do you put a piece of tape or something on yr webcam

No, the first I heard of people doing this was on an episode of Shark Tank where a guy was pitching a plastic thing that would cover up your webcam on your laptop (none of the sharks bit, obv).

This is a thing? What's the overlap with the aluminum foil hat crowd?

i mean, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that essentially anyone can activate a computer camera without the computer's user knowing. the question imo is... do you care

I know people who do this. I take the kramer's apartment peephole stance on this issue.

nice shirt, sleepingbag

my laptop sits in the office and i literally shut it down when i'm not using it, so the most exciting/threatening thing they'll see it my dishevled hair and face, so i guess if someone wants to see that, go for it?

i just put my yoda mask on whenever i'm torrenting/using slsk/downloading pony lolita

i thought the fedora/guy fawkes mask combo was the hot look for pony dling

lemme puzzle this out
security hole in flash player -> exploit that turns on camera but leaves the light off -> ...
oh dang that talking advertisement on the porno tubes really can see me?!?

i feel like a lot of people i know are doing this

my laptop is never open. problem solved!

I've noticed lots of people doing this. I guess it's sensible. Personally, I don't care.

essentially anyone can activate a computer camera without the computer's user knowing. the question imo is... do you care

seems like a potential goldmine for stalkers and a great convenience for certain kinds of policing activities. there's probably a data mining opportunity of some sort, too, for the lucky entrepreneur who figures out the angle.

memory lane

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/19/schools-spied-on-students-webcams

I just wear a ski mask when using my laptop

nah

hey you...nice underwear

I know, right?

I just cover my junk with electrical tape

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/rat-breeders-meet-the-men-who-spy-on-women-through-their-webcams/

^ that goes well past just snooping through a laptop's webcam

"fun manager"

is a great name you must admit

my camera shows a little orange light when its on, so I'd know anyway. That being said, anyone who wishes to try and activate it and watch me working they are welcome.

^^ the whole point is that people have hacked around that and made spyware that activates the camera but not the light

had a brief period of sitting my laptop in the kitchen and having chatroulette running in the background while I was cooking, which was v popular w/ some ppl, but otherwise I'm p happy not to have the eye on me

xp i don't think that's true mh, the light is the main issue for those guys, hence all the weird workarounds like messages telling you yr webcam software is updating &c.

just be aware when you're working i suppose

http://blog.erratasec.com/2013/12/how-to-disable-webcam-light-on-windows.html#.Uwy37_l_ufc

xp seems like it would be very specific to the make/model and even firmware version of the webcam

most definitely

check your firmware before you whack your firmware

advances in pervert mechanics. not sure what % of webcams even have a light

when the LED is lit, cover up your bits

When I see tape over the camera I assume the person spends a lot of time masturbating naked in from of their laptop. Who the fuck wants to hack into your computer to watch you work or surf the web? Nobody. Just because it's possible doesn't mean anyone is doing it.

When I see tape over the camera I assume the person spends a lot of time masturbating naked in from of their laptop.

hey, you can masturbate wherever _you_ want, don't go judging

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

First I ever heard of people being able to log in to someone's camera remotely was this tragic story which still kinda haunts me
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Tyler_Clementi

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/18/research-shows-how-macbook-webcams-can-spy-on-their-users-without-warning/

the number of things with firmware in them is kind of crazy these days. did you know most usb memory sticks have a pretty sophisticated one? instead of using only the memory chips that test 100% clean, companies tend to use a larger memory chip and just have a microcontroller that disables bad blocks in firmware. the controller cost difference versus the amount of memory they're able to reclaim makes up for it.

The USB stick thing is because solid-state flash memory has a relatively limited number of erase/write cycles that could easily be reached in two years or so, so the actual amount of memory is about 30% larger than reported and the firmware moves the actually-used memory around so no location gets used too often, thus extending the life of the USB drive. Or something like that.

I special-ordered my laptop and intentionally didn't include a webcam. I have a phone if I need to webchat. It would be utter tedium for anyone spying on me through my laptop-cam though - either me staring at a screen for too long, or an empty, overly-messy room in the background if i'm not there.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo

The document estimates that between 3% and 11% of the Yahoo webcam imagery harvested by GCHQ contains "undesirable nudity". 

the other 89% is desirable nudity

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Usual computer is a desktop. No webcam to block.

i didn't know anyone still did this, guess it means u r 'paranoid as fuck' now

http://gizmodo.com/wow-mark-zuckerberg-is-paranoid-as-fuck-1782370124

Gawker apparently has an axe to grind with Zuckerberg now because he voted to keep Peter Thiel on the fb board of directors or something like that.

tbh there's a whole lot going on with news/facebook trending topics/journalistic ideals, or so I gather from what I've seen from my webcam recordings

i disabled mine in device manager, idk if that takes care of it but seems like it should in 99.9% of cases. i was worried more about some chat webapp or other using it by default in a business call or something than ~hackers~

>i didn't know anyone still did this,

are you kidding? Apple makes their own proprietary sticker for each model iPhone which wraps around the top to cover both cameras, they are distributed like candy in the weeks before a big release to anyone with access, and most people around SF conspicuously leave them on their phones in a humblebrag

that headline author knows better

https://www.amazon.com/Family-Pack-3-1-0-Black/dp/B00HPC66U4/ref=pd_sim_147_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41YY2gT8v%2BL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR320%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=015H0WJWVJSF2EGP1ZW5

i don't have an iphone or live in san francisco... what is the humblebrag part, like 'oh yeh, ppl always trying to hack me'

just indicating their access to the locked down buildings to the other Apple employees mainly. the stickers are very recognizable. apologies for my tone, didn't mean to be rude to you, was more frustrated at the gizmodo headline

I hardly think its paranoid that the CEO of one of the worlds biggest companies, who when using his PC would be sometimes discussing company-sensitive things, would take steps to prevent that getting elsewhere?

i run a help desk at a college. a bunch of people that bring their laptops in have tape over their webcams but they are not billionaire w/reasons to be paranoid just dumb college kids that aren't as good w/ technology as most people over 40 think they are.

You don't have to be a billionaire to have reasons to be paranoid tbh

one time I got a new work laptop and didn't know it real well yet and attended my first video conference meeting and my webcam kinda just turned itself on by default and my shirtless torso appeared on screen (cos i work from home) for two seconds. so I jumped under my desk

I feel like if someone wants to secretly videotape me naked or something it's really their issue not mine.

How does he participate in webinars?

Take steps like not talking in open areas, being careful with passwords, and having a security officer audit things because I am a bazillionaire and the fucking ceo

Dude is worth a bazillion dollars and his solution to webcam security is tape.

There are companies that will custom dye your off the shelf laptop for you, although it is very pricy. Surely, if you are a tech executive and need well-vetted tools of your trade, there is an expert who doesn't require fucking translucent tape over the webcam to secure it

Why would people stop doing this? It's only going to increase in years to come.

Maybe he did it on purpose so peeps wld keep talking about him.

do you cover the mic on your phone when not using it

oh you def don't need to be a billionaire to be paranoid it's just average person should prob be more worried about actually protecting the sensitive information they store on their computers not worrying about someone using their webcam to watch them read recipes online or whatev.