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Also, I recall that the green light on the apple camera is controlled by the camera's firmware, making it more difficult to turn on without the light come on. (
by dunham 3y ago
Also, I recall that the green light on the apple camera is controlled by the camera's firmware, making it more difficult to turn on without the light come on. (You'd need to overwrite the camera firmware.)
- internetter 3y agoWhy does this even need to be controlled with firmware? Can't it be a simple circuit? (I know nothing about this)
- MartijnBraam 3y agoIt could be simple, just hook the led to the reset line of the camera and you'll know if the camera is in use. Downside is that the led will blink on boot when linux probes the driver.
- internetter 3y ago> Downside is that the led will blink on boot when linux probes the driver. Sounds like an upside to me.
- dunham 3y agoI should have included the caveat that my comment was from memory. I just did some brief research, and it seems that it was the case prior to some point in time between 2008 and 2019, but it is now hard-wired. It is discussed near the end of https://daringfireball.net/2019/02/on_covering_webcams https://daringfireball.net/2019/02/on_covering_webcams The engineer quoted in the article pointed out that it may be possible (at least in 2019) to briefly turn the camera on - flashing the led too quickly for someone to see. I didn't find a discussion of this issue in the May 2022 Apple Platform Security guide.