“Some of the more privacy conscious Mac users out there might put tape over their webcam or use apps like Oversight to detect camera activity,” OSXDaily writes. “While either of those approaches can be satisfactory for many users (or considered totally paranoid and overboard to others), many advanced Mac users in the security community go a step further and just outright disable their Macs front-facing web camera. This article will show you how to completely deactivate the front FaceTime camera on a Mac.”
“To be clear, this aims to completely disable the software components behind the built-in camera on Macs which prevents it from being used by any application, this webcam is sometimes called the FaceTime camera or the iSight camera, or simply the front-facing camera,” OSXDaily writes. “All modern Macs have this camera, it is located at the top of the display and embedded into the screen bezel. By disabling the Macs camera, any application that requires it’s usage will no longer function as intended because camera access will become impossible.”
OSXDaily writes, “This is an advanced tutorial aimed at advanced users, it is not intended for novice or casual Mac users.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: For the camera, nothing is as foolproof and unhackable as physically covering it.
We’ve been taping our Mac cameras for several years. Call us paranoid, but first see the related articles below. That’s why we use camJAMR iSight camera covers on our iMacs and MacBook Airs. They’re black, so they work perfectly with our iMacs and they’re removable/reusable. We’ve stuck and unstuck them hundreds of times. We just leave them on and peel them aside when we want to use the iSight camera.
SEE ALSO:
How to keep your Mac’s camera from spying on you, no tape required – December 8, 2016
Mark Zuckerberg covers his MacBook’s camera and microphone with tape – June 22, 2016
How to disable the iSight camera on your Mac – February 19, 2015
Orwellian: UK government, with aid from US NSA, intercepted webcam images from millions of users – February 27, 2014
Sextortion warning: It’s masking tape time for webcams – June 28, 2013
Research shows how Mac webcams can spy on their users without warning light – December 18, 2013
Ex-official: FBI can secretly activate an individual’s webcam without indicator light – December 9, 2013
Lower Merion report: MacBook webcams snapped 56,000 clandestine images of high schoolers – April 20, 2010