this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
20 points (71.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26707 readers
1592 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics.


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I remember a phone company saying they were going to install cameras in the screens but then no one every talked about it again. Does anyone check?

Edit: I mean hidden cameras for "security".

top 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're being tracked via the mic and cameras they sell you on. There's no need to hide anything.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Good point. but I cover the cameras I know about most of the time. Mics, there isn't much you can do about that. They're pretty sensitive and can pick up very slight sounds.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Check out JerryRigEverything. He does teardowns of pretty much every mainstream phone.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Best way to destroy any waterproofing what was in there.

But seriously, the paranoia is a bit silly- ok so let’s pretend they’d put a camera inside to get a great selfie when you open it. Then what? Straight to jail?

Not sure you’re thinking this through.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

If I need to replace the screen, yeah I'll take it apart. But modern phones are usually glued together and a huge pain in the ass to disassemble. So I avoid it unless I really need to.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The very privacy focused might but it's not a matter of inspecting the device for hidden devices but removing them. I remember people opening iPhones a few years ago to disconnect the microphone.

If I get a new device and it's relatively easy to open (no heat and suction cups) I typically look inside. My Pinephone has kill switches inside for various features and even if I don't use them. They are pretty neat.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It was Apple that talked about doing that. I wonder if it's now too expensive to do that and people just root their phone. The only thing weird about that, is that Apple is involved in every step, couldn't they hide info being sent?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

He's talking about physical switches that cut power to the hardware.

I think what you're referring to with Apple is that the camera (on MacBooks) is wired in a way so that it's impossible for the camera to be on without the indicator light also being on. Software can't do anything because it's not controlled by software.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apple was talking adding kill switches? I feel like the cost compared to how many people would actually use it would be a big factor but there's also a multitude of other things that would go along with that like how it would effect water resistance.

The only thing weird about that, is that Apple is involved in every step, couldn’t they hide info being sent?

Do you mean with encryption or if they wanted to send information away maliciously?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure, tbh. You never know with any phone companies, not just Apple. That's why I'd like to know if anyone checks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I imagine most mainstream devices are torn down and inspected by reviewers at some point. I'd be significantly more concerned about the OS versus some 1950s style wiretap in your cellphone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not a wiretap, it's a camera.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I feel like we are going in circles here. My point was you should be more concerned about your OS than a physical addition to a device. Especially if it's a widely purchased consumer device.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People absolutely do teardowns of new phones. Between sites like ifixit and various tech YouTubers it would be almost impossible to have some hidden hardware in a device.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the sources, that's what I was hoping to find. I tried googling it but no luck.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ifixit is a source and a pretty good one. Other than that, typing "(phone model) teardown" into Google is all I do.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, if it doesn't work if you try to create an app for it, you'll know pretty fast.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think I'm being clear, they meant hidden cameras.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Yeah, but you should be able to access those via root and/or there are ways to see what kind of information is being sent where. You really don't need to open it to get at these things. Hell, you can completely change your phone OS if you want.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It's not quite that simple. If it's a piece of hardware that's not intended for public use, then there certainly are not gonna be any drivers provided. There will be drivers hidden in their proprietary software, but installing your own os won't include those. And if nobody knows they are there, who's going to hack the hardware and write a driver?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm obviously not that techy even though I'm on Lemmy, I would be too freaked out to even root my phone.