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Comment by tmsbrg | Hacker News Reader

That doesn't protect your microphone from being exposed though.

Disable it in system settings, browser settings, and prevent access through something like firejail. It is not as reliable as a hardware kill-off switch, but puts a lot of barriers to overcome.

That doesn't protect your microphone from being exposed though.

And ripping out your microphone doesn't stop evildoers from viewing the camera. What's your point?

this is why we need hardware switches for microphones

https://puri.sm/products/librem-14 - this device has the kill switch.

fwiw, there's a switch in every ext. mic. jack.

plug in an un-wired connector, cut of the wiring post, smooth with a nail-file or put on a crowning drop of glue so it won't rip your bag and you're done.

Often these are software, though. Yes there's a switch, but it just tells the audio subsystem to automatically select the plugged-in mic. You can still tell it to select the screen-frame mic instead.

A software switch. You can test by pluggin in your unwired plug then go set to any program and select the internal mic and it'll work fine.

I just got a Framework laptop (https://frame.work) and it has this.

Take that, Apple fanboys.

Well tape the microphone too. With thick soft tape.

Or open up your laptop and (carefully) destroy it.

I can’t remember the last time I used the built-in mic on a laptop, much less the last time I bought a laptop with a mic that was actually worth using.

> Or open up your laptop and (carefully) destroy it.

OK, I destroyed it (carefully). Now it won't boot. What do I do next?

Get a refund from the guy who sold you that janky ass laptop that won’t boot without a microphone.

OIC. Well, I destroyed the laptop, not the microphone, because that's what OP said to do. I guess I didn't read the directions carefully enough. /s

Don’t talk to your computer. When you do talk, talk about stuff that you want them to look into.

An icepick/paperclip does.

You should also destroy any speakers.

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1611/1611.07350.pdf

Oof, that's unfortunate. Thanks for the tip.

But that hack requires deep OS access and is not trivial, but for those with a nation state agency behind them, good to keep in mind

Yes, but travel is expensive and time consuming. Not to mention the effort it would take to track down the responsible party.

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