Ask HN: Why FB Messenger video still on (green light), when off in UI? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why FB Messenger video still on (green light), when off in UI?

19 pointsjzer0cool18 comments

In FB Messenger (I happen to be using Mac at the time). During group call why is the mac green light still on indicating feed is still on when turned off in the ui?

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This also happens to me when using Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp. It is also very common when I start a video call using a web browser (Google Meet, Zoom Web, Skype Web). The camera indicator (green light) goes off only after force-quitting the web browser or desktop application. I don’t think there is anything malicious there, probably a bug somewhere in the code failing to release the camera feed or missing an event notifying the system to close the stream. Even FaceTime fails to stop the camera feed from time to time forcing me to quit the entire app, so it is not just Facebook Messenger.

I've just tested and with Google hangouts, at the very least, switching off the camera in the hangouts UI results in the laptop green light being turned off.

(With Facebook messenger, OTOH, turning off the camera in the UI does not cause the light to be turned off, just like OP described. I haven't tested the other sites/applications, now, but in the ancient times of the old (Qt?) Skype program, the laptop indicator would be turned off when the video stream was turned off.)

Less when starting a video, but while in the call user mute/off the video. Green light stays on every time and I wonder if feed is still streaming to the server.

The only non malicious answer I can think of is that having the camera on would somehow make joining a video call faster. But really it should absolutely be off when not very clearly in use by the app.

I do not mind so much if camera turns on when I am about to join (or right before joining).

The issue is "while joined in the call" I turned off the camera via UI), which indicates to all users that I have muted the Video. However, it appears to be clear the camera feed is still on (e.g. indicated by green light / hardware).

In other video call apps (e.g. Google Meet, Zoom), it turns off as expected. But in FB Messenger this is not the case and only turns off once you disconnect from call.

I know that the virtual co-working rooms at complice.co/rooms/ has a similar issue, though the light goes off when you navigate away from the page.

The FAQ isn't very illuminating, saying:

> In the coworking rooms, when I pause my video, why does my webcam light stay on?

> Good question. The system that I used is set up that way by default, for... reasons. It definitely isn't surreptitiously sending your video to anyone. It's sending blackness (and a note that says "I'm not actually sending video"). But yeah, unfortunately you have to reload the page if you want to make the light go away. Somewhere on a long todo-list is making the Pause button actually stop the webcam.

Easy fix: a piece of tape over your camera, that you only remove when you actually want to display yourself (and your surroundings) to the world.

haha. what about microphones?

Turn off at the OS level unless you're actively using it, or use a headset with a hardware switch/detachable mic.

You can buy some cheap 3.5mm earphones, cut the wire right in the beginning, and plug it into your microphone slot, and assign that as your mic. If you're on mobile, it'll automatically do it. Basically piping from /dev/null

>> Basically piping from /dev/null

Can you actually do that?

Why not piping from /dev/zero , heck even /dev/random or /dev/urandom ?

yeah, i guess it's incorrect, and probably would be something like /dev/zero

hmm. when reading, /dev/null behaves like an empty file but /dev/zero gives you endless amounts of NUL bytes ('\0') ; iirc and the /dev/random and /dev/urandom gives you endless amounts of random bytes, but there is a subtle difference between those random sources.

There's an amazing little utility called MicroSnitch from the guys who built Little Snitch. It actually shows screen overlays when something starts using microphone or camera.

Oversight[1] is also a good utility.

1. https://objective-see.com/products/oversight.html

I think it would be a problem if it were the other way round.

I noticed this today for the first time.

because they watchin you duh!

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