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Comment by StringyBob | Hacker News Reader

My current Thinkpad has a physical switch to disable radios. I'd like to have a physical 'privacy' switch that cut the power to internal microphones and cameras. To be security aware, this has to be an auditable hardware power switch, and not just an interrupt/driver/bios combination that could be bypassed. It's also prefereable for security to have a an off-by-default switch, than an activity light you might not notice...

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Great idea. Must be a physical switch that just cuts all physical links between the camera/microphone and the rest of the system, so that no reprogramming is possible. Unfortunately, little chance to see it in Apple products, as such switch would probably not look "slick" and would probably be considered "confusing for the user" and as such not suitable for implementing.

> Unfortunately, little chance to see it in Apple products, as such switch would probably not look "slick" and would probably be considered "confusing for the user" and as such not suitable for implementing.

That was my first thought, but then I realized the absolutely ridiculous extent to which Apple goes to build secure devices, and how "slick" the mute switch is on iPhones and iPads.

I wouldn't bet against it.

That's unfortunately the exception rather than the norm. I have seen laptops with switches for WiFi, and camera obturators, but manufacturers hardly think about these things. It's obviously not an Apple problem only, but it certainly hinders usability to have physical switches. Yet, I really wished they'd make that standard for all media peripheral (and not just on PC, but any device coming with these features). That would however be easily considered as an admission of failure to provide a secure software environment to their customers, and they might not like that aspect of it.

It's also cheaper to "just do it in software". Some laptops will seriously overheat if left turned on without an OS loaded, because the *s that designed them didn't even bother to hook up the temperature sensor to the fan controller and left the "hook up" to OS-level drivers.

My current ThinkPad (T400) has the Mic, fingerprint scanner and webcam disabled physically. They're easy to get into and unplug.

Agree entirely though.

I'd rather like a physical off switch as well like the original IBM PC (the big red lever)

My ThinkPad for the paranoid (X201i) has none of those devices at all...

My Dell has a wireless switch also, but it doesn't work under Linux, only Windows. In Linux, the radio remains on no matter what the position of the switch is. Meaning its's really a software switch, and hence worthless for security.

Sorry to burst your bubble but actually that "physical switch to disable radios" is, if I remember correctly, just another signal to the wireless card (which runs its own firmware as well). It's not a true power kill.

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