[paxys]

Yes they also don't protect you from car accidents or heart disease. What's your point?

The purpose of a privacy switch is to make sure that Google (or anyone else, including hackers) isn't spying on you through your camera or microphone. This one accomplishes exactly that.

[amelius]

How will the switch protect me if I'm in a video call with my SO?

I can trust a Linux system.

A system running Google adware (some even call it spyware), not so much.

[paxys]

> How will the switch protect me if I'm in a video call with my SO?

The switch exists for when you are NOT on a video call. It completely cuts the video feed going into the OS on the hardware level. How is that so hard to understand for people here?

[adamdusty]

It's not hard for anyone to understand. If you're worried that the OS is hijacking your camera, why would you stop being worried just because you're using the camera.

[swores]

Because when I'm using my camera I make sure not to do things like walk naked in front of it forgetting that there's a camera there? For other people the thing they don't do while on a video call might be having an affair, or using drugs, or...

Your argument seems similar to "why would you care about a microphone spying on you 24/7 if you're willing to sometimes have conversations that might be overheard?"

Yes obviously when you use your webcam you're aware that it's not impossible you're being spied on, and some people may choose to never have a webcam for that reason. For those of us who are happy to take that risk for video calls, we don't have to also accept that we can be spied on any time the laptop is open.

[adamdusty]

The other guy is arguing that you don't have to accept that risk at all if you don't use an OS from a data harvesting company.

I don't care who watches me through my camera, I was just trying to point out that people aren't stupid about the hardware switch. Some just find it ironic that there is a hardware shut off for a camera on a computer operated by Google.

[paxys]

Apple, Microsoft and Google are all data harvesting companies. And any other OS, including Linux, can have spyware, rootkits or other malicious software installed all the way down to the BIOS. If you want privacy when around an internet-connected camera and microphone there is no substitute for a hardware switch.

[Sharparam]

Never transmit onto the internet anything that would ruin your life if it became public, that's my motto. Regardless of how safe the transmission is in theory.

[hedora]

And the vegan sticker isn’t made of meat.