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Is it too much to ask for a small LED next to each camera indicating if the sensor is powered? Should be standard on every phone.
by zionic 7y ago
Is it too much to ask for a small LED next to each camera indicating if the sensor is powered? Should be standard on every phone.
- artiscode 7y agoDitto. Or even an old-school LED that indicates data transmission like the HDD LED in old computer cases. Make it in hardware so that if any data is sent through the wire, it lights up.
- jachee 7y agoPeople already complain about the price and battery life of current phones. I can’t imagine either of those things making either situation better.
- kick 7y agoHDD LED in old computer cases Old? I'll admit I haven't changed my case in a couple years, but mine currently has one, and I can't remember the last time I've used a desktop computer that didn't have one.
- notRobot 7y agoold, adj: Having lived or existed for a relatively long time; https://www.thefreedictionary.com/old https://www.thefreedictionary.com/old Old doesn't have to mean extinct :)
- robin_reala 7y agoUnfortunately those were immediately susceptible to tempest attacks, at least at old hard drive speeds.
- angry_octet 7y agoI think you are confusing this with data tx/rx lights for exfil[0]? I've never heard of a tempest attack (that is, revealing the data written via a side channel) on a hard drive light. [0] Guri et al, LED-it-GO https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.06715.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.06715.pdf
- robin_reala 7y agoI think it’s this paper I remember that describes it as an “optical tempest” and talks about storage mechanism leakage: http://applied-math.org/acm_optical_tempest.pdf http://applied-math.org/acm_optical_tempest.pdf
- angry_octet 7y agoYeah it's type II in the Loughry schema. Still unfortunate if you're operating a high security air gapped network, but not squirting out secrets without being compromised first. It seems almost quaint to worry about this when so much software has web spyware baked into it -- but maybe we need a virtual spyware led that lights up every time something talks to Facebook/Google/etc tracking. The light would be blinking non-stop for many people.
- iNate2000 7y agoIt would just never go out.
- behnamoh 7y agoOr maybe an icon in the status bar indicating the camera being in use.
- dnh44 7y agoYou can get that functionality with Microsnitch. It works for the microphone too.
- hultner 7y agoHaving it in the status bar would defeat the purpose as ill behaving actors could possibly circumvent this, having it in the hardware as a led would make this if not impossible most likely infeasible. I’ve only heard one instance where someone were able to go around the led and if I recall correctly that was on the old PowerBook and required physical access to flash the firmware on the camera hardware module with custom malicious firmware.
- sixothree 7y agoI never understood how an expensive device like a camera was added to literally every laptop in existence without any option to remove (save for a few). I can only think manufacturers were pressured.
- naravara 7y agoSupply chain/production complexity. It's more expensive for them to make the option customizable than it is to ship it for everyone. If there was an appreciable market for consumer-level camera-less machines the math to justify it might look different but there isn't. The vast VAST majority of the demand for hardware without cameras comes from the NatSec type people, and they're all doing bulk orders so they get more leverage to have niche production runs done for them. And even then they don't always get devices without the cameras. They end up having to do awkward things like physically disabling the hardware after the fact or locking out the functionality with custom firmware.
- Shorel 7y agoBecause before laptops included cameras we used to buy Logitech USB cameras to attach to our laptops. I still have mine, and sadly it only produces 640x480 images, and everything looks too dark compared to the camera that is now included in the laptop.