One thing to do today: Cover your camera with something pretty
The people who create computer hardware can build respect into the metal, or they can not. Or they can try, and they can fail. Let’s take the camera on Apple laptops. They tried. They did actually think of it and try to make sure that software running on the computer couldn’t turn on the camera without turning on the light. Some kid wanting to see a girl naked found a way around that. I’ve seen nothing that verifies that modern laptops from Apple have fixed the exploit. Now imagine manufacturers that care even less. This is why I prefer to buy open source hardware products when I can. There are billions of people on this planet. Even if you are Apple, someone, probably more than one someone, is going to be smarter than the company’s engineers. Because, you know, titties. It’s better when we are all on the same side.
But we live in a world without a strong open source hardware culture, yet. Teardowns done by sites like iFixit mitigate some worries. They have an x-ray machine and they use it. “xray teardown $PRODUCT_IN_QUESTION” put into a search engine can kick things off for items that are more obscure. Also, patents have crazy amounts of information and google has built a wonderful engine to search patents exclusively.
But in the mean time, I’ve made myself something pretty. Didn’t take much or take long. Grabbed a post-it-note, doodled on it, cut it down, put it on my laptop. Decided it wasn’t sticky enough, so used some Scotch restickable glue stick. Of course once that magic is in the mix your camera cozy could be made from:
- pretty craft paper
- a page out of a magazine
- a print out one of those circuit board x-rays
- Endless.
Others may look at my computer decor and deem it “silly looking.” Yeah, it’s silly. Silly that we can’t put the structures in place to make it unnecessary. So the more ridiculous the better I say.
You may be wondering why knowing all that I know it took me until today to cover my camera. Honestly, because: “Nobody cares about me.” “I’m not important enough.” “Whatever, I don’t do anything interesting.”
F*CK THAT NOISE. D*MN THAT SH*T TO H*LL. I value me. Everyone matters, and I am part of everyone. There are differences to be made and I can make them. I do not get to be violated. I am worth fighting for. I am going to look at that weird purple camera cozy and it is going to keep my coals hot. Cause this is the long haul, baby, and I’m in all the way.
Even when others fail to love us, we can set boundaries that remind us of our worth.
* disclaimer. astrix-infusion curtesy of todbot. I’m feeling super NSFW today.
