4 ms·
But what about the microphone?
by timwis 7y ago
But what about the microphone?
- mulmen 7y agoI don’t have an easy (non-destructive) fix for that one and I actually do voice chats with my laptop. I’d feel better about a real hardware switch for both or a separate device. Sadly that doesn’t seem to be an option.
- Cthulhu_ 7y agoThere's external microphones with an on/off switch; of course, if you can't tell Mac to never use the builtin microphone it's probably neither here nor there.
- mulmen 7y agoWell the benefit of an external device is I can unplug it and put it in a drawer :) The problem is I can’t confidently defeat the builtin devices. I would be more comfortable if they just didn’t exist.
- kylec 7y agoAnd what about all your data? (photos, emails, texts, browsing history, passwords, etc) If an attacker has compromised my computer to such an extent that they’s be able to record me, I’d be more worried about access to my private data than I am about being photographed through the webcam.
- spockz 7y agoWell, as this case shows, an attacker doesn’t always need to get low level access to your device in order to capture video and audio. So there is still a valid concern shot being recorded.
- scalio 7y agoYou can open the macbook and unplug the camera and mic connectors from the mainboard.
- mulmen 7y agoNeat. Can I put a switch inline? Without setting myself on fire?
- karolist 7y agoYou could whip up a quick script to move driver kexts for mic and camera in and out of extensions folder essentially toggling the functionality. This would require a reboot though.
- saagarjha 7y agoThis would also require disabling System Integrity Protection.
- martin_a 7y agoIn times when you can't upgrade the RAM anymore after you bought it? I doubt it sadly.
- SamuelAdams 7y agoIt's actually getting worse. The 2020 macbook air has soldered secondary storage. In a day when NVME drives are as tiny as ever. So now if you want to upgrade from 256 GB to 1 TB you need to buy an entirely new board.
- martin_a 7y agoI'm not sure, but hasn't it been like this since... 2018 or so? I thought all after-market upgrade possibilites were gone, because they started soldering the RAM and everthing else. Didn't knew you could upgrade any storage at all.
- Kliment 7y agoI put an inline switch on the supply line of my thinkpad camera. The hardest part is mechanically placing the switch so it's not in the way and can be used easily.