you could just unscrew the case and remove the camera entirely
or drill through it
I've had a piece of sticky note held in place with electrical tape on my travel laptop for the last eight years or so (basically since I got it). Haven't had to replace it once.
Linux Mint is a GREAT baby's first Linux distro, specifically with the Cinammon desktop/interface. It's really easy to switch over from Win10, and I even got my wife (who has quite literally said computers run on magic) in to the habit of being able to handle dual-booting for the few things she absolutely needed Windows for (mostly a couple of very specific work things).
Mint+Cinnamon is great if you want a just-works OS running Linux and from there you can branch out in to more specific stuff like Arch (fast AF, but I hope you like building packages). Mint's installer is also a portable version of the operating system, so you can test it out before or even while you install it (though it does run a little slower off a DVD or flash drive).
One of my friends swears by OpenSUSE, and I can't stand it for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.
DistroWatch is a good place to get started if you want to compare different flavors of Linux. https://distrowatch.com/
From there it looks like ZorinOS might be worth looking in to, they just had several driver updates, including 3000-series nVidia cards, Playstation controllers, and a few other things.
I second the heads up on Linux Mint, it is a great place to start and is very civilized these days. I am running KDE plasma as the desktop environment as opposed to cinnamon though.
KDE allows complete flexibility to build your own work flow and the application launcher is like the windows start button should have been. It's very intuitive and user friendly and instantly finds anything you could want on the system.
With KDE you could have 12 task bars distributed on every edge of 3 monitors, all different. You could have a start button 1/2 the size of the screen right in the middle of it. It is totally customizable and reconfigurable with global themes that put anything else I have seen to shame with respect to the sheer volume of them and how radically they change the look of the entire system.
Qwant or Yandex (whatever) how to install KDE plasma as a desktop environment after the install of Linux Mint Cinnamon and you will be one smiling motherfucker.
Yes, but I imagine they have the end of Internet anonymity in mind with this - such that you wont be able to access online banking without bio-metric identification carried out through webcam. That's how it will start probably. The goal is that internet access would be entirely based on your digital identification.
You must not understand. In South Korea you must type in your internet Id # to access the internet and it tracks what you do. Only think they are missing is a picture verification along with the ID.
Isn't the traditional method of dealing with this is to put a piece of black tape over the f'ing spy eye? And if it demands to see light on the camera, fine, put translucent tape over the lens. And if they demand to see an image, fuck them; tape a dick pic over the lens, and fuck their Indian CEO Nadella. Clearly their marketing assholes are way too arrogant.
And from what I hear, Win 11 is a CIA Nazi-infected police state PoS.
Microsoft was revealed to be the evil empire back in the 80s. The traditional method has been to avoid windows and microsoft products, and to not help finance bills plandemics and other nefarious/evil activities.
And in general, I find a lot of reactions to digitization and technological advancements to amount to melodramatic pearl-clutching, mostly by folks with no experience in the greyer side of technology. It's as if things like rooting your phone or pirating software, or indeed slapping a piece of tape on the integrated webcam, simply don't exist. Never mind how there are entire black market economies prospering precisely in regions with the most draconian restrictions.
Instead, I suspect these reactions stem from some deeply ingrained misconception of how governments and major corporate systems work. That they are somehow invincible, capable of conjuring up infinite resources for countless nefarious schemes... and not dilapidated towers of crippling bureaucracy, full of individual self-serving rogue agents, mostly scrambling for a promotion or a slightly better retirement package.
And all this comes from Microsoft, of all things - the company that officially gave up trying to prevent piracy of its products, then quietly lost the case with hardwired Windows-only PCs and laptops, and is pretty much irrelevant in the now all but dominant tablet and smartphone market. Not exactly a history of victories against inventive users or competing interests.
I agree on the matter of MS collecting user data, though that's usually for the now-ubiquitous business of selling it to advertisers. That said, I also remember the days when software like StarForce was supposed to be the end of piracy. Or when TPM itself came out, and people feared they'd be unable to install anything other than official Windows editions on their boxes. None of that came to pass either. As in all engineering ventures, the rule applies that whenever you consider something "foolproof", the Universe itself will conspire to create a better fool... or in this case, a smarter cracker.
Meanwhile, the question still stands as to why, in the modern conditions of near-total surveillance, places like London have become crime-infested hellholes instead of monochromatic Orwellian dictatorships. Even with regard to the pandemic, the biggest drivers of suppression have been peer pressure and plain old tattle-telling - wetware programming, so to speak. (So, in countries with traditional distrust of authority, as in Eastern Europe, the result was token at best - people only pretend to follow the rules, and even the authorities themselves only pretend to care.)
Instead, I suspect a lot of these demands and innovations are part of a standard business negotiation tactic - a requirement meant to be seen as ridiculous, and then discarded or circumvented - so that the real objectives still enter the contract, without even being outrageous enough to get covered in the media. Stuff like using particular hardware providers (with which MS has a referral contract), or demanding more beneficial financial terms... general purpose business bastardry, in other terms. Not exactly the most ethical of practices, but a far cry from the cyberpunk dystopia that people have feared ever since the invention of vacuum tubes.
And will the government just be handing out all that money to put such a system in place? And will banks just go along with making it harder for people to give them their money?
i am NEVER updating from windows 10. i waited years to upgrade from 7 and bit the bullet. because microsoft worked on a ton of shit and finally made it awesome. 10 is fucking fantastic tbh. im NEVER upgrading from it. ever.
I wonder what 2022 people will think when they discover that bill gates and microsoft were exposed and widely known as The Evil Empire, as far back as the 1980s.
Time to buy some refurbished laptops and accelerate my linux study.
Talking freely is going to be the greatest form of resistance coming soon.
you could just unscrew the case and remove the camera entirely
or drill through it
Linux only runs on Ring 0 and above of the main CPU
Chris Domas found privilege levels below Ring 0 on X86
DEF CON 26 - Christopher Domas - The Ring 0 Facade Awakening the Processors Inner Demons - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH0F9r0siTI
and more delights
DEF CON 26 - Christopher Domas - GOD MODE UNLOCKED Hardware Backdoors in redacted x86 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmTwlEh8L7g
The x86 CPU is only one of about 10 CPUs in a desktop computer
I've had a piece of sticky note held in place with electrical tape on my travel laptop for the last eight years or so (basically since I got it). Haven't had to replace it once.
Work laptop actually has a built in cover for the Webcam. It's a dell
The guy giving these talks now works at Intel lol
Linux Mint is a GREAT baby's first Linux distro, specifically with the Cinammon desktop/interface. It's really easy to switch over from Win10, and I even got my wife (who has quite literally said computers run on magic) in to the habit of being able to handle dual-booting for the few things she absolutely needed Windows for (mostly a couple of very specific work things).
Mint+Cinnamon is great if you want a just-works OS running Linux and from there you can branch out in to more specific stuff like Arch (fast AF, but I hope you like building packages). Mint's installer is also a portable version of the operating system, so you can test it out before or even while you install it (though it does run a little slower off a DVD or flash drive).
One of my friends swears by OpenSUSE, and I can't stand it for some reason I can't quite put my finger on.
DistroWatch is a good place to get started if you want to compare different flavors of Linux. https://distrowatch.com/
From there it looks like ZorinOS might be worth looking in to, they just had several driver updates, including 3000-series nVidia cards, Playstation controllers, and a few other things.
This is good info, thanks! I am dead serious about the switch so now I have a good place to start from.
I second the heads up on Linux Mint, it is a great place to start and is very civilized these days. I am running KDE plasma as the desktop environment as opposed to cinnamon though.
KDE allows complete flexibility to build your own work flow and the application launcher is like the windows start button should have been. It's very intuitive and user friendly and instantly finds anything you could want on the system.
With KDE you could have 12 task bars distributed on every edge of 3 monitors, all different. You could have a start button 1/2 the size of the screen right in the middle of it. It is totally customizable and reconfigurable with global themes that put anything else I have seen to shame with respect to the sheer volume of them and how radically they change the look of the entire system.
Qwant or Yandex (whatever) how to install KDE plasma as a desktop environment after the install of Linux Mint Cinnamon and you will be one smiling motherfucker.
Plasma looking like windows 7
Plasma goodness
more goodness
Windows is ugly as sin compared to plasma
Yes, but I imagine they have the end of Internet anonymity in mind with this - such that you wont be able to access online banking without bio-metric identification carried out through webcam. That's how it will start probably. The goal is that internet access would be entirely based on your digital identification.
Software cameras. You can already feed a video in to a fake camera and have the OS handle it the same way. Things like OBS do this already.
You carry a phone with built in cameras and microphones, and most people do most on those than a computer.
You must not understand. In South Korea you must type in your internet Id # to access the internet and it tracks what you do. Only think they are missing is a picture verification along with the ID.
When i was in korea...several times.... i experienced no such thing.
My fault. The ID is only required for specific websites. Not all at websites. But I'm sure they could change that quickly.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_registration_number
Fuck that. It wont change. Quickly or otherwise.
Isn't the traditional method of dealing with this is to put a piece of black tape over the f'ing spy eye? And if it demands to see light on the camera, fine, put translucent tape over the lens. And if they demand to see an image, fuck them; tape a dick pic over the lens, and fuck their Indian CEO Nadella. Clearly their marketing assholes are way too arrogant.
And from what I hear, Win 11 is a CIA Nazi-infected police state PoS.
Microsoft was revealed to be the evil empire back in the 80s. The traditional method has been to avoid windows and microsoft products, and to not help finance bills plandemics and other nefarious/evil activities.
I have re-thought Gates' history and actions, now that I know he's Jewish. I guess he's had some hidden agendas.
https://www.reviewgeek.com/90185/microsoft-requires-all-windows-11-laptops-to-have-a-webcam-starting-in-2023/
My phone screen won't turn on with the cameras covered and my wife's won't allow any operation at all if both are covered.
They need to see you get out of the shower.
Turn off adaptive brightness. Turn off accidental touch protection.
Thanks bro
You are welcome.
Which phones are these?
Barter.
Indeed.
And in general, I find a lot of reactions to digitization and technological advancements to amount to melodramatic pearl-clutching, mostly by folks with no experience in the greyer side of technology. It's as if things like rooting your phone or pirating software, or indeed slapping a piece of tape on the integrated webcam, simply don't exist. Never mind how there are entire black market economies prospering precisely in regions with the most draconian restrictions.
Instead, I suspect these reactions stem from some deeply ingrained misconception of how governments and major corporate systems work. That they are somehow invincible, capable of conjuring up infinite resources for countless nefarious schemes... and not dilapidated towers of crippling bureaucracy, full of individual self-serving rogue agents, mostly scrambling for a promotion or a slightly better retirement package.
And all this comes from Microsoft, of all things - the company that officially gave up trying to prevent piracy of its products, then quietly lost the case with hardwired Windows-only PCs and laptops, and is pretty much irrelevant in the now all but dominant tablet and smartphone market. Not exactly a history of victories against inventive users or competing interests.
I agree on the matter of MS collecting user data, though that's usually for the now-ubiquitous business of selling it to advertisers. That said, I also remember the days when software like StarForce was supposed to be the end of piracy. Or when TPM itself came out, and people feared they'd be unable to install anything other than official Windows editions on their boxes. None of that came to pass either. As in all engineering ventures, the rule applies that whenever you consider something "foolproof", the Universe itself will conspire to create a better fool... or in this case, a smarter cracker.
Meanwhile, the question still stands as to why, in the modern conditions of near-total surveillance, places like London have become crime-infested hellholes instead of monochromatic Orwellian dictatorships. Even with regard to the pandemic, the biggest drivers of suppression have been peer pressure and plain old tattle-telling - wetware programming, so to speak. (So, in countries with traditional distrust of authority, as in Eastern Europe, the result was token at best - people only pretend to follow the rules, and even the authorities themselves only pretend to care.)
Instead, I suspect a lot of these demands and innovations are part of a standard business negotiation tactic - a requirement meant to be seen as ridiculous, and then discarded or circumvented - so that the real objectives still enter the contract, without even being outrageous enough to get covered in the media. Stuff like using particular hardware providers (with which MS has a referral contract), or demanding more beneficial financial terms... general purpose business bastardry, in other terms. Not exactly the most ethical of practices, but a far cry from the cyberpunk dystopia that people have feared ever since the invention of vacuum tubes.
And will the government just be handing out all that money to put such a system in place? And will banks just go along with making it harder for people to give them their money?
i am NEVER updating from windows 10. i waited years to upgrade from 7 and bit the bullet. because microsoft worked on a ton of shit and finally made it awesome. 10 is fucking fantastic tbh. im NEVER upgrading from it. ever.
My next upgrade will be a slackware box.
nothing personal kid
I wonder what 2022 people will think when they discover that bill gates and microsoft were exposed and widely known as The Evil Empire, as far back as the 1980s.
Stop using windows already
It's not like there aren't alternatives lazy bastards
if you game a lot, there aren't really alternatives....
Grow up
Heard of the chewing gum?