Please, just add a physical switch to disconnect the microphone and camera and even battery! Why the hell do we need special chips to do this? Every chip can be hacked... internet hackers can't turn on physical switches...
It doesn't sound like a special chip, it sounds like an optical relay hooked up to a Hall effect sensor. If magnetic connection is available, the optical relay will disconnect the microphone entirely. They just started doing this with T2+ models.
I appreciate the request because I tend to agree, though I wouldn't say "every chip can be hacked," but rather I would point to Apple's wavering commitment to privacy (with their recent tracking debacle [1] and previous privacy "mistakes" [2]).
Please, Apple, instead of engineering a better kill switch which requires me to trust you, just install an actual kill switch that I can see for myself does what I want.
> Every chip can be hacked... internet hackers can't turn on physical switches...
Others have replied to the specifics here, but I'd like to add that "every chip can be hacked" is just categorically false (unless you also allow for physical access for "hacked", but then that would apply to the physical switch as well).
"Chips" are neither magical devices, nor are they necessarily running something akin to software, or controlling everything purely through software even if they do.
As a simple example, you can be very confident that a (real) ROM is a ROM, and that its contents cannot be changed by software.
Is closing the lid the only way to do this? I never use my camera or mic. I'd be happy opening my laptop and switching a dip switch. Does one exist? Does anyone know?
