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I'll tell you what else seems to always be listening - the camera on the MacBook Pro, even when the little green light is off. Cover the camera with your finge

by user24 15y ago

I'll tell you what else seems to always be listening - the camera on the MacBook Pro, even when the little green light is off. Cover the camera with your finger or shine a flashlight/mobile phone screen into it, watch the keyboard lights react. It's obviously listening for light level changes. I just wonder how much data you could collect from the sensor without the green light turning on? edit: I'm wrong, see my reply to jcromartie

jcromartie 15y ago
If you look closely, there's actually another dot next to the camera. That's the ambient light sensor.
- user24 15y ago
  You're right. I thought that was the LED but it's not. Well now, what am I going to do with this tin foil hat I just made?
jsilence 15y ago
Not sure about this one. Fiddling a little bit, I'd rather say that there is a light sensor left of the camera. Blanking only the camera does nothing, blanking the spot just left of it triggers the backlight dimming.
- Argorak 15y ago
  To be precise: in old macbook pro versions, the sensor was in the speakers. The unibody macbook moved it next to the camera: http://osxdaily.com/2010/05/22/where-is-the-ambient-light-sensor-on-a-macbook-pro/ http://osxdaily.com/2010/05/22/where-is-the-ambient-light-se...
  - meepmorp 15y ago
    Yeah, this used to cause trouble for me at work. The way my office was lit, moving my hands too far over the (right?) speaker would suddenly change the kb lights and screen brightness. Turned the auto brightness after a couple hours and never re-enabled it.
wladimir 15y ago
Right -- I'm not sure about the MacBook, but in many cases the webcam led is software-directed, not hardware-directed. So a small change to the driver (or firmware) can make it record without enabling the led.
- ugh 15y ago
  In Macs it’s directly wired to the camera. If the camera receives power the LED also receives power.
  - wladimir 15y ago
    That's interesting. Seems they thought about it and chose the most secure way, then.

by user24 15y ago

jcromartie 15y ago

If you look closely, there's actually another dot next to the camera. That's the ambient light sensor.

user24 15y ago
You're right. I thought that was the LED but it's not. Well now, what am I going to do with this tin foil hat I just made?

jsilence 15y ago

Not sure about this one. Fiddling a little bit, I'd rather say that there is a light sensor left of the camera. Blanking only the camera does nothing, blanking the spot just left of it triggers the backlight dimming.

Argorak 15y ago
To be precise: in old macbook pro versions, the sensor was in the speakers. The unibody macbook moved it next to the camera: http://osxdaily.com/2010/05/22/where-is-the-ambient-light-sensor-on-a-macbook-pro/ http://osxdaily.com/2010/05/22/where-is-the-ambient-light-se...
- meepmorp 15y ago
  Yeah, this used to cause trouble for me at work. The way my office was lit, moving my hands too far over the (right?) speaker would suddenly change the kb lights and screen brightness. Turned the auto brightness after a couple hours and never re-enabled it.

wladimir 15y ago

Right -- I'm not sure about the MacBook, but in many cases the webcam led is software-directed, not hardware-directed. So a small change to the driver (or firmware) can make it record without enabling the led.

ugh 15y ago
In Macs it’s directly wired to the camera. If the camera receives power the LED also receives power.
- wladimir 15y ago
  That's interesting. Seems they thought about it and chose the most secure way, then.