Current Events > Would you pay extra to NOT have your laptop have a webcam preinstalled?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Topic

I just put tape over it.

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Apparently people like the idea of potential hackers spying on them at any given moment, interesting...

Homeless_Waifu posted...

I just put tape over it.

Same, just cut a nice clean square of duct tape and put it over the webcam. Problem solved.

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x_MINDGAME_x posted...

Apparently people like the idea of potential hackers spying on them at any given moment, interesting...

What's the downside?

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No one likes paying extra for less features except iphone users.

if the question was "would you buy a laptop without a cam for a discount?" then probably you would get more Yes

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nah i'd love if the gov't watches me jerk off

Wow, just me and one other voted Yes?

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Homeless_Waifu posted...

I just put tape over it.

Yes, I always put a folded up piece of paper over the one on my laptop. However, it's hard to do that with a phone or tablet so I just leave those uncovered. I used tape on my old laptop then when I wanted to sell it I realized there was a bunch of sticky residue left over that was near impossible to remove, so I don't do that anymore.

samurai bandit posted...

No one likes paying extra for less features except iphone users.

if the question was "would you buy a laptop without a cam for a discount?" then probably you would get more Yes

Yes, most of the time that's true, but I consider privacy to be important so having that not preinstalled would be positive feature for me.

It's interesting to me that this is such a prevailing fear. If your laptop has been hacked you probably have bigger problems. You'd also notice right away.
Not only that, but many laptops make the light hardwired to the camera, meaning the light will always be on if the camera is on.
Finally, who would want to go through the extreme difficulty of hacking some random person? And even more so to just watch them?

It makes no sense to me.

Note: I'm saying this as someone who uses proton mail, piehole, ghostery, no script, asblock plus, and a VPN.

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I voted no because it's easy enough to just keep it covered.

ancient secret

the DUCT TAPE METHOD

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lol

If anybody hacks into my webcam, the joke's on them. They certainly won't be watching very long.

kirbyakaZ posted...

It's interesting to me that this is such a prevailing fear. If your laptop has been hacked you probably have bigger problems. You'd also notice right away.
Not only that, but many laptops make the light hardwired to the camera, meaning the light will always be on if the camera is on.
Finally, who would want to go through the extreme difficulty of hacking some random person? And even more so to just watch them?

It makes no sense to me.

Note: I'm saying this as someone who uses proton mail, piehole, ghostery, no script, asblock plus, and a VPN.

Yes, indeed black hat hacking makes no sense in any regard in my opinion, but that doesn't mean people don't still do it. What also doesn't make sense is why device manufacturers instantly assume that people want extra things preinstalled into their devices, especially things that can be a security risk. Also, I'm surprised they don't have some sort of sliding piece of plastic to cover the webcam if you want, especially with the state of the internet these days. Something like that certainly would not cost that much, especially not as much as a webcam would, and since they don't mind forcing things onto consumers, why not add another extra thing onto a device even if it would only cost a little extra and potentially increase privacy. Or they could just not include the webcam, then cut the price of that off from the final price of the device, then allow people to actually choose if they want to get a webcam themselves and just leave it on their computer at all times potentially letting someone peer into their lives at any given moment.

No I pay less to get better performance from a desktop and not have to worry about it.

Not to mention I already have an an Alexa listening to everything I say. I don't really give a fuck.

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x_MINDGAME_x posted...

Yes, indeed black hat hacking makes no sense in any regard in my opinion, but that doesn't mean people don't still do it. What also doesn't make sense is why device manufacturers instantly assume that people want extra things preinstalled into their devices, especially things that can be a security risk. Also, I'm surprised they don't have some sort of sliding piece of plastic to cover the webcam if you want, especially with the state of the internet these days. Something like that certainly would not cost that much, especially not as much as a webcam would, and since they don't mind forcing things onto consumers, why not add another extra thing onto a device even if it would only cost a little extra and potentially increase privacy. Or they could just not include the webcam, then cut the price of that off from the final price of the device, then allow people to actually choose if they want to get a webcam themselves and just leave it on their computer at all times potentially letting someone peer into their lives at any given moment.

Assuming you have a cell phone that's already listening to everything you say, and Facebook was found to be recording from your camera on mobile.
My thought is of statistics. I have never seen a story or statistic that shows anyone has had this kind of hack happened to them.

That said, I've also purchased a laptop for work that happened to not have a webcam on it, and I've seen laptops where the web cam pops up when on so it's impossible to miss.

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You can even take the laptop apart and unplug the camera internally.

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Just dont do things you dont want people to see

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