Everybody should have a shutter over the camera, just to protect from blunders and misclicks.

No matter how you trust your software, some malware may want to activate it, especially at a high-value target like Zuckerberg (or Bezos, or Nadella, etc).

Alas, microphones are not as easy to deactivate.

Covering a camera always seemed like unjustified paranoia for me.

If someone can access my camera and spy my unkept beard, why won't they also be able to access my keyboard and spy my main email account password?

Tape over camera originated with the spate of online webcam blackmail attacks a few years ago.

Lots of young girls were being lured into installing malware and had their bedrooms recorded.

Why not cover your camera? Some MacBooks are so delicate that Apple itself warns stickers can break them IIRC¹, but to me that’s just one more great reason never to buy a MacBook. For other cameras, if someone can look into my windows, they can also watch a lock-picking video on YouTube and IIRC learn that something like ≥70% of American homes have locks from the same 1–2 brands, and break in easily, but I still close curtains, because why not?

¹(Edit) You can't make this stuff up: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211148

It's also for personal mistakes. Accidentally clicking the camera on when in your underwear for example.

> Alas, microphones are not as easy to deactivate.

That’s why eg. all Purism products with them have hardware kill switches (to physically disconnect them).

> Alas, microphones are not as easy to deactivate.

Easier on desktops that don't have a built-in mic.

I use a mic with a hardware power switch.

Mics don't use power. Pedantic, I know.

Some do. Pedantic, I know. ;)

Related... do you know if there are there laptops with condenser microphones built in?

Mine does actually ...

Actually, they are. Just grab headphones with microphone and use scissors and keep the jack in.

Don't know about laptops but on recent desktop motherboards the jack detection and output/input switching is done in software. Probably the case on many laptops too. So this approach shouldn't be considered a "hardware switch" as it's still possible to capture audio from another mic even when a headset is plugged in.

On both of my XPSs I can switch to internal or external mic regardless of a headset behind plugged in, so the snarky suggestion to use a cut-off headphone jack is misguided and won't work on many modern laptops.

Bold to assume I have a mic jack in 2021.