zlacker

>>xairy+(OP)
I can see why some people might be concerned about the camera, but I'm far more concerned by the microphone. There's far more sensitive and actionable information that can be gathered from me that way! I'm glad that macOS started putting a light in the menubar when the microphone is in use, but I'd prefer to have unhackable hardware for that instead.

>>epista+i3
I believe it is possible to turn a speaker into a microphone. Found a paper which claims to do just that[0]. So, there is no safety anywhere?

  SPEAKE(a)R: Turn Speakers to Microphones for Fun and Profit
  It is possible to manipulate the headphones (or earphones) connected to a computer, silently turning them into a pair of eavesdropping microphones - with software alone. The same is also true for some types of loudspeakers. This paper focuses on this threat in a cyber-security context. We present SPEAKE(a)R, a software that can covertly turn the headphones connected to a PC into a microphone. We present technical background and explain why most of PCs and laptops are susceptible to this type of attack. We examine an attack scenario in which malware can use a computer as an eavesdropping device, even when a microphone is not present, muted, taped, or turned off. We measure the signal quality and the effective distance, and survey the defensive countermeasures. 

[0] https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.07350

>>3eb798+Ab
I recall in the early or mid 2000s using some cheap earbuds plugged into the microphone port of my family computer as a pair of microphones in lieu of having a real microphone nor the money for one. Then I used Audacity to turn the terrible recording into a passable sound effect for the video games I was making.

Not knowing much about how soundcards work, I imagine it would be feasible to flash some soundcards with custom firmware to use the speaker port for input without the user knowing.

>>NTARel+3h
This is common at nightclubs (or was) - a DJ can use their headphones as a microphone, speaking into one channel and listening to another

Example https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1NNP6AFkpjs

:-)

>>megraf+Ti
You will still see DJs do this in NYC! Old school flavor. You can also see Skepta rapping into a pair on the the music video for That's Not Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xQKWnvtg6c

I've seen some theatrical DJs bring a cheap pair, snap them in half, and then use them like a "lollipop." Crowd eats it up. Even older school: using a telephone handset: https://imgur.com/a/1fUghXY