31–40 of 58 posts
I just assume my laptops are all compromised, because if they are managed or have any commercial software on them, they are. Put another way, if you think your machine is secure, can you afford to be wrong? The reason I have used a lens cover as long as there have been cams (back to the SGI days) is because, to borrow a phrase, corporate IT people are not gentlemen. Is anyone really going to try find a novel rootkit…
I use a camera cover for my work computers since I don't have full control over the devices. It has saved me from default broadcasts in conferencing software several times.
I’d be way more worried about someone putting a keylogger on my laptop versus them taking control of the webcam.
I use a webcam cover, but I'm not worried about people hacking into my laptop. What I'm defending against is one of the many apps I have to use for conferencing (Zoom, Google Meet, Bluejeans, Teams) starting up with the camera on when I'm not expecting it (and e.g. not wearing a shirt, my wife getting ready in the background, etc) for example because it was on last time I used that particular app.
One of the many reasons I try to avoid running the apps of "random" companies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t. I actually think manufacturers should go a step further and add physical kill switches to webcams. That would allow cutting off the audio as well. I’m just saying that a sticker seems to be a bandaid on a possibly bigger issue.
There are very few physical switches and ports on most modern laptops. How many people out of the 99 who don't care are willing to pay for the physical (and not just "physical" as in triggers software) killing of audio and video for the one (if that) who cares? I know I'm not.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love the slider, but why did they have to put a painted red dot on it? It makes it look as if the camera is on and recording me. It’s unnecessarily jarring.
A little bit of black fingernail polish could fix that
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love the slider, but why did they have to put a painted red dot on it? It makes it look as if the camera is on and recording me. It’s unnecessarily jarring.
A little bit of black fingernail polish could fix that
I can't paint on it without trying to unglue that and ultimately break it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, if it’s built in then it’s a lot less awkward. You can close the laptop with it on, etc. The practical problems with doing this are bigger than theoretical ones. Ultimately Apple should probably build this in given their “privacy” messaging. But in any case, I think surreptitious microphone access is a bigger problem than this, and there’s no easy solution to it.
Why can't you make a hardware switch for the microphone too? Both the PinePhone and Librem 5 have this. I would like to see more and more of these physical kill switches, hopefully kind of like the silent switches on my iPhone, but maybe with little sliding locks to keep them in position.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why can't you make a hardware switch for the microphone too? Both the PinePhone and Librem 5 have this. I would like to see more and more of these physical kill switches, hopefully kind of like the silent switches on my iPhone, but maybe with little sliding locks to keep them in position.
There used to be a hardware switch for WiFi on laptops not long ago. But being "always connected" took precedence over privacy. Same can be said with microphone and voice assistants.
I think there's a pretty healthy market for privacy/security/control-oriented hardware.
I use a small tab of yellow sticky note. I use it not due to attacks but rather for the many dumb teleconferencing apps I have to use at work. Some automatically send video, some don’t. I try to configure them not to start video by default but for whatever reason, one of them always does.