3 ms·

> 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 tha

by livre 6y ago

> 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 when it has already been breached.

mannykannot 6y ago
...and it only tells you that if you are looking at it at the time.
- iso947 6y ago
  Indeed. Think of the “American Pie” situation. Laptop open playing Spotify to get you in the mood, then bop, on goes the camera thanks to a bug in zoom. Are you going to notice?
DanBC 6y ago
The problem with a physical cover is that if the bad guys can install software on your computer that can access the camera without setting off the LED they can also install just about anything they want. At that point nothing on the computer can be trusted.
- jdbernard 6y ago
  How is thisa problem with the hardware cover? It's a problem with the security model in general.
valuearb 6y ago
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.
- abstrakraft 6y ago
  And what sort of hardware switch is it that guarantees the 3 second minimum?
  - captn3m0 6y ago
    A capacitor?
    - abstrakraft 6y ago
      A capacitor would also mean that you could quickly switch the camera on and off without triggering the light.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- soonoutoftime 6y ago
  > 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.
  - valuearb 6y ago
    They can take a photo of you, not the web site.

by livre 6y ago

mannykannot 6y ago

...and it only tells you that if you are looking at it at the time.

iso947 6y ago
Indeed. Think of the “American Pie” situation. Laptop open playing Spotify to get you in the mood, then bop, on goes the camera thanks to a bug in zoom. Are you going to notice?

DanBC 6y ago

The problem with a physical cover is that if the bad guys can install software on your computer that can access the camera without setting off the LED they can also install just about anything they want. At that point nothing on the computer can be trusted.

jdbernard 6y ago
How is thisa problem with the hardware cover? It's a problem with the security model in general.

valuearb 6y ago

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.

abstrakraft 6y ago
And what sort of hardware switch is it that guarantees the 3 second minimum?
- captn3m0 6y ago
  A capacitor?
  - abstrakraft 6y ago
    A capacitor would also mean that you could quickly switch the camera on and off without triggering the light.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
soonoutoftime 6y ago
> 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.
- valuearb 6y ago
  They can take a photo of you, not the web site.