I have a light next to my webcam that turns on when it's active. Is it possible the webcam can be activated without that light turning on?
Yes, of course!
Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
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Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#22Am I the only one who doesn't have a microphone or webcam in my laptop these days (6 year old Lenovo T61)? It didn't come with a webcam and I unplugged the mic. I can't stand the thought of them pointing at me.
On my desktop PC, I plug in the webcam when I need to use it for Skype, and unplug it when it's not in use. Nothing can be used remotely when it's not plugged in!
Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#23Perhaps tangential, but is there any way to be certain whether the webcam light can be controlled by software? I often wonder if my MBP camera is necessarily off just because the ominous little green light isn't shining.
Engineering common sense is a good way to be certain.
Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would be hardware-specific, but probably _always_ independently controllable. It's not like the IC manufacturer is going to link the CCD to an LED.
Why not? It's easy. Turn the LED on when there's current on the CCD's power input.
Certainly not arguing that it's difficult. It's extremely trivial.
It just makes no business sense for the camera manufacturer. The CCD is a generic chip that spews clocked image data over some serial connection. Keep it simple and generic, and ship to any business who wants it.
You can have a camera controller IC/ASIC/FPGA/µcontroller one step up from the CCD that manages the CCD and LEDs. That would have either firmware or hardware support for LEDs, but you'd still imagine that it would be configurable for cases where there is no LED installed.
It's absolutely possible, and I don't know all the options out there, but I can't imagine a manufacturer shipping an off-the-shelf IC that _always_ ties an LED to CCD operation.
Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#25I have a light next to my webcam that turns on when it's active. Is it possible the webcam can be activated without that light turning on?
Ostensibly yes, though I suppose it depends on the make/model of the laptop and webcam. Someone with pretty solid reversing skills would need to figure it out for that specific laptop or line or laptops.
Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#26I have a light next to my webcam that turns on when it's active. Is it possible the webcam can be activated without that light turning on?
I've read that it can be possible on some makes and models although most of them employ a system where when the camera is active then electricity passes to it, it passes through the LED first so to even reach the camera the LED has to be illuminated therefore making it not possible.
Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not? It's easy. Turn the LED on when there's current on the CCD's power input.
Certainly not arguing that it's difficult. It's extremely trivial. It just makes no business sense for the camera manufacturer. The CCD is a generic chip that spews clocked image data over some serial connection. Keep it simple and generic, and ship to any business who wants it. You can have a camera controller IC/ASIC/FPGA/µcontroller one step up from the CCD that manages the CCD and LEDs. That would have either fir…
Sometimes companies try to act in their customer's best interest. Or at least in such a way that they don't risk customers turning away. I noticed this story on HN quite recently: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241003
Perhaps not as often as one might wish.
Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#28WTF, why is this crap on HN homepage? A front camera sticker? Seriously guys.
All you need to be on the front page these days is to mention the NSA or PRISM.
Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#29This would have to be a removable sticker in order to be a serious solution.
Re: Turn your laptop into a NSA spying machine
#30Being on HN I expected this to be something about storing and analysing everything the wifi picks up or something along that line. This is pretty disappointing with that expectation.