Even Mark Zuckerberg puts tape over his webcam

I believe the simplest solution on Apple&#x27;s side is to add a physical indicator of when the camera is on or off. It must not be software controlled, not even on system&#x2F;FPGA level. Best if attached on power on&#x2F;off. With a hysteresis so that even quick on&#x2F;off will be noticed.<p>Edit to add: Here&#x27;s what may happen if the indicator is software controlled: &quot;iSeeYou: Disabling the MacBook Webcam Indicator LED&quot; <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jscholarship.library.jhu.edu&#x2F;bitstream&#x2F;handle&#x2F;1774.2&#x2F;36569&#x2F;camera.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jscholarship.library.jhu.edu&#x2F;bitstream&#x2F;handle&#x2F;1774.2...</a>

The main problem I see with this is that Mr. &quot;The age of privacy is over&quot; doesn&#x27;t eat his own dogfood. But that&#x27;s probably because his users are &quot;Dumb fucks&quot; (to quote him again).

Who says that it is his laptop?<p>The &quot;article&quot; does not really add anything for the HN audience. So to save you a click, here is the image: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pbs.twimg.com&#x2F;media&#x2F;ClfR1BDUsAEMBm2.jpg:orig" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pbs.twimg.com&#x2F;media&#x2F;ClfR1BDUsAEMBm2.jpg:orig</a>

Wow - this is being flagged fast. Was near the top, now 2 minutes later, is down to 54 and dropping fast - wonder who is flagging this article?

<i>&quot;No, government spies probably don&#x27;t care what you&#x27;re saying or doing in front of your computer.&quot;</i><p>This logic really annoys me. The implication is that it&#x27;s not so bad that the govt. can violate privacy since most people have nothing to hide.<p>It&#x27;s like saying censorship is not so bad since most people have nothing to say.

I&#x27;m guessing Zuckerberg can afford to spring for something more elegant: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;eyebloc.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;eyebloc.com&#x2F;</a>

As Eric Schmidt has put it: &quot;If you have something that you don&#x27;t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn&#x27;t be doing it in the first place.&quot;<p>So if you don&#x27;t want people to know you put a tape over your webcam, maybe you shouldn&#x27;t do it. ;-)

I realized that while my iPhone 4s used to fit into my shirt pocket (which was one of Steve Jobs&#x27; original design specifications), the 5s I now have is so large that the camera peaks out from my pocket. Plus there&#x27;s a camera on either side, so if somebody did hack into it, they could at least see something other than the inside of my pocket.<p>Simple solution: I now put the phone in my picket upside down.

It&#x27;s important to point out that Mark Zuckerberg has a much stronger interest in protecting his privacy than the average person. There is a legitimate expectation that an individual, entity or the government would try to hack his webcam or microphone.<p>This shouldn&#x27;t justify the practice for average Internet users like you and me, though there&#x27;s no harm in doing it if it makes you feel safe.

I have found Micro Snitch to be very useful:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;obdev.at&#x2F;products&#x2F;microsnitch&#x2F;index.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;obdev.at&#x2F;products&#x2F;microsnitch&#x2F;index.html</a><p>&quot;This ultra-light menu bar application operates inconspicuously in the background. It monitors and reports any microphone and camera activity to help you figure out if someone’s spying on you.&quot;

We need simple hardware switches for camera and microphone!

I did this for a long time but stopped because I thought it looked too tin-foil-hat-like. After seeing Zuck do it, I think I&#x27;m going back.<p>But why the audio <i>jack</i>. I don&#x27;t own a Mac. Do I understand correctly that he taped over a 3.5mm analog audio jack?

This is totally normal and nothing new (like years). Companies of a certain breed who have product meetings for secret products routinely do this to the cameras and mics of the computers and phones of meeting attendees.<p>Blocking recording helps block leaks.

I would feel a lot more comfortable with a cover for the webcam on my 2015 MBP, but the anti-reflective coating on the display is so famously, ludicrously sensitive and prone to delamination that I&#x27;m really reluctant to affix anything to the webcam&#x2F;display. (This is less of a concern if you are Mark Zuckerberg.)<p>Any recommendations of a nice, soft-touch (perhaps silicone?) cover that can be left on while the machine is closed and won&#x27;t damage the webcam lens or display surface?

So... is it possible to turn on a webcam without the light? (referring to macs)<p>I used to tape it, but stopped out of fear of looking stupid.

My Logitech webcam has a built-in sliding mechanism to cover and uncover the camera lens. I doubt I would ever buy a webcam that does not have this. There should really be a blocking mechanism for laptop cameras as well.

Painting the lens black would keep your laptop stylish.

&gt; but there&#x27;s also tape covering the Apple laptop&#x27;s dual microphones<p>OK, how would that disable the microphone? Or is he just using a dummy plug?

Especially.

corporate IT security policy?