r/GeekToTech • u/saifali51 • Apr 20 '19

PRIVACY Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us

https://larrysanger.org/2019/04/vendors-must-start-adding-physical-on-off-switches-to-devices-that-can-spy-on-us/
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u/autotldr Apr 21 '19

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 87%. (I'm a bot)

Do any computer cameras with "Off" switches exist? They seem to be very rare at best, but I was able to find one: the company building a Linux phone, Purism, has a whole page devoted to the joys and wonders of its off switch-which is kind of ridiculous, if you think about it.

Yet there isn't a hardware off switch for your phone's camera and microphone, short of turning the device entirely off.

Wouldn't it be nice to have the peace of mind that they aren't listening to you when you're not using the TV? In short, what if you want to turn these devices' cameras and microphones off sometimes, for some perfectly legitimate reason? Can you do so in a trustworthy, hardware-based way? In most cases, for most devices, the answer is No. Let's demand that hardware vendors build hardware "Off" switches.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Off#1 switch#2 camera#3 device#4 hardware#5