Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MBP - Built In iSight Camera - Randomly turns on..

cubbie5150

cubbie5150

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 4, 2007
747
256
My MBP iSight camera (as denoted by the glowing green light) randomly activates, but it's happened only a few times, and only when I start up my MBP when powered by the battery (hasn't happened when plugged-in). I've run activity monitor when it does this, but can't see anything strange running... Any ideas what could cause this, and how I can make it stop?
 
mad jew said:
Steve's spying on you. Haha, nah, probably not. What apps and widgets do you have installed that use the camera?
Click to expand...

The only app is iChat (which I don't use; have never even run it); no widgets, unless one of the default ones uses it; none of the widgets I actually use (all 4 of them!!) and have rrunning all the time uses iSight to my knowledge (AppUpdate; default weather; iStat Nano & a widget that shows keyboard shortcuts for special characters). It's not a major thing; if I do a complete shut down & restart, it turns off. It's just a pain...
 
Reviving an old thread. My wife's new white MB is doing the same thing; the iSight light turns on after a boot, and if we run iChat as a test, the camera isn't available. A cold reboot, the light goes out and everything returns to normal.

It only has the factory installed apps loaded. Running top in Terminal or looking through Activity Monitor doesn't show any suspicious apps.

Anybody hear more of this?
 
Im watching you!

Well there was this case a couple of months back when a guy who worked at a computer repair shop installed malware capable of controlling your webcam and used it to spy on teenage girls. He got caught and sentenced to prison!

So maybe its a copycat.....where is Sigourney Weaver when you need her!
 
Emmett22 said:
Well there was this case a couple of months back when a guy who worked at a computer repair shop installed malware capable of controlling your webcam and used it to spy on teenage girls. He got caught and sentenced to prison!

So maybe its a copycat.....where is Sigourney Weaver when you need her!
Click to expand...

That's disturbing.
 
Hmm. Maybe I should install Little Snitch and check for outbound traffic.

Thing is, the light comes on even before the MB is fully launched, and stays on continually through a reboot. I doubt malware would launch that fast, or keep the camera active when the power cycles.

I wonder if it's a bug with the login software: it has the functionality to control the iSight to take pics for the user profile before the OS is fully launched.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back