Portables Without Cameras? 442
crankyspice writes "I work routinely in environments where a camera cannot physically be present (e.g., federal court), which really limits what I can carry with me. For instance, I'm a Mac guy, but there's no way to order a MacBook without a built-in webcam (which I've never used on the machines I've owned that have had one). Ditto the iPhone. I'm left with a BlackBerry 8830 and the bottom rung of the [W|L]Intel portables. Even then, when I ordered a Dell Mini 9, I had to wait more than a month because I specified no webcam when I placed the order. This is a relatively common (government, law, sensitive corporate environments) requirement; what have other Slashdotters done? Disabling the camera with a script or somesuch won't convince the $12/hour security guard that there's no camera. How can one easily find portable devices without a built-in camera?"
keep digging, Watson (Score:3, Interesting)
Choosing an option without a webcam isn't why you had to wait for your Mini 9. When I ordered one (64GB HDD, Ubuntu, 2GB of RAM, no webcam) I got it inside of a week. Chances are the reason you had to wait was because you chose a common configuration that everybody else was ordering.
You could also look at a larger screen size of a notebook. Again with Dells, you can quite easily specify no webcam option. It's actually a charged upgrade for them to get the webcam. I'm fairly sure that other manufacturers can also sell you a notebook without a webcam, but HP doesn't sell a consumer laptop with Linux preinstalled. :)
Re:Step back a bit... (Score:4, Interesting)
Not necessarily better!
I've seen many crazy things to do w/ "security" guards, in all regions of the U.S. and various contexts (courthouses, airports, etc.) A friend of mine had his P38 (old military style) can opener taken off his keychain in the Bucks County Courthouse (PA); it's hard to believe that it's (much) more dangerous as a slashing implement than most of the other keys on the same keychain. And the keychain itself could be used to bludgeon someone. And the strap of my messenger bag could have quite satisfyingly throttled that simpering, simple-headed nogoodnik of a "security guard" in the first place.
True: walked into a parole office in New Jersey with a fellow about to start parole. The lazy, snickering security guard spotted us after we'd both entered, through the (unattended) flimsy, Soviet-style metal-detector that probably had guts cheaper than the kind you see guys sweeping down the beach. The new parolee, who was carrying nothing, was asked to actually go through the device. I was not (had to ask special) -- even though I was carrying a bag that could have had a few dozen grenades, or mice, or whatever. Perhaps it was because I was wearing a Suit of Hypnosis and a Tie of Knotting.
Guard soon went back to guarding his GameBoy in the corner 20 or more feet from the entrance.
timothy
Re:dude.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Reminds me of when I worked for the Saskatchewan government. Every piece of hardware has a "Property of GOS" sticker on it, with an item # and barcode. The various people (Crown prosecutors, etc.) who needed to disable the camera on their provided phone/blackberry/etc. would simply have that sticker over the camera lens.
This will get interesting (Score:5, Interesting)
There's someone who's implanting a camera to replace a glass eye. With the singularity and associated transhumanism, this will get more complicated.
Re:These places should do what others do (Score:3, Interesting)
True high-security environments are designed against RF leakage, although as the poster states, such environments wouldn't allow a camera in to begin with. Actually they usually prohibit cell phones of any type, so it's all moot. It's sort of overkill, because there's nothing to keep people from remembering what they see, and if they work there they probably see quite a lot. Such schisms are typical of government though.. place armed guards at the entrance who will let you in with a dollar bill wrapped around a credit card (back when IDs were green). I'm certainly not going to enumerate current security vulnerabilities, but I will say that whoever coined the phrase "security theater" was pretty much on the mark. Most security works as a deterrent, and only sometimes as actual prevention.
Re:Step back a bit... (Score:5, Interesting)
More than once I have asked "why do you have this rule or that" and gotten the response: "Because the boss must be on crack or something".
As for the cameras issue. That is legit. Not only do courts sometimes deal with cases where identities must be protected (I.e. It's bad enough little Sandy has to testify against her Daddy for molesting her, but putting her picture on the net would make it a whole lot worse) but there are other "institutions" that have vested interest in being photograph free. I.e. Many titty Bars ban Cams to protect the day jobs and church membership of part time strippers as well as the Senate seat of tonight's #1 tipper.
As for cam less devices. Nothing wrong with having a low end device. I.e. In a courtroom, You don't need a high frame rate or surround sound. Even my lowly old Dell Latitude D620 is overkill for legitimate courtroom usage.
Phones are a bigger problem. It's getting real hard to find phones with Email, 3G and WiFi without a built in Camera.
I'm shocked nobody has capitalized on this to release "Cam-less mods" for those Blackberrys where the cam can be hidden and crippled by changing the user removable back panel for one without the lens opening.
Silly question (Score:5, Interesting)
This is a silly question.
For the Mac, take it to the Apple store, and ask a tech to open the case. He can remove the camera, control board, etc, etc....
For most PC laptops, the same can be done by any retailer with a tech on site.
For the phones, it may be a little harder to get an authorized tech to open it. You may have to ask the store who is a local authorized repair tech.
If you're not worried about the warranty, do it your self. It's not very hard. If you do it carefully, you can replace the camera later, and if you have to return it for warranty work, they won't be able to tell.
In any of those cases, I recommend keeping the removed parts, should you want to replace them later.
Another option may be to "decorate" the case. Home Depot sells glue backed foil for sealing air conditioning ducts. No, not "duct tape", it's foil tape. Some have written marks, and some don't. I'd go with the unmarked ones. Carefully line the edges of your display with the foil, so it doesn't look ugly. Voila, no camera.
Or option 3.. Bust out the camera with a drill or punch, and fill the hole with a dummy plug or epoxy.
Since you're in a real security environment, I'd go with options 1 or 3. Option 2 can open you up to liability. Since the camera still exists, you're just hiding it, you could in theory uncover it, use it, and then cover it again before you leave the facility.
I used to work in a few pseudo-secure facilities. Their rules were that no recording devices of any sort were allowed on the premises. They were datacenters, so the most I could really get was a picture of what other providers were using. Really, that could prove embarrassing if say I came out of an Equinix facility, showing that the IBM enterprise eBusiness managed hosting service was just a mess of desktops and rackmount machines, badly cabled, in partially filled racks at best. Since they advertise that they have their own facilities, even knowing that they are simply a few cabinets in a cage buried in an Equinix facility would be embarrassing.
I've seen quite a few "enterprise" providers, who run on a few desktop machines jammed into a cabinet. Then again, I've seen even more "enterprise" providers with beautiful setups. It's funny, their customers never get to see the real setup, but a tech who is there to work for another company gets the full view. :)
Anyways, I used to carry cameras, my cell with a camera, or whatever I wanted in. It was a simple matter of burying it so deep in my laptop bag that the security guards wouldn't want to dig through all of it. In the same environments, they require property passes to remove equipment. If you have enough stuff moving, you can move extra stuff too. I've accidentally removed more than the pass showed. It wasn't intentional, it's just that we overlooked a piece, and noticed when we cross-checked the list later. It would have been a lot harder to walk in, and then walk out with just one piece of undocumented equipment.
I've had the same happen with the TSA. They want to search, so I tell them "Go ahead, but you have to put it back like you found it." They unzipper a few compartments, see that they're jammed with cables for various purposes (I come prepared), and then just wipe it down so they can do their attempt at detecting explosives.
On the TSA explosives testing (as I digress)... A friend was driving me to the airport to catch a flight back home. We had already arranged with another friend to go to a local shooting range. I burnt off several hundred rounds of 9mm, .45 ACP and 12 Gauge, which means I handled plenty of ammunition and the residue was all over my hands, arms, face, and clothes. I also handled my carry on (obviously). I didn't really think about i
Mobile phone cameras (Score:4, Interesting)
I think the #1 reason its so hard to find a phone with no camera is that the carriers would rather you bought one with a camera (since they can up sell stuff to go with that camera)
I cant believe that there isn't enough demand for camera phones from consumers for manufacturers to continue to include cameras (being that cameras have a non-zero cost)
Same problem/Different Technology (Score:4, Interesting)
Needless to say, productivity went way down.
Re:Step back a bit... (Score:4, Interesting)
Ah, not, that's not true.
You can not tell a camera's electronics from a cell phone's electronics. None of this stuff can be distinguished on Xray. Even a cam embedded in a laptop can't be distinguished from the other electronics in the device.
They see your cell when you go thru the scanner (you put the phone in the basket before going thru).
They have been trained to look for cameras built into computer bezels (even tho 98% of them face the computer user, not the courtroom).
They do it with eyeballs, not Xrays.
Re:Step back a bit... (Score:3, Interesting)