has access to disable the green light(if we could be disable by prevailed account in the worst case), wouldn't you have more serious things to worry about? I mean worst case they could film me nude or something.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a laptop with a physical switch for WiFi/Bluetooth in 2006 or so (with a matching orange/blue light that would turn up when you toggled it). The problem was that this was actually all done by a software driver - when I booted into Linux with the laptop I was surprised to find that the bluetooth/wifi modules were on regardless of the switch's position. At the end of the day, unless you have a really nice microsc…
I had another laptop with a hardware switch and a corresponding LED, and it worked exactly as it should - the hardware was completely inaccessible under Linux. So yes, it can be done and it's not rocket science.
Yes, what you describe is trivial - and it would be similarly trivial to design a module that appears to respect the switch (regardless of Linux/Windows) and yet records things surreptitiously, only to offload it at a later date.
Remember the amount of effort VW was willing to expand to cheat emissions testing.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#98Can someone help me understand the extent of possible damage by having a webcam cover? This might at least inform me if its worth the risk.
When Apple says "you might damage your display because the clearance between the display and keyboard is designed to very tight tolerances", do they mean?
- the display itself could have scratches?
- the display connector at the hinge has a chance of weakening?
- others?
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
>2013: iSeeYou: Disabling the MacBook Webcam Indicator LED https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/36569 ... applies only to older Mac notebooks from like 2008 period which are long since obsolete according to Apple's announced support policy. >2016: Your Mac’s Camera Can Be Hacked https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/your-macs-camera-ca... . ... refers specifically the exploit above. >2016: Former NSA…
The problem is in the design: by not providing a hardware switch, all we have is trust. As we can see from the past, unfortunatly it's not enough.
But you just moved the goal-posts from a discussion about whether the implementation was faulty (and Apple was misleading their product owners) to one about whether the design compromises are right.
Apple claims that the LED comes on when the camera is active, which it claims helps protect your privacy. That seems to be true, and certainly no-one seems to have any contradictory examples that are not 12+ years old.
I can argue that when one uses a sliding cover, one can easily forget to reset it after a video chat. The design is bad. The right solution is simply not to have a camera. It's just a different design compromise.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had a laptop with a physical switch for WiFi/Bluetooth in 2006 or so (with a matching orange/blue light that would turn up when you toggled it). The problem was that this was actually all done by a software driver - when I booted into Linux with the laptop I was surprised to find that the bluetooth/wifi modules were on regardless of the switch's position. At the end of the day, unless you have a really nice microsc…
It would be pretty impressive for someone to get the camera to work through a physical cover.
It would be mildly impressive if a manufacturer made a fake cover with a switch to detect when it's "closed" and make the main camera stream filtered to look like the cover is real, while having a 2nd back-door unfiltered stream. Of course this could be detected by someone who took the unit apart.