by bigyabai 10 hours ago
I will be genuinely shocked if people aren't taping their smartphone cameras by 2030.
Cameras in phones are pretty much locked up today, assuming you have an updated version of the OS from a respectable manufacturer. Apps will not be able to access the camera feed (or the microphone) without explicit consent and a visual warning.
The manufacturer might access it, Apple states they don't, Google and Samsung I'm not sure. A bad actor with 0days might too.
Funny enough it's the OS and manufacturer I don't trust with my phone, with my PC I trust them a lot more as they're much more open and I can choose the OS.
You know what's stronger than a manufacturer's promise? 2cm of double-ply electrical tape.
For reference, Samsung screenshots everything shown on their televisions at regular intervals and sends these to their South Korean data centres for advertisers to use. It's called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), which any sane country should be outright banning under international espionage laws.
I give no screen a network connection.
Screens are for playing what I send to them. Not for running their own apps or network traffic.
I would pay more for dumb screen TVs.
Absolutely. No monitor of any kind should be connected to the Internet.
It is funny since I wonder when you're looking through say the Google Feed (swipe left on Android devices on home screen) does the camera track your eyes, what you're looking at
It does seem harder to tape the phone camera since the in/out motion into your pocket I imagine would remove the tape.
For the main camera there are cases with sliding covers for many phone models. Marketed for protecting the lens from scratches, but quite effective for privacy as well
For the front camera that's a lot more difficult. You could probably modify one of those flexible screen protectors to black out the camera, but it'd be very inconvenient to take off.
Maybe there is some niche android phone that offers physical shutters, similar to the ones on Lenovo laptop webcams
It's harder to tape it when it's now a small island in the screen.
Laser engravers. Blu-ray drive laser modules are dime a dozen and are plenty powerful.
Can I get a pair of camera glasses that uses AI to identify other camera glasses, and controls a moveable laser to blast the cameras on the other glasses?
I hope that was sarcasm.
That's a bad idea on so many levels.
Yes; I don't want to accidentally blind people.