[sodiumphosphate]

Perhaps tangential, but is there any way to be certain whether the webcam light can be controlled by software?

I often wonder if my MBP camera is necessarily off just because the ominous little green light isn't shining.

[mrmekon]

That would be hardware-specific, but probably _always_ independently controllable. It's not like the IC manufacturer is going to link the CCD to an LED.

[Arnt]

Why not? It's easy. Turn the LED on when there's current on the CCD's power input.

[mrmekon]

Certainly not arguing that it's difficult. It's extremely trivial.

It just makes no business sense for the camera manufacturer. The CCD is a generic chip that spews clocked image data over some serial connection. Keep it simple and generic, and ship to any business who wants it.

You can have a camera controller IC/ASIC/FPGA/µcontroller one step up from the CCD that manages the CCD and LEDs. That would have either firmware or hardware support for LEDs, but you'd still imagine that it would be configurable for cases where there is no LED installed.

It's absolutely possible, and I don't know all the options out there, but I can't imagine a manufacturer shipping an off-the-shelf IC that _always_ ties an LED to CCD operation.

[Arnt]

Sometimes companies try to act in their customer's best interest. Or at least in such a way that they don't risk customers turning away. I noticed this story on HN quite recently: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241003

Perhaps not as often as one might wish.

[sillysaurus]

I don't think so. It seems like software controls whether that little green light is on. Unless the green light is on whenever the webcam is powered.

[weland]

Engineering common sense is a good way to be certain.