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A comment on Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera. Parent comment

Re:Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera by pfranz on Saturday July 11, 2020 @12:40AM (#23799551)
The other comment says there are dozens in this thread...I haven't seen anything specific mentioned. But, I remember reading something a year or two ago[1] that's not solidly sourced (it'd be great if Apple posted something on their website like they did about microphones [2])

> All cameras after that one were different: The hardware team tied the LED to a hardware signal from the sensor: If the (I believe) vertical sync was active, the LED would light up. There is NO firmware control to disable/enable the LED. The actual firmware is indeed flashable, but the part is not a generic part and there are mechanisms in place to verify the image being flashed. […]

[1] https://daringfireball.net/2019/02/on_covering_webcams

[2] https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/security/secbbd20b00b/...

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Re:Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera by yyyk on Saturday July 11, 2020 @03:24AM (#23800278)
"You know the camera was on" is not the same as "the camera can't see anything because the cover was on", the same way as notifying the user of a security failure is not the same as preventing it in the first place.
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Re:Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera by valuearb on Saturday July 11, 2020 @01:47AM (#23799864)
And an Apple engineer also confirmed that Macs made in the last five years will ensure the LED flashes for at least 3 seconds, even for still photos.
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