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I would welcome a government mandated hard switch for the camera and microphones on every device that is made for the masses. Some costs will increase, but then

I would welcome a government mandated hard switch for the camera and microphones on every device that is made for the masses. Some costs will increase, but then again, it doesn't have to be that much more expensive. It'd be difficult to write the proper laws though.

taneq 6y ago
iPhones have their physical, 2-position switch for silent mode so it's not like the parts aren't right there. The main cost would probably be increased tech support burden from people accidentally turning the switch off.
- rightbyte 6y ago
  You can ckeck for a connection to the microphone or have the switch also connected to IO to put a mute symbol somewhere. My laptop has a small plastic sheet to pull over the camera and I really like that solution for cameras. For microphones there need to by a breaker switch.
  - rorykoehler 6y ago
    I bet it’s possible to listen to your conversations via the camera when closed. The vibrations will cause minor disturbance of the black picture which can be converted to audio.
    - monsieurbanana 6y ago
      "Sir, all we have is a black picture, the camera was blocked by a piece of plastic" "Wait a minute, go back a bit. Just there, enhance! Now convert to audio waves" Another crime solved by NCIS.
      - rorykoehler 6y ago
        This has been in the wild for 6 years now https://fstoppers.com/video/scientists-can-recover-audio-silent-video-rolling-shutter-29546 https://fstoppers.com/video/scientists-can-recover-audio-sil...
        rightbyte 6y ago
        Thank you. You ruined my day. Luckily it seems to require a fast shooting camera? Technical spying is quite interesting. Like how you can see the picture of a remote display by radio disturbances. Reality is like living in a crackpots nightmare.
        mleonhard 6y ago
        They can use the rolling shutter in consumer cameras. The video has example audio recovered from a 60fps video taken by a consumer DSLR.
  - fsflover 6y ago
    > For microphones there need to by a breaker switch. This laptop has a microphone kill switch: https://puri.sm/products/librem-15/ https://puri.sm/products/librem-15/.
- 2rsf 6y ago
  are you sure the iPhone's switch is physically disconnecting the microphone ? I am not. It is probably causing the software to mute the microphone, which means that an attacker can change this behavior without you noticing.
fsflover 6y ago
Not government mandated, but with three kill switches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5.

taneq 6y ago

iPhones have their physical, 2-position switch for silent mode so it's not like the parts aren't right there. The main cost would probably be increased tech support burden from people accidentally turning the switch off.

rightbyte 6y ago
You can ckeck for a connection to the microphone or have the switch also connected to IO to put a mute symbol somewhere. My laptop has a small plastic sheet to pull over the camera and I really like that solution for cameras. For microphones there need to by a breaker switch.
- rorykoehler 6y ago
  I bet it’s possible to listen to your conversations via the camera when closed. The vibrations will cause minor disturbance of the black picture which can be converted to audio.
  - monsieurbanana 6y ago
    "Sir, all we have is a black picture, the camera was blocked by a piece of plastic" "Wait a minute, go back a bit. Just there, enhance! Now convert to audio waves" Another crime solved by NCIS.
    - rorykoehler 6y ago
      This has been in the wild for 6 years now https://fstoppers.com/video/scientists-can-recover-audio-silent-video-rolling-shutter-29546 https://fstoppers.com/video/scientists-can-recover-audio-sil...
      - rightbyte 6y ago
        Thank you. You ruined my day. Luckily it seems to require a fast shooting camera? Technical spying is quite interesting. Like how you can see the picture of a remote display by radio disturbances. Reality is like living in a crackpots nightmare.
        mleonhard 6y ago
        They can use the rolling shutter in consumer cameras. The video has example audio recovered from a 60fps video taken by a consumer DSLR.
- fsflover 6y ago
  > For microphones there need to by a breaker switch. This laptop has a microphone kill switch: https://puri.sm/products/librem-15/ https://puri.sm/products/librem-15/.
2rsf 6y ago
are you sure the iPhone's switch is physically disconnecting the microphone ? I am not. It is probably causing the software to mute the microphone, which means that an attacker can change this behavior without you noticing.

fsflover 6y ago

Not government mandated, but with three kill switches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5.