1251
I am the outwitter! (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Couldn’t find anything with less pixels, please save to disk and remove resolution yourself ❤️

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago

Get a laptip with a real hardware switch for the cam and the mic. Best peace of mind knowing that they're really off. Neither tape, nor the non-electrical built-in plastic sliders do that.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

You still have to trust the manufacturer that it really turns the webcam off, not just the webcam light.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Unless you have a framework, and can remove the bezel and confirm that they work!

I'm really happy with my new framework's switches, I actually trust them for once! I went to find a thing on how they work to post here:

"(They) saw the mention of the switches and that they are optical somewhere, but can’t remember to quote the source.

As far as I can tell each switch is a U channel with a light emitter on one side, and a detector on the other. The part you move on the bezel just breaks the light beam. This creates a electronic on/off hardware switch.

Using an actual physical switch would tend to be a source of an intermittent connection over time. Hence the use of optical technology. Same thought process for the screen open switch being a Hall Effect sensor, which can work through a cover."

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Open-source hardware to the rescue! So you CAN verify it.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago
[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago
[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I mean, someone will do for every model. That would be enough to ensure security. If manufacturer faked it, and one in a thousand customers found it, then it will be a news or a lawsuit

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Hardware switches physically cut power to the device in question and you can take it apart and verify. There is no trust involved.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

99.999% will not take it apart and verify. They will just "nice, a physical switch". There is a lot of trust involved.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

They don't neccessarily need to, you can pretty much always just look at reviews. Now you can make a point about trusting reviewers, but all that is still better than trusting the manufacturer or microsoft.

You're right though, there is trust involved, but only if you don't verify things yourself.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I have never seen a review opening a laptop to check if the hardware switch is really that. Please, link to a reviewsite that does that

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Sure beats literally no protection which is what most laptops have. I have a switch and sometimes forget it's off and my webcam/mic definitely don't work, on any OS.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

I'd like a proper hardware light. Something physical such that the camera cannot send the image back to the board without the light being on. And yes, a physical cutout switch would definitely be nice.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Either buy a sticker cover with a slider or get lenovo laptops that have that builtin; even though the slider is confusionary since when it's closed it's a red dot. Im sure that there must be other brands that integrate it as well

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

The problem with those is that it's often just a piece of plastic, so the microphone isn't cut off from power. The webcam sees noching, but sound is unaffected.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

Hackers won't have much to blackmail me, I fap completely silently.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

It's more about privacy. Windows might access your mic to get more data on you for advertising, wouldn't be anything new.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I am joking of course. I am a privacy freak myself:

  1. All my computers run Linux
  2. I self-host all what I can and encrypt as much as I can by myself too
  3. On desktop, Mic and Cam are connected to a USB hub with individual switches such that they are powered ON only when I need them
  4. Laptop is a Framework 13 with HW switches for both Cam and Mic

There is something about the webcam switch on the Lenovo from work, that I like better than the Framework: The switch also physically blocks the camera. It makes me feel more safe and it's actually much more intuitive to understand when it is disable. On Framework, the switch shows either red or black, but I never know what is enable and disable. Is it red for "Careful, it's active !" or red for "Disable" ? (It's Red=Disable, Black=Active).

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

That’s how my Dell work machine is. The switch slides some red plastic over the lens.

this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2024
1251 points (98.8% liked)

linuxmemes

19849 readers
748 users here now

I use Arch btw


Sister communities:

Community rules

  1. Follow the site-wide rules and code of conduct
  2. Be civil
  3. Post Linux-related content
  4. No recent reposts

Please report posts and comments that break these rules!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS