This still is not their primary purpose. And yes, illegal acts could turn them into an illegal covert listening device, but that would be illegal, wouldn’t it?

Same could be said about smartphones and laptops.

Its why I prefer a hardware killswitch on a device.

My ThinkPad T61 got one. My MBPs don't. The T61 is from 2008. The MBPs are from 2010 and 2015.

The MBP at least has the camera light. Not proactive, but if you see the light come one at least you can kill the power

Yes, the MBPs got that fancy light. The TP can point the camera to the back tho (which could be worse). I covered all 3 with tape. Both 3 have that option. Only the TP has a killswitch for radios though. And it doesn't seem Apple is very fond of killswitches for radios, given their utter lack of expected functionality in iOS 11.

That's little comfort if an attacker can access the camera without the LED turning on. You can never be sure which is why integrated cameras and microphones get ripped out of devices used in sensitive areas.

Camera is hard-wired to the LED. If you don't trust the wiring of the device, kill switch is out too.

Depends on the camera. There have been hacks where a laptop camera is turned on but the LED is not. Hence people covering cameras with tape.

Have you found one for Thinkpads?