Is that light hardware or software controlled (in other words, does it come on as soon as the camera is powered up or is it a function of the driver to enable the light ? Can that be bypassed ? Or would you need to modify the hardware for that ?)
I'm not sure, because I haven't really looked at any of the api's, but I'm pretty sure that it's hardware controlled. Internally it's hooked up via USB, and none of the software I've seen has used the camera without the light on (including non-Apple software).
One of the articles on this, which I can't cite because I didn't save the link, said parents had complained to the school IT department that the webcam indicator would light at strange times. According to the article, the school dismissed the complaints as not an issue. This was all before the current situation emerged.
On the Apple's I have it is hardwired with no API - Power Camera = Power Light.