Re: [Fed-Talk] New MacBooks - can camera come out?

Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] New MacBooks - can camera come out?

From: Steve Holden <email@hidden>

Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 07:25:21 -0800

Delivered-to: email@hidden

My recommendation to a sponsor in a SCIF is to find an alternative laptop device without a built-in camera. The unit should also have a way to disable by removing (preferred) or switch-off wireless in hardware (both WiFi and BlueTooth).

The situation has come up in the past with the small Sony Viao that is great for travel (under two pounds) but has a built-in camera. Also the new Asus laptops recently announced at CES will have the same problem as they have integrated cameras.

There is the potential I think for some of the collaboration systems that have already been accredited to have external video cameras for desktop VTC to actually switch to a PC or a Mac with an integrated camera. It makes sense from an IT support standpoint. In that situation though I think all the recommend cameras being used have a physical switch or latch for blocking the video lens for "privacy."

My Tecra M4 Tablet PC has no camera but an on-off hardware switch of wireless, and it is approved for coming and going through secure areas. That would be a recommended feature for any future Apple laptop.

Steve

(aka sholden@spawar,navy.mil)

On Jan 12, 2006, at 7:14 AM, Lewis Bean wrote:

I spoke to the Apple product marketing team, and for now, they are not working on a solution to remove the camera from either the iMac or MacBook Pro.

I agree that a significant commitment to purchase might change their minds, and I am sure there is a federal reseller who would be willing to aggregate those orders (smile).

While discussing the issue with them someone mentioned a low-tech fix might solve the problem. Specifically that obscuring the lens with epoxy has been accepted as a legitimate fix in some places for cell phone cameras. Have any of you in secure locations found this to be true?

Thanks,

Lewis Bean

GTSI Apple Team

Attachment: smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature

_______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Fed-talk mailing list (email@hidden) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/fed-talk/email@hidden This email sent to email@hidden

References:
	>RE: [Fed-Talk] New MacBooks - can camera come out? (From: "Lewis Bean" <email@hidden>)