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Do you cover up the camera on your mobile devices

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No (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-09-08 15:57 (#1T2R5)

Because I actually take video and use video chatting apps and I have yet to find a cover that's convenient and will work with my choice of phone case. (It was a gift, I love it. I'm not changing cases if the new one doesn't offer a significant advantage.)

Besides, the microphone scares me more. No one's going to blink if some idiot hacks photos of me staring at my phone in the bathroom. If they hear me say the wrong thing, though, I could lose my job.

So far the only real security I've seen was an idea pitched for a phone case which alerted the user if the phone became untrustworthy and started sending signals without permission. AFAIK that idea has not yet become reality.

Anybody got a pitch for something that blocks the phone's mic AND camera?

Re: No (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-09-10 00:20 (#1T805)

I think you're after a Faraday bag. I can't imagine an external device that would be able to work out the difference between desired and undesired signals from your phone.

Re: No (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2016-09-10 00:57 (#1T81Y)

I can't imagine an external device that would be able to work out the difference between desired and undesired signals from your phone.
You could make a tiny little $5 pocket signal detector with buzzer. When idle, you get only a brief little buzz every few minutes (or maybe entirely omit notifications for any transmissions that short). When a call is ongoing, or data is being transferred, buzz continually... That would raise the veil, giving people an idea of when their phone is sending data, and how much. If it starts going full-blast when your phone is sitting around in your pocket... a big red flag!

Of course you could do this pretty well in software, too. In fact the status bar icons show all cell/wifi xmit/recv activities on some few phone models. Or you can just pay attention to your battery consumption and get nervous when it suddenly lasts a fraction as long as it normally would, because either an app has started going nuts, or your phone is now transmitting a lot more often...

History

2016-09-10 00:57
I can't imagine an external device that would be able to work out the difference between desired and undesired signals from your phone.
You could make a tiny little $5 pocket signal detector with buzzer. When idle, you get only a brief little buzz every few minutes (or maybe entirely omit notifications for any transmissions that short). When a call is ongoing, or data is being transferred, buzz continually...

That would raise the veil, giving people an idea of when their phone is sending data, and how much. If it starts going full-out when your phone is sitting around in your pocket... big red flag you'll want to track down.

Of course you could do this pretty well in software, too. (iIn fact the status bar icons show all cell/wifi xmit/recv activities on some few phone models). oOr you can just pay attention to your battery consumption and get nervous when it suddenly lasts a fraction as long as it normally would, because either an app has started going nuts, or your phone is now transmitting a lot more often...
2016-09-10 00:59
I can't imagine an external device that would be able to work out the difference between desired and undesired signals from your phone.
You could make a tiny little $5 pocket signal detector with buzzer. When idle, you get only a brief little buzz every few minutes (or maybe entirely omit notifications for any transmissions that short). When a call is ongoing, or data is being transferred, buzz continually... That would raise the veil, giving people an idea of when their phone is sending data, and how much. If it starts going full-oublast when your phone is sitting around in your pocket... a big red flag! you'll want to track down.

Of course you could do this pretty well in software, too. In fact the status bar icons show all cell/wifi xmit/recv activities on some few phone models. Or you can just pay attention to your battery consumption and get nervous when it suddenly lasts a fraction as long as it normally would, because either an app has started going nuts, or your phone is now transmitting a lot more often...

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