Even the former director of the FBI, James Comey, admitted to doing the same thing after seeing someone 'smarter than I am' do it. The extra layer of protection didn't really gain mainstream traction until mid-2016 when a photo of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared to show tape over the webcam on his laptop. The best line of defense that paranoid users had, it seemed, was to simply obscure the camera's view with something like a piece of tape.

Privacy advocates have long been suspicious of devices like webcams that can theoretically be used to transmit video without a user's consent or knowledge. IMO, in this day and age, you have to operate under the assumption that someone is always watching or listening.Īpple is advising MacBook users not to close their computer lids with a camera cover in place as doing so might damage the screen. To think that a hacker couldn't figure out how to turn on the webcam without activating the LED is a bit naive. But to put your full trust in Apple's camera activity indicator is a big ask.

Editor's take: Apple isn't wrong in its recommendation to avoid using an overly thick camera cover on its MacBooks as doing so could indeed damage the display when you close the lid.

Macbook post it notes