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Why stop buying laptops with webcams when applying a $0,01 piece of tape over it is all that is required if you're worried about it?

There's also the standard built-in microphone. The best option is to disassemble the laptop, remove the webcam hardware, and clip the leads to the mic--detatching it from the motherboard. If you need a webcam use an external.

Don't forget to pee in Mason jars so they can't harvest your precious bodily fluids!

Seriously though, paranoid much?

So... peeing in Mason jars is a sign of paranoia?

Maybe. Unless you're a long-haul trucker trying to shave some time, but those are typically plastic bottles.

Or I suppose some extended coding sessions? I can't imagine a real need for such extreme tactics but who am I to say it doesn't happen.

Older Web cams (and a few modern ones built into laptops) used to come with a physical privacy shield -- a shutter you could move to block the camera when it wasn't in use. I like the idea.

Webcams are a very small part of this hack.

Tape something over the lens so you can flip it up when you want to use the camera.