Privacy

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Is it unnecessary to cover one's webcam on Linux? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 8 months ago by Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

54 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Cross-posted to: https://sh.itjust.works/post/15859195

From other conversations that I've read through, people usually say "Yes, because it's easy on Windows", or "Yes, because they simply don't trust the webcam". But neither of these arguments are enough for me. The former I feel is irrelevent when one is talking about Linux, and the latter is just doing something for the sake of doing it which is not exactly a rational argument.

Specifically for Linux (although, I suppose this partially also depends on the distro, and, of course, vulnerabilites in whatever software that you might be using), how vulnerable is the device to having its webcam exploited? If you trust the software that you have running on your computer, and you utilize firewalls (application layer, network layer, etc.), you should be resistant to such types of exploits, no? A parallel question would also be: How vulnerable is a Linux device if you don't take extra precautions like firewalls.

If this is the case, what makes Windows so much more vulnerable?

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[–] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Especially if you own a smartphone. You're carrying 4x+ cameras and a wiretap with you at all times.

I thought about this one day when I was in the bathroom and used autorotate with face detection. I practically had the camera facing towards my crotch while it was on.

[–] electricprism@lemmy.ml 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

There's this youtuber that goes around and films people in public, its funny because people get mad but most people in cities are already being filmed hundreds of times a day.

The message is the same, if you are worried about X vector you should really think about YZ first for it to make sense.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Face ID is one of the sillyness things in my option

[–] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago

Yeah, when my new iPad broke and I had to go back to my old iPad. I forgot how much more convenient the fingerprint reader was compared to face I'd.

On the iPad at least if you had it standing up on its own or flat on a table it was no bueno for face I'd. You know, like showing recipes or a big e-reader while learning to code from an e-book. I miss that big screen, it was like carrying a nice netbook screen with me everywhere.