I find that using black electrical tape works just fine and fits within the space between the display and the keyboard without any problems at all.
Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
581–590 of 990 posts
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#582Too little too late. Wish I knew that before, I broke my MacBook Air camera with that tiny sliding cover. Tried SMC reset and what not. It works “sometimes” though.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#583Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just so you know, switches in something as complicated as a laptop have a good chance at being connected to a processor , with firmware being the thing that determines what the switch does. So you still need trust, even with a physical switch. Source: write firmware for a living, and write drivers for physical switches.
That's a good point. I'm guessing that people calling for a "hardware switch" implicitly mean one that cannot be overridden by firmware. I.e., a traditional switch inline on the circuit(s) connecting the camera / microphone to the rest of the system.
On MacBooks Apple says their microphone disconnect is "done in hardware alone", so it might be that closing the lid disconnects something physically.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#584Earlier quoted context omitted.
I honestly can't remember the last time I used my camera during a company meeting, and I've been working remotely since March. So, there's definitely value to a built-in cover; in my case it would stay shut permanently.
A piece of tape does that without the security theatre of a cover.
I prefer aluminum foil under the tape that's over the lens so it can be flipped up out of the way easily but still block the view. But the cover does the same thing and doesn't take the effort of putting in a piece of tape.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#585Apple Support: Wait until the light turn green, and then put a tape cover on your camera. ️
Or you know, if you never see a green light, you never had any problem. How about that? Tin foil much?
Some one wrote a paper about indicators can be compromised by turning on and off the cam rapidly
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#586This could probably be solved by an accessory with a loose flap. Gravity would naturally ensure that the flap covers the camera when the display is vertical, but hangs over the edge to avoid getting sandwiched when the lid is closed. Not sure if the dimensions quite work out for this as Macbooks are very thin, but with some thoughtful design, I think this concept could work.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#587Nice try, Apple
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#588Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Designed to protect your privacy, Mac notebooks have a camera indicator light to let you know when the camera is on. ... The main problem with that isn't that it is possible to disable the LED. The problem is that the LED is like a smoke detector, when it alerts you it's already too late, you are on fire (or your photo/video has already been taken). An indicator LED doesn't protect your privacy, it only tells you w…
On new Macs the light is a minimum 3 seconds even for a single frame photo. Anyone monitoring you has to turn the light in just to see if you are there, and what you are doing, and will likely have to watch for hours to catch any incriminating footage. You will have plenty of notice.
> will likely have to watch for hours to catch any incriminating footage
It's not just 'incriminating footage' that's the problem. There are perfectly legal sites I visit that I'd prefer didn't have a photo identifying me. Takes only seconds to snap such a picture if using an exploit like the safari one in April.
Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#589Re: Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera
#590Earlier quoted context omitted.
This has been the case for quite some time (10 years or so). I've torn apart two Macbooks to specifically test this and the LED is enabled when the camera receives power. It's impossible to disable with software. You can modify the Macbook of course, which is why the paranoid type will still use tape. Some attacks I've seen will take a photo with the camera as fast as possible so you might not notice, but the light w…
> You can modify the Macbook of course, which is why the paranoid type will still use tape. If the attacker has done this, they might as well just hide the camera somewhere else.
Oh absolutely, but if I were targeting Zuckerberg this would now be a camera he carries with him and almost always has an available network connection (If I were a billionaire I'd be switching devices near constantly to stave off attacks). You could be carrying around the bug for at least a year if not more.
Your average blackmailer would be better off with the separate camera route (and likely wouldn't be sophisticated enough otherwise) but a state-sponsored attack could probably pull it off.