How to completely disable iSight / camera sensor

[fessen]

How can you completely disable the camera sensor, short of painting over the lens area or covering it with tape?

I have a MacBook Pro running OS X Snow Leopard, but I imagine similar techniques should apply with other Mac laptops and other versions of OS X.

I tried the following

The script linked to by jasonvp works on my older OS X.

Another option would be to
1. Browse to
(Computer Name)/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/

2. Within that folder find the folder VDC.plugin
3. Copy VDC.plugin to a location of your choice for safe keeping
(for example, copy it to a new folder at /Desktop/backup of VDC-plugin )
4. Move the original VDC.plugin to the trash
Doing this has essentially the same effect as what the script does, albeit in a much cruder fashion.

You can verify that this works immediately. As soon as you move the original VDC.plugin to the trash, open Photo Booth. You should see an error message saying that no camera is available.
If you want to restore the ability to use the built-in webcam, copy your back-up copy back to its original location (indicated above). Photo Booth should work as before now.

(Other methods for disabling the webcam that have been suggested in various blog posts, such as deleting QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component or AppleUSBVideoSupport.kext, failed with my hardware and version of OS X.)

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17847693#post17847693

And I thought it worked, as it is no longer possible to take pictures with the camera.

However, the camera sensor is still active -- since the keyboard backlight still turns on when the room is dark and turns off when ambient lighting is high.

Is there a way to reversibly turn the sensor completely off?

 

[smithrh]

In some situations, the easier answer may be the best answer.

Would black electrical tape do the trick?

 

[revbarabbas]

The light sensor is not the same as the camera, it's located in a similar spot and part of the same device unit though. May I ask what you are trying to accomplish?

Keep the keyboard dark/illuminated?

Make sure the camera cannot be accessed remotely?

To completely remove power from the device you would need to remove the glass, remove the camera/sensor array, and replace the glass...but this is not the best of ideas without specific tools, and the circuit path to the bluetooth module would be disrupted and you'd lose that functionality.

 

[Ragnar-Kon]

The light sensor is not the same as the camera, it's located in a similar spot and part of the same device unit though.

This.

Unless Apple has changed that recently.

 

[fessen]

The light sensor is not the same as the camera, it's located in a similar spot and part of the same device unit though.

Ah, yes. Now I see. The ambient light sensor is just to the left of the camera lens opening. Thanks for the info.

Yes, I am paranoid and don't like the idea of the camera being used by a hacker or someone else up to no good.

 

[ElectronGuru]

I seem to recall an interlock where the camera can't be on without the green LED also being on.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you want to keep the NSA out, use some black tape.

Simple, quick, easy.

 

[fessen]

If you want to keep the NSA out, use some black tape.

Simple, quick, easy.

I'd rather not get the adhesive on the screen.

----------

I seem to recall an interlock where the camera can't be on without the green LED also being on.

Seems too iffy.
And what if, for whatever reason, the LED burns out or otherwise fails -- would the camera be forced out of commission as well?

 

[smithrh]

I'd rather not get the adhesive on the screen.

It's glass, any adhesive would come off easily.

You might also consider a drop or two of black paint. That will hang onto the glass quite well but also scrape right off if/when you no longer want it.

 

[Linuxpro]

Problem solved! (Smile, and permanent) Any more questions?

 

[ardchoille50]

If you want to keep the NSA out, use some black tape.

Simple, quick, easy.

If the government really wanted to spy on you, they would use more than one means to obtain data (gps locator on your car, public view, tracking phone records, friends, relatives, employers, etc.).

 

[Linuxpro]

Realistically it is 1000% more likely that anyone hacking the camera is a guy working from his home. I am not a person of interest to the government. Only a person with a guiltily conscious would think that way.

I am not leaving a potential "window" open for some overweight 17 year old to enjoy watching my wife get dressed. She is thin, brown and Asian. She looks 28. Such is "candy" to young men in America who have to look at overweight women every day.

I do not use the camera, and never will have a need for it. Why leave the "window" open, when I can close it for the cost of a silver color paint marker? Integrated cameras are the proverbial solution looking for a problem to solve.

 

[osxsecurity.org]

OP check out iSightDefender. It's a github program that's works for 2007 or 2008 MacBooks. Maybe that might work on yours.

 

[Linuxpro]

I found that the paint pen also can cover over the two microphone holes on the 11" MacBook Air. I can turn up th mic gain all the way, and it picks up almost nothing at all. It does hear me tapping on the case.

I tested a USB camera with a microphone. It works as expected.

I am now have a safely "neutered" MacBook Air.

 

[saudor]

I found that the paint pen also can cover over the two microphone holes on the 11" MacBook Air. I can turn up th mic gain all the way, and it picks up almost nothing at all. It does hear me tapping on the case.

I tested a USB camera with a microphone. It works as expected.

I am now have a safely "neutered" MacBook Air.

You should do the same to your iPhone and iPad just in case haha

 

[Linuxpro]

What a cute idea. Not!

Actually, I did so on my iPad because I have no need for a camera, or for Siri.

I actually use the forward facing camera on my iPhone.

I own three phones. My iPhone 6 has my Singapore SIM. My Samsung GN has a USA SIM. My cheap o Samsung, I use in Malaysia, and China. A lot of the facilities do not allow cameras. I neutered phone, and filled in the holes with clear epoxi. That way I can still get email, and calls when needed.

Furthermore the painted over lens meets ISO 27001.

 

[fessen]

Hmm. Seems plenty of the folks who ought to know a thing or two about this kind of stuff do use tape.

Mark Zuckerberg Covers His Laptop Camera
...

In a photo posted to his Facebook account, he celebrated the growing user base of Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. An eagle-eyed Twitter user named Chris Olson noticed that in the image’s background, his laptop camera and microphone jack appeared to be covered with tape.
...
“Covering the camera is a very common security measure,” Lysa Myers, a security researcher at the data security firm ESET, said in an email. “If you were to walk around a security conference, you would have an easier time counting devices that don’t have something over the camera.”

James Comey, the director of the F.B.I., also puts tape over his computer’s webcam, for surprisingly simple reasons, according to NPR:

“I saw something in the news, so I copied it,” Mr. Comey said. “I put a piece of tape — I have obviously a laptop, personal laptop — I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/t...laptop-camera-you-should-consider-it-too.html