[numpad0]

Not exactly what you have asked for, but ESP32 based M5Stack and Seeed Xiao modules might fit the bill. They are not so expensive, are Linux-free, and there's no report so far of secret ping home features in the SDK.

[mschuster91]

ESP32 are powerful enough to run realtime image processing?! Wtf.

[numpad0]

  https://docs.m5stack.com/en/unit/poe_cam