
Did That Rent-To-Own Computer Spy on You? - vectorbunny
http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/did-that-rent-to-own-computer-spy-on-you?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IeeeSpectrumFullText+%28IEEE+Spectrum+Full+Text%29
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adambratt
I'm not super well versed in the inner workings of laptop webcams but how is
it possible to disable the "webcam on" LED from software?

Shouldn't the LED's be controlled on the hardware side to make it impossible
to turn on the webcam without having an LED show up?

Having software control the LED is only making it easier for people to keep
using laptops as remote spying devices. Granted some industrious peeping tom
could always take the laptop apart and disable the LED from the hardware side,
but that takes a lot more work than just downloading some software that will
do it for you.

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stephengillie
I'm not aware of a "webcam on" LED on most laptop webcams - as far as I know,
a webcam is just a sensor that picks up light. Some smartphones have an LED
for flash next to the webcam, but most don't. I've owned webcams that had no
LEDs on them whatsoever, notably Logitech webcams from 2002.

Did the article say something about an LED being disabled? If so, I missed it.
I think the issue is that anti-theft software was intentionally activated,
which turned the webcam on and streamed it to another location, where store
employees indulged their voyeurism.

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mikeash
MacBooks all have a green LED next to the webcam which comes on when it's
activated so you can tell if it's trying to spy on you. Lots of other laptops
do as well, although I'm not sure how common it is outside the Mac world.

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lurkinggrue
And that was disable via software in a recent scandal with schools spying on
kids:

[http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9158818/Pennsylvania_...](http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9158818/Pennsylvania_schools_spying_on_students_using_laptop_webcams_claims_lawsuit)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School_District)

On the laptops the LED was hardwired to camera power but the software go
around it by momentary activating the camera and taking pictures.

You would only get a rather slight flicker occasionally.

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mattstreet
Everyone worries about their webcams but most laptops have built in mics and
most of them don't have an LED for that at all...

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dx4100
I guess the difference between them and Facebook is that you consent to
Facebook spying on you...

