I too, enjoy the idea of personal security. That the information on your personal devices that you wish to remain private, stays private. A trend that I’ve seen becoming more and more popular is to tape over your laptop camera, ideally to stop hackers, or even the government from spying on you. I’m afraid this is far from an appropriate solution.
Personally speaking, I find that those who most diligently practice this trend, lack the accompanying security measures in order to warrant taping over the camera on their laptop. Most laptops these days come bundled with a hardware light on their cameras. This is a little red or green light that turns on with the camera. The reason it’s called a hardware light is because you cannot power the camera without powering the light, effectively notifying you whenever the camera is used. When you tape over this, you have no idea whether the light is on or off, and subsequently can never know if someone is attempting to spy on you this way (even if they are being blocked). Sounds counter-intuitive, right?
I also find it of note, that it is not a trend to tape over your smartphone camera. A device that is arguably pointed at you for far longer than your laptop over the course of a day; a device that stays on your person and can listen to all your conversations…
What’s with the focus on your camera anyways? Your device contains some much more profitable information than your face. I mean, if I were a hacker and got a hold of your computer, I would be looking for your bank details, not your face. Even information you “willingly” share like location data is of far more use than to be able to see your face.
Like any business, legitimate or not, the baseline profitability is a huge driving factor. Considering the efforts required and risks associated with compromising a camera, its just not worth it. Mark Zuckerberg is a source many people (at least used to) cite as a reason to join in on the trend. If the creator of Facebook thinks it’s necessary, surely it must be for me, too?
No. Chances are, you’re not a Big Tech CEO or owner. Your conversations, and getting the inside scoop on your projects and life is just not profitable.
The purpose of this article is not to highlight “people who do X are wrong”, but to encourage deliberate thought when securing your devices. Not sure about whether something is secure? The internet is your friend, and will give you the answers without much searching.
Cavan McLellan 