| Walt Mankowski via plug on 15 Jun 2025 04:59:34 -0700 |
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| Re: [PLUG] The end of privacy as we know it? |
That's a fair point, but I think these are two separate problems. You could, for instance, turn off your phone or leave it in another room, but you'd still need to deal with your computer's microphone. (At least for me, riding the NY Subway is another great way to temporarily disable those features!) I'll also mention that folks continue to have trouble with their microphones at nearly every online PLUG meeting. This is also an issue in ham radio -- the cables that are used to connect radios to computers generally make the radio look like a speaker and microphone to the computer. To be fair, in these cases the issue is generally trying to get the microphones to work properly in the first place rather than disabling them, but it's really two sides to the same coin. Walt On Sat, Jun 14, 2025 at 11:52:03PM +0200, Frank via plug wrote: > Not to be pedantic, but this topic is completely moot if you're one of the > 99% of the world's population using either a Google or Apple branded > recording and tracking device (commonly known as a "smartphone"). > > - Frank > > On 6/14/25 11:47 PM, K.S. Bhaskar via plug wrote: > > If the microphone has power, it would be picking up sounds and > > broadcasting them, whether or not it is muted in software. Masking tape > > over it would muffle the signal and decrease the signal to noise ratio, > > but not mask it. The only sure way would be to electrically cut the > > power to the microphone. > > > > Regards > > - Bhaskar > > > > On Sat, Jun 14, 2025 at 7:38 AM Walt Mankowski via plug > > <plug@lists.phillylinux.org> wrote: > > > > You could also use an app like alsamixer to turn the gain all the way > > down. > > > > Maybe we could devote some time at the next PLUG meeting (on July 2) > > to testing out various ways to mute ourselves without using Jitsi's > > "mute" button. Of course, usually our problem is *not* being able to > > hear some people, so it might be fun to try to do it intentionally! > > > > Walt > > > > On Sat, Jun 14, 2025 at 07:06:51AM -0400, Michael Lazin via plug > > wrote: > > > The microphone driver should be a kernel module. If you are on > > a Linux > > > computer you can take the nuclear option and use rmmod to remove > > the kernel > > > module if you don't need the microphone. > > > > > > Michael Lazin > > > > > > .. τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ νοεῖν ἐστίν τε καὶ εἶναι. > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Jun 13, 2025 at 5:48 PM Wayne via plug > > <plug@lists.phillylinux.org> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > Tape won't work, the mics are far too sensitive. > > > > > > > > If you're using Pulse Audio, this may work as an attempt to > > disable the > > > > mic electrically. > > > > > > > > pactl set-source-mute @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ 1 # mute > > > > pactl set-source-mute @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ 0 # unmute > > > > > > > > > > > > On 6/13/25 12:27 PM, Walt Mankowski via plug wrote: > > > > > On Fri, Jun 13, 2025 at 02:50:13PM -0400, Casey Bralla via > > plug wrote: > > > > >> But it seems to me that enclosing the laptop in a Faraday > > cage would > > > > solve > > > > >> this problem. Such a cage could be built-in to the laptop at > > > > manufacture. > > > > > > > > > > It seems to me that might hurt your WiFi performance. :) > > Maybe it > > > > > would be easier to cover the microphone inputs. Maybe even > > some scotch > > > > > tape would work? > > > > > > > > > > Walt > > > > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________________ > > > > > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- > > > > http://www.phillylinux.org > > > > > Announcements - > > > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > > > > > General Discussion -- > > > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________________ > > > > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- > > > > http://www.phillylinux.org > > > > Announcements - > > > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > > > > General Discussion -- > > > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________________ > > > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org > > > Announcements - > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > > > General Discussion -- > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > > ___________________________________________________________________________ > > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org > > Announcements - > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > > General Discussion -- > > http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________________ > > Philadelphia Linux Users Group --http://www.phillylinux.org > > Announcements -http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > > General Discussion --http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > ___________________________________________________________________________ > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org > Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug ___________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug