Quote from: Astar on July 19, 2019, 13:01:20

Quote from: S.Yu on July 18, 2019, 19:02:19
I very rarely use my webcam so I cover it with matte tape, it's unobtrusive unlike most solutions but already blurs out the entire view similar to severe cataract, nobody could make out anything (except lighting conditions) if they hack my webcam.
A bright green light that I believe can't be deactivated lights up when the webcam is active but I'm not certain if it could be somehow deactivated or not.

Just use something opaque for heaven's sakes! Why do it neither here not there?! Why let the hacker see/confirm whether it is night/day or indoors/outdoors?

The sliding cover stick ons look way more professional & sophisticated too!

Well I haven't noticed the sliding covers before so I can't comment on that but as I said, the semitransparent tape is less obtrusive than most solutions, and I don't really care if they get my lighting conditions because the mic if hacked will leak magnitudes more privacy anyway.

Quote from: S.Yu on July 18, 2019, 19:02:19
I very rarely use my webcam so I cover it with matte tape, it's unobtrusive unlike most solutions but already blurs out the entire view similar to severe cataract, nobody could make out anything (except lighting conditions) if they hack my webcam.
A bright green light that I believe can't be deactivated lights up when the webcam is active but I'm not certain if it could be somehow deactivated or not.

Just use something opaque for heaven's sakes! Why do it neither here not there?! Why let the hacker see/confirm whether it is night/day or indoors/outdoors?

The sliding cover stick ons look way more professional & sophisticated too!

I very rarely use my webcam so I cover it with matte tape, it's unobtrusive unlike most solutions but already blurs out the entire view similar to severe cataract, nobody could make out anything (except lighting conditions) if they hack my webcam.
A bright green light that I believe can't be deactivated lights up when the webcam is active but I'm not certain if it could be somehow deactivated or not.

For heaven's sakes, this is a 10 year old story. It started with some uni  hacker's dorm somewhere if I remember correctly. Some kids spread malware to hijack their uni mates' laptop cams. Eventually naked photos of uni students changing in their uni dorms (where the laptop cam can capture everything in the tiny dorm room) were used for ransom and/or circulated for cyber bullying.

Skype had that vulnerability too where the hackers can even hijack/inject
messages into target's conversation thread while viewing, live, their reactions. That of course freaked people out.

I've covered my laptop cam since ... its been at least 10 years I think. Initially it is with white paper held by tape (so that the sticky adhesive does not smudge the lens over time or on removal). However, nowadays if you attend cybersecurity seminars/conferences/exhibitions like I do, the best freebies are the plastic slide cover stickers which stick over the laptop cam. You can slide the plastic cover left or right to cover/uncover it. I'm sure they sell it too. But I always grab a few for free.

Buying a laptop without a webcam is not the solution - you do need it for official tele-conference calls at work.

Covering up the webcam/selfie cam should be standard practice. Those still not doing it are stupid and hopelessly outdated. All FBI/CIA/DEA/NSA agents do it as a matter of standard practice because they know and they've seen criminals/foes use it first hand and they themselves continue to use such malware to spy on their targets!

All the stupid people who complain that pop-up selfie cams on mobile phones are fads or are moving parts that will spoil etc. etc. simply don't understand how important a development it is as well, security wise.

I mor wory about microphones, internet, money cards, what people think. Its a thing who i cant contril, camera is easy to cover. I do it also for mobile phone.

It seems like a lot of people do so, at uni. At work, we order laptops without webcams. HP still sells them that way. I'm certain Dell probably offers them without webcams, and I know Lenovo caters to larger orders.

Similarly, I've never held a web conference using my laptop webcam. In early days (and now), we used proper conference room camera/phone setups. On the go, my phone has a significantly better camera, and is more convenient if I need to show something (especially if it's something that isn't lit up or easy to see).

I just don't get the obsession with putting cameras on laptops. This isn't even a "dO yOu GuiZE haB FOnZ?" moment, it's that even the worst selfie cams are generally a good step above an integrated webcam, and significantly more flexible in usage.

Yeap, I do. Not only the laptop, smartphone too. People can joke all they want, but I don't care. I also never do a video about something that I don't want other people seeing. Better safe than sorry.

Let me put it this way. I once wrote some scripts in Bash myself, that were very primitive, but advanced enough to be remotely uploaded to my work roommate's computer, set them up in CRON when he wasn't looking, and then BAM, every 5 minutes his webcam took a photo and downlinked that to me.
After 25 minutes, I showed him the thing, with the 5 downloaded shots. I didn't have the nerve to let this on his machine for longer, god knows what I would see then.
Being presented with this, he scotchtaped his camera forever.  As said, my script was primitive, but I do know it can be made better by prevening camera's LED from blinking...