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Portables Without Cameras?
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?"
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?
Simple, non-technical solution: just hire $10/hour security guards!
Trolling is a art,
I've just cruised through this list of netbooks over at Amazon. It returned just over 5,000 results and I can't find one without a camera. I'll keep looking but this leads me to believe that you may just need to look at a regular laptop. And the wait is probably going to exist otherwise because you are obviously looking for something that is just outside the norm for these.
This discussion from last September didn't turn up anything, except the Mini 9 - which you already mention. Though they do bring up one option that I think is the best bet; to open up the case, yank the camera and fill in the spot where it went. It can't be that hard. If some guy can fit an LCD behind the apple logo - you can get the camera out.
The phone issue I find being brought up going back to 2005 and it's probably older - this seemed to offer hope and mentions a few models but it's old and I'm not sure how stuff would have carried forward. Most stuff I find mentions Blackberry which you already have. So my guess is that there is no treasure trove of camera free devices that you have missed. You are just in a tough spot.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
check out the T400 or the T61 if they still sell it.
Look around at what your peers and colleagues are using. You can't be the only one trying to bring portable devices into those places.
Why not just take some opaque, permanent glue (epoxy will work) and cover the lens with it? you can even sand it and paint over it.
The problem is that companies see a camera, no matter how basic, as a selling point that is easy to impliment. As shown by the dated camera added on to the iphone. Its a cheap and easy feature that most people look for in some incaranation on their phones. Its not their fault its the way people are they always want everything , it doesnt matter if its sub par as long as its there.
The answer is simple. Break the camera device. It won't break your computer or portable. . it will break the camera.
Make it so it is obvious when you point it out.
A glob of two part epoxy over the lense should do the trick for you.
(Someone else asked about black berrys)
On a crack-berry, if you don't WANT to read the emails
when you take it out of the hoslster (like, to answer
the PHONE), drill out the magnet in the holster.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Many high security establishments, both government and commercial, realize that they can't stop technology without serious concessions. What some do are to put a special tamper-proof tag over the camera. Then they just inspect the tag when you exit and, if tampered, confiscate the device until it can be validated.
I attend several film festivals each year, which include several world premieres and advanced screenings. Some of those festivals can be pretty picky about even camera phones.
I guess I don't understand the original question. There's no secret website where all the items lack cameras, but almost every site lists a full spec for their products, including the presence (or lack of) camera. There is a market for those that don't want cameras, so devices exist and will continue to exist.
Instead of an iPhone, I have an iPod Touch, which costs half as much, has no monthly fee, and has all the same features except the cellular service, an external mic and speaker, and the camera. Then I have a phone that can do text and voice but, again, lacks a camera. My laptop has one, but I'm not taking that into movies all the time. If I was, I'd have ordered one without it and waited for it, just like you did with your Dell.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Conceal the camera somehow, if it's obvious. That's what I do if I'm somewhere like that with my phone.
or white out? lol
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. :)
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
If it is that important to you, then "remove" it yourself. Probably the easiest thing to do is to find a thin sheet of plastic the same color as the case and epoxy and small piece of it over the camera. This pretty much permanently disables it and doesn't overly mess up the look of the machine.
A drill with a 1/4" bit will surely remove the offending camera from the device and, if done properly, will convince even the $7/hr guards while leaving the device operable. YMMV.
Guru Meditation #6d416769.21610a21
I use a HP TC1100 as a portable. 40 gig hard drive, 1 Ghz processor, gig of RAM, WinXP Tablet Edition. It's a tough little machine with a full 1024x768 tablet (stylus) screen.
You can normally find them with their docking station for about 400 on eBay. It's a great little machine.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
I'm tired of not being able to bring my cell phone into the strip club... I don't wear a watch and rely on the phone for time as well as coordination. The last bachelor party we went to ran WAY over because nobody knew the time and where to meet the limo.
http://images.apple.com/server/macosx/docs/Leopard_Security_Config_2nd_Ed.pdf Page 47: You can also have an Apple Authorized Technician remove the built-in video camera hardware from your Apple computer.
I'm pretty sure that will convince folks that you don't have a camera installed.
The Nate
-- Nate
Could a toughbook work?
http://www.panasonic.com/business/Toughbook/toughbook-products.asp
If you are a Mac guy with a Dell Mini 9 you can run OS X on it: http://i.gizmodo.com/5156903/how-to-hackintosh-a-dell-mini-9-into-the-ultimate-os-x-netbook
The US govt bought some macbooks without cameras. I don't know if Apple removed them before selling to them, or if they had a 3rd party doing the removal process. What I DO know is they were manufactured with the cameras in them, and removed after production and packaging.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Get a Nokia 6021 - horrible horrible phone, but no camera. My Fujitsu P1620 mini laptop (not a netbook - it is actually useful as a primary computer) is 1kg, 9" screen and no camera.
I ordered a cameraless HTC Fuze through AT&Ts Business Website; many cellular carriers provide modified, sans-camera versions of their popular handsets to businesses only on a hefty discount, so that's worth a look.
You'd also be surprised at how many camera removal services are out there. There's a local store who will remove cameras from iPhones and cover the lens hole with a piece of cardboard on the inside of the phone (I know, paper + electronics = bad) to show the camera was unusable. Most disassembly guides will cover such removal or replacement instructions.
If all else fails, talk to the head of security at your facility (Not the guard, but the actual head honcho); he may have recommendations or suggestions as to how to get your personal equipment through screening without permanent modifications.
Same way it's usually cheaper and much easier to buy a PC with Windows, delete it and install Ubuntu than try to find a manufacturer to supply it for you out of the box.
I bought a Lenovo T61 a year back that did not have an inbuilt camera. Perhaps the newer Lenovo T400s also provide that option?
What does a security guard's wage have to do with his willingness to let you in with an otherwise illicit device that you have given "scout's honor" to be artificially limited by software?
For starters the dell outlet always has non-camera mini9's. Beyond that, spraypainting the camera lens would probably convince a $12/hour type.
Get an OQO. Fits in a pocket, full windows xp/vista. Mobile broadband built right in. Extended batteries for hours of use.
http://www.oqo.com/
I'm a satanic clam.
Actually you can get a iphone and other equipment sans camera-but its usually a aftermarket modification that removes it.
Go to a local electronic swap meet, spend $50 on a refurbished laptop. Done.
I got called for jury the other day, and I put my iPhone and my MSI Wind (with webcam) down right in front of the security guards and they let me walk right through. Maybe our court house isn't quite as intense...
There's someone who's implanting a camera to replace a glass eye. With the singularity and associated transhumanism, this will get more complicated.
If the thing is smashed in or if you painted over it then it longer becomes a concern.
I have a similar working situation. Here, we petitioned to be allowed to bring in devices with cameras. The seriously non-technical solution we arrived at is to spray paint over the lens with the color of the case, let it dry, then superglue a piece of clear plastic over the spray paint. The judges approved of it (and did it with their own devices) and security was notified to be aware of this modification.
The only issue? Warranty. The solution? Letter from the judge and from the head of security stating why the procedure was necessary, that to their knowledge the manufacturer of the product has no alternatives without cameras, and to please perform a warranty repair on all portions of the device except the camera. Several of us have taken our devices for repairs. Dell cried like a little girl, but was finally convinced. Apple said no problem, but the camera is not covered. Sony said piss off and die. So, your mileage may vary.
Nevertheless, it works, and a curious security guard just has to pry at it to realize it is not coming off.
I had to go through that a few years ago. Lenovo sells a number of laptops without cameras, so look at what they have. As for phones, that can be even harder.
Last time I had to buy a phone like that it took me half an hour to get it through rep's at Verizon's head that I wasn't looking for a cheap prepay phone..... When all was said and done I had a choice of three phones in the store, and had to settle for a floor display for an out of production phone.
You could get a HP Mini. The webcam on those doesn't work anyway.
the iPod touch is basically an iPhone, but with no phone & no camera. Add in a cheap cell phone (have to dig pretty deep to get one w/out a camera) & you're good to go. & for all you security-guard haters, a lot of the alleged $12/hour security guards at federal facilities are US Marshals. Taping over the camera is not going to make them happy, & you don't want pissed-off marshals on your ass.
This is part of life at a private high school. The parents have to consent to cameras in the computers, otherwise they are removed. In the current MacBooks you would kill the screen if you unplugged the camera, so we opted for a launchd script that makes sure the camera stays off. The parents are more agreeable to this than the drill-press option. I would be very proud of any grade 9 student that could beat the script.
> Disabling the camera with a script or somesuch won't convince the $12/hour security guard that there's no camera.
It also would not convince me.
Just buy what you want and hit the lens with some 400 grit or emery cloth. Paint to taste. The camera has been [most likely permanently] disabled in an easily verifiable way without disturbing the electronics. Cruel but effect.
You could always travel back to 1995 and get one of those Macs...or you could buy an actual business Lenevo, which by and large do not have cameras.
Many times going into a sensitive computing area all recording devices and wireless devices must be removed. Not only cameras but microphones, wifi, blue tooth. When these devices are built-in it creates problems trying to remove them or disabling them.
The (not low end) thinkpad I got a few months ago had the camera as an option. A brief look at other brands would probably reveal the same thing. Hell, you could just ask the other people working there what they use.
If you love apple too much to lower youself to using a wintel machine, why not get an old mac? The recent macbooks/ibooks may be camera-free. I know that the Pismo (powerbook g3 400/500) series is great, and can run OSX10.4 (haven't tried 10.5, sorry).
The English word fart is one of the oldest words in the English vocabulary.
Hot soldering iron tip through the lens. I've heard that works; I've no real experience with it.
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
Icepick and hammer
> Disabling the camera with a script or somesuch won't convince the $12/hour security guard that there's no camera.
It also would not convince me.
Outside of a Federal Building, I'm guessing that most places visited have the same $12/hour Security Guard that is more window dressing than anything. "Uh, I left it in my car" in response to "do you have a cell phone?" works more often than not, sad to say.(not that I condone bending the truth or anything...)
You work in a federal court? Where's your ID that lets you walk by the US Marshall without going through security procedure? You shouldn't have to worry about cameras on your laptop or your cell phone. Even if you don't "Work in a federal court" it is as simple as answering the US Marshall's responding to the question, "Do you have a camera on that thing?", "No Sir." I've passed by a US Marshall manning a metal detector too many times to know this should work.
Or paint, or plastic, or whatever.
Do you really think the guys he works with are so stupid that somebody won't eventually say "hey, is that covering up a camera?" then peel it back and discover the camera there? And then the guy in question will get fired and probably face legal charges for knowingly bringing a functional camera into the place.
You're best off just getting something without a camera, really. If you absolutely have to get a device with a camera, find a technician who will physically remove the device for you. The feds do not appreciate people who think they can half-ass security measures and get away with it.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
The iPod Touch doesn't have a camera. If you are willing to put the phone on that list, why not the touch??
Wouldn't it be better to not permit cell phones or computers in these areas? (Courtrooms in particular?)
I have spent some time working at heavily secured government sites in South Korea. They check for cameras on the way in. I got caught once by accident. I got it back at the end of the day. But people I work with there all carry phones and all mobile phones in that country have cameras. They just don't use them on site.
So yes I believe that covering the camera with tape might be acceptable, stupid as that may seem.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I work for my government here in EU and cameras aren't allowed, yet I have a netbook and a handy with a camera. How? Easy: I have just covered the camera lens with stickers. Twice the security guard asked whether they have cameras, I showed the sticker-covered lens, and allowed me in.
Is a slightly older "ultraportable" that comes without a camera, you can still buy 'em new from Toshiba though. That said, a LOT of older laptops, including older ultraportables, do not come with webcams, and are available much cheaper used then they used to sell for new.
It should be relatively easy to open the case and physically remove the camera. If you need to, pay someone $100 to do it.
Remember, you can have what you want without compromise.
You said that you're a Mac guy. You've also implied that a netbook would do the trick. 12" G4 powerbook is the closest thing to a netbook that Apple ever made, and I don't even think that a webcam was an option. You can find them in good shape with plenty of extras for around $400 on ebay.
I finally did not buy it, but i considered it. I seems to have no camera.
As crazy as it might sound ask the people in charge of security, or whoever is in charge of giving orders to security. As others have said putting a sticker over the lense might be enough. Sure it will leave a sticky mark, but that is less pain the some of the damage other posters are suggesting. Present them with the issue and let them suggest the answer. If the answer causes you problems then tell them you need a realistic solution that will allow you to get your work done. You'll be surprised the answers and solutions you get when you tell people you can't work because of xyz.
Asking us, is simply presenting us with a set of assumptions and hoping to find a favourable answer. An analytical solution is a waste of time if the assumptions are wrong.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Long live transparency in Government!
Re putting plastic over it -- the idea is that this piece of plastic is attached with epoxy, in such a way that it's not trivial (ie. requires tools, and even then will leave visible damage on the underlying surface) to remove.
The feds do not appreciate people who think they can half-ass security measures
I know! They get really threatened by people who try to outdo them at their own job.
If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
Most of the dell latitude notebooks dont have cameras on them.
sorry for my comments, I'm drunk
There are many Fujitsu models without Cameras. You can get a Fujitsu 4220 tablet without one, or an E8420. Both are nice notebooks and work great.
Welcome to the Entropy Bar, may I take your order?
Or paint, or plastic, or whatever.
Do you really think the guys he works with are so stupid that somebody won't eventually say "hey, is that covering up a camera?" then peel it back and discover the camera there?
If you are clever and make it look like it belongs on the computer, then no, they aren't going to ask. A piece of scotch tape will be questioned. An official looking Apple sticker, a sticker with the name of the place you bought it, or a piece of plastic that is of similar material to the notebook housing would probably NOT be questioned, though. As far as paint, I guess you would have to be pretty stupid to think that someone is going to sit there and remove paint from a camera lens in court, or wherever you are. And even if you tried that, you're going to end up ruining the lens getting the paint off, anyway. Anyway, a laptop has so many bumps, buttons, and ridges, that a good paint job would totally camouflage it.
Epoxy and some nice looking black plastic to cover the camera. Problem solved. Next?
Setting his threshold to 5, Sparky eliminated most of the trolls on /.
That should do the trick. Just cut a hole and get rid of it, then block the hole with black (or whatever color your laptop is) electric tape.
It's like the pin on IBM laptops that tell the system the display is off and then tries to find an alternate display, messing up the position of all of your icons. Just get rid of it with wire cutters.
Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
As unrealistic as it is, this is straight from NSA's Hardening Tips For Default Installation of Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard": "The best way to disable an integrated iSight camera is to have an Apple-certified technician remove it."
The guys at LANL have to break their macbooks, I guess the glue solution's been done, but a firmware level break became acceptable at some point
You can get spy cameras in a ball point pen. And you can easily record audio anyway, which is often worse. If you want to, you can record anything and there's nothing they can do about it.
Stick an official looking logo or brand name badge over it.
Paint over the lens.
So first of all I'm pretty sure that the $12/hour security guard won't even see the mac camera or some of the better designed PC cameras..but if he does disable it with a jewelers drill or a bit of epoxy...something physical and permanent. When asked what that is you say "that's where I removed the web cam from this notebook so it would be court friendly"
I too work in a place where cameras and microphones are not allowed. On macs it is very easy to disable these. There is a small harness under the Keyboard you have to yank (then tape to prevent it from rattling).
The problem is that on many (not all) models this harness also contains the speaker drivers but not the headphones. so you lose all sound playing. This however might actually be a good thing for a court reporter. For me, it means I need headphones to do the training videos.
You can of course just cut the wires selectively to save the sound out. But that voids the warantee.
At first I used to wring my hands about doing his to my computer. But then I realized "who am I kidding" it's not "my" computer. Who the fsck cares about resale value. it's not my problem. it's a freakin tool, and if the cost of the tool is anywhere close to what your productivity earns for the company then they hired the wrong person. This was a very easy rationalization for me since it's also the reason I rationalize using a mac over a cheaper windows box. The cost of the tool is irrelevant to it's ability to influence my productivity.
Now as far as convincing the security guard goes. just gouge the freakin' camera right out. Don't worry about getting it back. If that cost bothers you then again you are not worth your salary.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
How about covering it with a blank cover? You could have it match the rest of the laptops lid or however you wanted.
Censorship is obscene. Patriotism is bigotry. Faith is a vice. Slashdot 2.0 sucks.
Hmm I don't think that only low-end laptops don't have cameras. I have an admittedly out-of-date but still relatively powerful Thinkpad T61p. No camera - security at my work prohibit them as well.
Could you take the route of using a backing plate from a non-camera version of your phone on your camera phone? I haven't looked into this with my HTC Touch Pro but I would consider it a potential option.
I'm of the mind that a law or policy should prohibit actions over possessions but that's another issue in and of itself.
molten plastic or epoxy
Heck make it reflective red and black around it and call it your hal eye
The feds do not appreciate people who think they can half-ass security measures and get away with it.
Shows what you know. That majority of "fed security measures" are nothing more than CYA. They have procedures, they follow the procedures, they are not allowed to color outside the lines of the procedure even if it is painfully obvious that doing so would be required to have effective security. As long as the official procedures have been followed nobody gets fired or even reprimanded if there is a real security failure.
It is painful to have to deal with this check-list security because anyone with half a brain knows that real-life never follows procedure.
So go ahead, do a half-ass job, in fact do a no-ass job, as long as you get it written down an incorporated into the check-list of security procedures for that site you are home free.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
A piece of tape says "I realize I'm not supposed to use this, and it takes more effort to use it than just turning it on".
If you deliberately wanted to violate the camera ban, there's nothing they can do about it anyway.
Automobile touch-up paint. $5, paint it right over the lens.
You can probably even find a match for most common laptops if you look hard enough.
I'm more of the opinion that cameras SHOULD be allowed in. If it's just regular information being discussed then why the need for secrecy?
Unless trade secrets that would ruin a company or real national security topics (none of the oh my god terrorism bullshit either) are under investigation... what has the government or corporation got to hide?
Freedom of information people, it is your right.
There are plenty of Latitudes out there with no webcam. The XT, which I use at work, has no webcam. I believe its replacement, the XT2, also doesn't have any camera. They also offer the 4200 and 4300 models which are relatively portable and have no webcam.
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
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
The answer is simple. Break the camera device. It won't break your computer or portable. . it will break the camera.
Make it so it is obvious when you point it out.
The posted signage here at the courthouse specifically says that broken/damaged cameras are not permitted either. So doesn't matter how much you point it out, the statute prohibits bringing it in. (Which makes sense, it's easy to make something appear disabled yet enable it later inside.)
However authorized people who work there are permitted to have phones/devices with cameras.
What do coworkers do? I'm sure there is some procedure even at the Federal level. Check with security?
I would imagine it would be easier to get authorized than find alternatives.
Having options and choice in the marketplace is rapidly diminishing sadly as technology moves "forward" and things have to conform more. The economic situation isn't helping maintain alternatives either.
It will be interesting in the future when blind people will see via artificial camera eyes that are capable of recording...
I used to work at a Dept. of Energy lab, and the supplier we bought our computers from would just open the case of the machines and cut the camera bits out before it got to us.
Of course, I never got an explanation as to why nobody seemed to care that the microphones were left in the machines intact. The whole point of getting rid of the camera was to avoid recording classified information -- it's not like we only wrote it on the board silently. Nothing was done to prevent laptops from recording conversations.
you could just remove the camera... Its not hard to do, just open and unscrew.
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)
Unless they were Venezuelan polo horses... then they might not get far anyhow.
They've got a bunch of immediately available Dell netbooks without cameras at the Dell Outlet Store. I just got a 9" Dell Mini, found a 15% discount coupon, and it shipped less than 24 hours after I ordered it. Most of the inventory I saw had Windows XP Home installed. So you run with the preinstalled XP if you like that, or install Linux/go the Hackint0sh route if you prefer something else.
Cameras were banned at my last job. In fact I had to sign several different layers of paperwork saying I wouldn't bring in any cameras, storage devices, blah blah blah.
What was the first thing they issued me?
A cell phone with a camera in it.
... Put duct tape on the freakin' camera and it's done.
I've run out of shit, so head out to the nearest public toilet and swirl yourselves.
Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning.
Now I have no doubt, in the future people will have their memories wiped by the government inc. routinely and nobody would rise an eyebrow.
But... the future refused to change.
What about the microphone? Are you going to get a build without that as well or do they not care about audio recordings?
Aren't we supposed to be technologically competent?
In regards to the laptops, what's keeping OP, or whoever it applies to, from physically removing the camera from the laptop?
I know the older MacBook Pro's (i.e. Not the unibody) the process of replacing the display is easily found on the net, and removing the camera itself is just a few extra steps. OS doesn't see a camera and you can't hide what's not there.
Then again, I did buy a first generation MacBook Pro with a broken display. I swapped out the hard drive for a 200GB while I was replacing the display.
So if you're one of those who clings to a warranty (har har, I also buy old, used cars!), then you're on your own.
Buy whatever device you want....
Take a small drill and drill through the lens and destroy the sensor CMOS. (Or if you want to be a bit more saavy, disassemble and remove it.) ;-)
Now you can have a government safe iPhone (okay, so you might have to remove the Wifi, microphone oh and the cell radio).
Change the goddamned law to allow cameras in the court!
Openness in Government, FTW!
A camera is something that can take photos, not something with some parts that could have made a camera. So:
a) pierce the lens if you really want to be crazy, screwing up some nice camera innards. This is relatively risky.
b) Sand the lens and surrounding area a bit.
c) Get some good 2 part epoxy and apply over the camera.
Voila, you no longer have a camera.
Obviously they won't warranty YOUR CAMERA, but you don't have to open it up. If you skip step a, you're not even 'breaking' anything... but if b/c is right you won't ever be able to use that camera again, because you'll have to break apart the body of the laptop along with the lens to.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
If this is a standard government requirement common across many facilities than I'd expect there to be a list of approved vendors and products, and that vendors will be making a line of products to meet the requirements of their largest customer.
Or you could just find out what everybody else is using, rather than reinvent the wheel yourself.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Just kidding about the prick thing. But seriously, how many people here didn't start out as, or will end up as a $12/hr employee? Leave the security guard alone, you might end up working for him.
Go into these areas without your portable devices. No cell phone, no laptop. Et voila.
Needless to say, productivity went way down.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:32(King James Version)
This includes Federal court and state court.
Each court is different. You have to know your court.
First, if you are an attorney, or go to court regularly as a non-court employee (attorney's assistant, expert witness, etc), then you should have at least one non-camera phone. If you can, try getting a phone you can just pop a SIM chip into and out of easily. (Dunno how well that works in the US -- my US carrier was always Verizon, no SIMs.) Or just go Blackberry (that's what I have, and for that reason).
Second, if you have a reason for needing your laptop this should not be a problem. The prohibition against camera's is not a universal and absolute prohibition.
If you're an attorney, speak with the judge for your case. Using a Macbook/MBP as part of your trial is fine. Explain to him your situation, explain to him any added measures you will take to cover the camera (such as tape), and he will let you take it through. (If he does not, well, you're an attorney -- I shouldn't have to tell you how to fix it.)
If you're not an attorney, but are working for/helping one, then speak with the attorney who is your main contact. Explain the situation and offer multiple ways in which the court may be appeased (such as tape over the camera).
If the judge knows who has the cameras and something then gets out, there will be no problem. The full wrath of the court can be directed at you for breaching the court's trust.
If you truly think you NEED the laptop while in court for something other than the case, why? Either you work there, and then you simply need to ask your supervisor/employer for permission, or you don't and there's no reason for you to be chilling in the courthouse browsing the internets and Twittering with Ashton. (And if you're media -- seriously? No excuse for that, either.)
As for other non-judicial sensitive areas, you're on your own. If I ran a security team at a secure business location, I'd likely not even allow in mobiles to begin with. Regardless, your rights are much more limited in private situations.
Of course, you could always use the advice of some Slashdotters here. First, since Windows is a pain, either get an Apple service center to remove the camera (or get a Linux machine with no camera). Second, go Windows with no camera.
Oh, and as for the Dell Mini 9 -- if you are truly an Apple guy, and you get one of these, you better Hackintosh it. I did mine, and it's fantastic.
Good luck, and have fun.
- Pacer
locate local geek
say "please remove the camera electronics from my notebook/phone"
drink coffee
thank geek and hand over small gratuity
as for me.... well, I guess I`m a geek, I`d just remove the thing myself and make a blanking plate for the old camera mounting point to keep things neat.
man this is more than what i make a day!
FYI: A similar action can be taken for hand held devices such as an Apple iPhone.
BTW: You can still use an external camera/microphone for services such as iChat on a MacBook where the built in devices have been removed. When permitted, plugging in an external camera/microphone will temporarily restore such capability. Moreover, by physically removing such external devices when they are not in use, you can better control them. :-)
So buy your MacBook, have a Apple Certified technician remove the offending components, and if needed get a letter of volatility. Q.E.D.
chongo (was here)
I heard that in Germany, in places where you can not bring some piece of hardware with cam, a disabled (read: physically removed) camera isn't even allowed. Motivation: it can be placed back into the system, when you are in the cam-free-zone. Since the cameramodules are so small I understand this.
put a hole punch through the lens of the camera...
a) smartphone problem solved.
b) laptop problem solved.
You can easily find laptops without built-in cameras in stores selling old laptops. Or anyway this household has four laptops (each of minimal resale value), none of which has ever had a camera, and one of which (nine?-year-old Toshiba "Portege 7200") even has a full-sized keyboard designed for fast and accurate typing rather than for looking pretty in the store.
The first and original version of the Asus Eee 701 netbook came in a web-cam free version. I know because I installed a webcam in mine... Can be found very cheaply used...
TC - My Photos..
Take a drill and take it out!
The Nokia E61 is a great business phone - QWERTY keyboard, large, comfortable, screen, WLAN... And best of all it has no camera. You can pick them up on eBay for about £50.
You're making $12/hr, aren't you?
The pace of government unfortunately means that much legislation of this type is now, and will for decades to come, reflect a time where a camera was a big box with a protruding lens out front, exposing images on roll film (and music was printed on vinyl).
Given the ubiquity of camera enabled gadgets that is increasingly going to be needed all day, also when entering a "camera free zone", they will need to come up with some short term solutions.
Phones have so many shapes and models, and the rentacop guarding the entrance can't be guaranteed accept individual solutions and nonstandardized documentation for disconnected cameras apparently physically still in place. For a long while it is going to be easier and simpler to just outright ban phones from the outside and instead rent out approved dumb and blind phones. Have a phone locker system where you can place the temporarily surrendered phones at the entrance, shouldn't take up much space. In GSM territories swapping SIM cards remains pretty simple. An dumb and blind phone approved for a particular facility could easily be fitted with location based policy awareness so as to for example mute and silence it and prevent any phone conversations or texting or active microphones in a courtroom or other site blacked out on a policy basis. The rented phone also comes with a noise maker and a RFID tag for doorway gates so you won't forget to swap it for your own phone on the way out. Let phone rental fees pay for this program.
Laptops have microphones and can record and comes in as many configurations as cellphones, but with even greater variety of software. Again the nonstandardized solutions may not impress guards on duty. Microphone recording capability can't be helped, but given that most laptops have the camera placed in roughly the same location near the top center of the screen, you could probably get away with a rental program for little clamp-on lens-blocking boot things that you rent at the entrance and which would make some noise if removed unauthorized. While in place a LED should flash to indicate the gadget is doing its thing so that any officials in a given site seeing a laptop can quickly verify its camera is blocked.
All this is temporary craziness, on par with archaic and short-perspective laws from back when we went from horse and carriage traffic to automobiles. Eventually we're going to have to figure out a common, open location-based service system accessible by all our mobile gadgets. Such a system would among many practical things offer location based policies that phones and laptops and dedicated recording equipment would understand and could be set to respect, and to provide some manner of verifiable, signed feedback to the system that the gadget in fact is in conformance with the area policy.
Vernor Vinge has some interesting speculation on how a mandatory enforcement scheme for these kinds of policies might look like in his book "Rainbows End".
$5 dollar hammer, 5 cent nail; problem solved
Dike the thing out and either cover the hole so no-one notices the phone used to have a camera or leave a gaping empty hole so that everyone can see there WAS a camera there but not any more.
The company I work for physically breaks the lenses of all devices that have cameras in them. I'm not sure what they do but you don't see anything with that camera after they are finished. If it's a plastic lense you could simply destroy it with a hot needle.
Use like 0.2mm-0.5mm brass, Al, copper or plastic and glue it over the camera. Not pretty, but should be on the level a security guard can easily verify. Might even get a laugh now and then.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
But you are not using the camera.
Get the courts to create a script to monitor driver activity if you have to.
Most portables come with (pseudo) physical buttons to disable the cameras.
Just have someone over your shoulder watching the little LED and alls good.
If the courts are seriously this stupid, then the people running them don't deserve to.
i ask myself, 'what would Macaulay Culkin do?'
Cordless Drill + 4/8" Bit. Nuf said.
Your story is BS because then you have to get the phone past the metal detector.
Go with a Thinkpad. They offer you the option of whether or not you want a camera built in.
If you like Mac Book Pros (so do I), just get some JB-Weld, its basically a really really really strong epoxy which has about the same color as a Mac Book Pro. You can get it an any hardware store.
Just stick some over the camera hole, let it dry. Or, to match perfectly, again, use JB-Weld, and get a small plug of aluminum, say from a coke can, and glue it over the camera.
Since it seems you've investigated the technical side of the problem do a little leg work on the human side. Talk to one of the security guards and find out who they report to since ultimately that is who your solution must be agreeable to. Explain the situation and ask what measures would be necessary to take in a device with a disabled camera. You can look at possibly using a case, skin or just a sticker that would obscure the camera just make sure that whoever the security guards report to OKs it.
Then the next obstacle is getting the guards to understand that it has been OKd. Assuming that there is probably a small number of guards that you'll deal with get to know them and preemptively bring the subject up to them, show them the steps you've done to disable the use of the camera and let them know you've talked to their boss about it.
Be prepared for them to still balk at the idea and have equipment around that you can use if they wont let the disabled camera pass. Hopefully at this point they will ask their superior about it and he will verify that he gave his OK and next time you'll be able to take your better toys in with you.
Just keep in mind that the security guards are just trying to do their job to the best of their ability. Things that will draw their attention and almost assuredly lead to your and your disabled camera being turned away/confiscated are any attempts to sneak something past them and any attitude at all if they ask about it. And by all means never wait until discovery/discussion of the device would interrupt court proceedings as that is just a good way to piss of a judge and get yourself found in contempt.
Most of these places are happy if you put a sticker to cover the camera... And most of those $12/hour security guards won't even notice your laptop has a camera if there's a sticker covering it.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
why not just do it hacker style? get your notebook / phone of choice - take a screwdriver and gouge out the camera - fill with carpenter's putty - done.
Tried the Duct tape option?
Think Deeply.
You asked...
How can one easily find portable devices without a built-in camera?"
The Asus Eee PC 4G Surf (701) does NOT have a web cam, same price as the Asus Eee 901 which does have a web cam. Since you can run Linux, on it 512 MB of RAM is plenty of memory. I am sure you can still pick one up somewhere, probably get one used and install Ubuntu on it. Ubuntu is one of the many Linux distros that have a build specifically for the Asus Eee PC.
Biggest issue may be screen size, for a netbook, when I travel this is a perfect size as it fits easily into a carry on, even a purse for the ladies. When using it at home I hook it up to an external monitor, a USB keyboard and USB Mouse. I even use the USB mouse when I travel as I hate those track pads. I picked up the keyboard on sale for less than $8, and the mouse (both Logitech) for around $15. When I am at home, this is not my primary PC, though it is for a friend of mine who blogs and writes.
If storage is a concern, I recommend getting (either or both) an external USB storage device (500G B or 1 TB, I use the 500 GB Seagate Free Agent without problems, no where on the box does it advertise Linux compatibility, just FYI, so do NOT attempt to install the software that comes with it if you use it on a Windows PC as that will probably introduced problems for Linux systems.) and those Micro SSD memory cards (1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB or 16 GB I have seen all of these for less than $15 on sale) and a USB adapter for those cards to use in the third USB slot. If you need more USB slots, get a USB extender (plug in one USB and get four more USB ports). I even use a cooling fan at home (mine stays on 24 x 7 running Skype for VoIP calls, its basically my telephone at home). The micro USBs also work with my Nokia N800 (2 built in micro memory slots - I have 2 X 4 GB now, planning on getting two 16 GB micros fro 32 GB on additional storage on my Linux hand held). Yes the Nokia N800 runs Linux, has built in WiFi and it also comes pre-installed with Skype, so if you have WiFi access you have a telephone; chances are you have WiFi access in both work and home, therefore you have WiFi access in 80% of where you spend your time. Nothing like free text messaging (though Bluetooth external keyboard is recommended for the Nokia) of course you have to use the little pin just like other hand helds where the keyboard is displayed on the screen.
There is room for a GPS module in the Nokia N800, that costs extra, at least it is built into the device like the micro SSD memory slots. The Nokia N800 also comes with a web cam built in and the sound and video quality is excellent. With Skype you can hear a pin drop without headsets, however in a noisy environment you will want an ear bud, at least there is a port for it. The built in microphone is excellent as well. The Nokia N800 is an excellent Linux hand held. Any hand held that will run Maemo will NOT let you down. Do yourself a favor and stay away from the proprietary software ONLY hand helds!
Battery life is a problem on most netbooks, the Asus is no exception, (you can count on about 2 hours without plugging it in) so you will want to get an extension cord (I recommend the 9' ones so that you can hook up in those ceiling outlets at Panera Breads (free WiFi) when you get
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I call bogus question.
In a environment as described, everyone knows to buy one of what allready exists. In my office it's a Latitude e6400 (latest and heaviest;). With a PKI card reader. This configuration unit is a US government special. The "Secure Offices" poster is going to have an equilivent set of Super Sucky Specials.
However, the key is not the purchasing what everyone else has - it's that the question is relatively bogus: In most secure environments, you have to use company equipment, and have papers stating you are allowed to take it out of the building. In the few courthouses I've been in (DC, Ohio; Federal) I was not allowed to bring in electronics. It may be that poster has a specific ? regarding courts - but the question is overgeneralized to the point of misleading: Secure US government facilities don't let you use your own equipment. (My insecure one will let you bring it in, but no touching the network: The night security guys have EEEs with wireless modems for between log checks.)
Ya know, this might seem too obvious. But how about not bringing the device into the restricted area?
Little paint puddy to cover the opening.
Buy whatever the hell you want and just break the camera with an awl or open it up and remove it completely. Easy peasy.
I run into folks like you at work all the time. Most of us just refer to you guys as assholes. It's astonishing to me how arrogant people can be.
It's a phenomena that's been observed over and over again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_study
This may seem simplistic, but, considering all the laptop parts companies out there right now, what about simply ordering a new shell that doesn't have a hole for the cam?
Your actions in life will determine your children's future.
First of all, the Blackberry 8830 is a great phone. I have it. But if you want an iphone, talk to the people at http://www.iresq.com. They have an iphone camera removal service, and I'm sure they can document it for you.
--Sam
I have spent some time working at heavily secured government sites in South Korea. They check for cameras on the way in. I got caught once by accident. I got it back at the end of the day. But people I work with there all carry phones and all mobile phones in that country have cameras. They just don't use them on site.
Things are also a little different in South Korean than they are here. I've worked at a Top Secret/SCI facility there that was basically just a shack out in a field, and in the summer they left the front door open so that a breeze could come through. Something like that would never be allowed under Navy or NSA regulations here in the US; that place would lose its accreditation as soon as somebody heard of it.
Power drill. I know of somebody who has actually done this in order to be able to take their iPhone to work.
Because if you are running a Blackberry Enterprise Server you can turn all the cameras off via policies. I worked at a government building and we had a lot of stuff in our blackberries disabled by the admin, the ability to download apps, go to certain sites, or remove the password. That's why they make them with cameras because if they are being managed correctly, it isn't an issue.
You can get a very high end HP or Dell notebook without a camera/webcam.
I was once issued a Dell Precision Notebook, completely decked out with BluRay and everything (this is a few years ago - it was a $700 option) and no camera. A year and a half ago, I was issued an HP 8710p - basically the same machine as the Dell but a bit nicer because it was not as bulky but both have 17" screens. Again, no camera.
So I don't know about the Apple computers, but on the "everyone else" front it's easy to get an amazing desktop-replacement notebook with all the bells and whistles and no camera. In my experience, the camera on the top end notebooks from these manufacturers is optional. At least with the business-centric machines.
Apple notebooks aren't targeted for the business, and neither are certain lines from the big others, but at least with the big others you have options.
Phones are a different story, but you could use some sort of permanent adhesive to cover the camera. But I'd make sure that would pass as acceptable before doing it.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Why not find what you want, and remove (or have someone) remove the camera. Yes, you'll have warrantee issues. But if you're otherwise stuck, it is a route to consider. Remove the camera, from the inside, apply tape or trim over the glass opening from the inside. It will clearly not be a camera that works.
And, in response to another poster (who said automotive trim might fool some, but when you're caught with the camera still being there, you lose your job), if someone does think you're hiding something, and tries to prove you have a camera, they'll be wrong. The camera won't show up in software, and if they open up the case, there will be no camera there.
It would at least give you the option of getting the hardware you want, sans camera (and yes, sans warrantee; although one could always put it back to send off for service).
If you're not comfortable opening up the equipment, there are many qualified people who are.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
There are places that will remove the camera from an iPhone, probably a MacBook also. Just Google it.
My camera lens if always covered with a finger print.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Just having a sticker isn't any good. Why? If someone is really interested in the data, they can peel off the sticker, take the photos, e-mail them, and then ditch the camera.
No one checks to see if you come out with LESS stuff than when you came in.
..........FULL STOP.
My EEE 1000HD came with no camera and it's been fantastic with me. I'm not sure if it's the standard with the model, I picked mine up from best buy a while ago.
oh shit. This is one of the most detailled post I read on /. thanks man!
Finding phones and computers without cameras is a pain. I am, however, waiting for a digital SLR containing a phone...
For those times when I have to go into 'no camera' environments, I use a Nokia 6210 phone. In fact, I tend to use the 6210 a lot, because it is a nice phone and isn't burdened with all sorts of mediocre battery draining extras that I don't need. The laptop is more of a problem, and I normally end up using a PDA if they're fussy.
It's quite easy to remove a laptop webcam since you usually only have to open the monitor. More than likely there are two screws holding it in place and a single removable cord connecting it to the motherboard. After which you can just pull it out.
The webcam on my glass macbook is virtually invisible. If one was to stick a highly tinted plastic film over that section of the notebook the camera would dissapear. You could install a white or silver or black plastic piece over a webcam on most notebooks and fool the average stupider than dirt security monkey. For the Blackberry curve a custom back with no hole for the camera would cover up the camera quite nicely and be good enough to get past most security guards.
The other solution which is quite a bit more obvious is just to find another job. Companies with idiotic restrictions tend to find it difficult to find and keep people. The job market is so good for high end professionals that many of my colleagues will just ignore companies that want to do invasive checks and have annoying rules. If you really look only low end and government sector jobs tend to do this anyway.
Since you mentioned preferring to use Apple's stuff, buy yourself an older laptop. You don't have to go back too far before they stop having cameras. That being said, I'm currently using an iBook that's well into it's 7th year, and still works great. It won't play the latest games, and doing large scale graphics is slow, to say the least, but otherwise it works quiet well. Just find one that hasn't been abused.
Z
State, Federal, local court houses all operate on tax monies. As such they are public entitites and are here "to protect and serve" us(no, its not just for police, its for all public servants).
As such, they are PUBLICLY funded and need to be available for PUBLIC review... I say take your camera in anyway. besides, nothing stops you from recording the more important audio anyway. Oh, and did you notice that in every single courtroom there is at least one camera built in?
LOL, I know I get a little wordy, and that is putting it mildly.
I figured down the road I would parse all my posts, counting the number of words, characters, # of lines etc... just to make fun of myself.
Granted that is not an original idea, as I saw another person, either here on slashdot or in their blog make fun of themselves in a similar manner. It made for a series of entertaining blog posts. Figure I can list longest, shortest, average, mean, etc.. posts and make fun of myself. Will do that sometime in the next few months as I have NOT picked a blog site yet. And I am looking at them all.
I plan to run my own blogging software based with PHP and MySQL on a distributed server collocated somewhere. Who knows, down the road I might make two nickels with advertising to rub them together, but I will not hold my breath on that. Just my preference of how I would like to do it. I am a bit of a control nut, if software will not do what I want it to do, I like to be able to make it work for me.
As to the length of my posts, if I can not make fun of myself, well life is too short. I have a decent sense of humor, love to laugh at myself. In fact while I will defend a point hard and play devils advocate on occasion, I am more than willing to admit that I am wrong once presented with facts that I can confirm. Think quantitative over qualitative when possible.
Listened to Leo Laporte's twit.TV pod cast today (either it was a live or a rebroadcast, not that it matters). Once again he was stating that for either Apple MacIntosh or Microsoft Windows he would NOT purchase a laptop (or desktop) with less than 4 GB of RAM. Especially considering that memory is so cheap these days. I agree with Leo on that one, though to be less inflammatory in my posts here on slashdot I use the 2GB mark in reference to Windows. (I am no longer a fan.) I just know that if I posted that you MUST have 4 GB to run Windows well, someone would get pissed off at me and accuse me of trying to start a flame war, therefore I just put 2 GB for those situations, like I did above.
Funny, everyone knows that to run it well you need more RAM, so Leos suggestion of 4 GB or more is probably a correct one. But man will some people (MS fans) complain if you state as fact that they MUST have at least 4 GB of RAM. Sure it will run with less, slowly.
Another reason I love Linux, I run every day with either 512 MB of RAM on my netbook or 1 GB of RAM on my development tower and love it. If I had 4 GB of RAM on a Linux machine it would be screaming fast with the applications. Perhaps my next purchase I will go for 4 GB minimum of RAM.
Granted I do not do massive amounts of video editing yet, if I did that I would want a Graphics processor / adapter with a GPU, dual processors and probably at least 8 GB of RAM, even with Linux. Probably could really edit video vary well with Linux and 4 GB.
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Lying to security guards seems like a bad idea to me. You may get away with it the vast majority of the time but if one does happen to catch you I could see it ending very badly.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
If one needs a Blackberry without a camera, the 7130 will do the trick and get you into camera-less environments.
Else, a Sony Ericsson W950i also fills the ticket, allows thethering and does UMTS.
Yeah that why I love linux too. It's so fucking small and efficient. And you can strip all those Graphical Useless Item you don't want and keep the exact things you need.
Since you see, well informed. I am looking for an hand-held (not neccessarily cell phone) such as the nokia N800 you talked about or an ipod. Do you know some place where there is kind of a review of such items I can read ?
And in the end, all this inconvenience to cell phone, PDA, media player, netbook, and laptop users (not to mention American's with Disability Act violation - some people need cameras) will be about as successful as drug interdiction at the border.
Joe consumer can buy a camera (still and video with audio) disguised as, for example, a working ball point pen (doubles as a 4GB USB flash drive) for $35.17, delivered (lower end model under $20). Another is rather poorly disguised as an ID badge (required in many places where cameras are banned); poor implementation but you can see where that is headed. Another is disguised as a wrist watch. Another as a necktie. Another small model. Miniaturization has made camera interdiction at the border all but impossible. Unless you are going to strip search and body cavity search everyone, provide them with substitute clothing, and prevent them from taking anything inside, cameras will get in.
Ironically, before all this stuff was available to the consumer for the price of dinner, there were government facilities that had these kinds of no camera security precautions while on the inside engineers were developing spy cameras that were small enough to circumvent the exact same security provisions at the other country's facilities.
Miniature equipment has been available for over a hundred years if you had the cash. And if the stakes were high enough to justify banning cameras, the camera cost was minor compared to what the pictures were worth.
The only difference with your portable electronics gear is plausible deniablity if you get caught before you snap the pictures.
Then you can get a fast laptop without a webcam.
You can order it custom through Lenovo.
Use a black felt pen,blot out the lens,and you can always use a little alcohol to clean it off.
Lenovo ThinkPad T60. Leave it to my company to find the laptop without a camera. Probably didn't want to spend the extra money. It is a pretty decent laptop though. Check out Lenovo, they might have some more laptops without cameras. You may want to narrow your search down to business laptops. I don;t think business people really care what people look like. It'll probably end up being some old bald guy anyways. Good luck with your search.
feel sorry for
little miss rich bitch get 2 devices deal with it
A 1997 Compaq Armada 1530 without webcam/usb/nic/wifi/bt/whatever. 33.6kbps modem for connection to the outside world unless you add up a pcmcia device.
Oh, and it has cd-rom and floppy, battery lasts a few seconds and has mmx technology.
I'll make you a good price.
http://img85.exs.cx/img85/8145/armada1530d8qv.jpg
printf($randomline(sigs.txt) \n "-- "$randomline(authors.txt));
-- myself
how about having the $12/hr rent-a-cop shoot the camera with his gun? the 9mm hole it produces should wipe out the camera optics, thus making it non-functional, and the hole itself is proof the camera is gone.
its rather simple to disassemble a laptops screen, just remove the camera physically. just be careful to put all the screws back where they belong. same thing with cellphones, camera modules usually sit in their sockets where they can be easily removed
Buy any random computer with a camera, and use crazy glue to attach a small flat piece of metal on the camera lens. Security guards know that metal is opaque.
Estamos como estamos porquè somos como somos.
Thanks for the compliment, however I do not feel that I am that well informed. I would love to get paid to research open source and Linux topics, work from home, but than would not we all. Even better would be to be the Product Manager for an Open Source hand-held running on OS2008 or derivative of that open source operating system. Traveling around the country evangelizing the project to the public, developers, etc... Talk about a dream job.
My best advice, focus on the operating system and development tools used. If either is proprietary, than you should expect that whatever hardware/software hand-held tools will be end-of-life-d before you are ready to spend more money on updating.
This eliminates the iPod, iTouch, all the cellular hand-helds and anything running on Microsoft CE from the list. If it is proprietary, eventually you will regret it, so just do NOT go there and save yourself future hassles, in addition to money.
If you are flush with cash and do not mind throwing out $500 - $2,000 for the latest greatest hand held device every year or two, than more power to you. Given the state of our current economy, I do not know of people that are happy about having to buy a new handset, a new computer, a new gaming system, etc, just to use an application anymore. It really is quite insane when you think about it.
The only hand held operating system that is completely 100% open source that I am aware of is Maemo. The Nokia N770, N800 and N880 became popular thanks to the OS2008 Linux software. Basically a firmware replacement to the Nokia default-from-the-factory software. Installing it can be problematic without a direct connection to the internet, but far from impossible. I have not looked recently but I know there are more than 300 different applications modified and/or written specifically for the OS2008 Linux software. This is a great place to start your search. Check for other hand-helds, tablets, etc that you could load the OS2008 software on.
With the OS2008 software it is possible to increase your memory on the Nokia from 128 MB to 64 GB of Flash memory. Not too many hand-helds are open enough to allow for that. If the operating system is proprietary you would most likely be limited by the firmware (think BIOS for hand-held) from going above 2 GB and not for any particularly good reason either.
I prefer a little larger screen than the tiny cell phones, so I would suggest at least a 4 inch screen, not too small, but not so large that you can not slip it into a pocket, purse, bag, etc. Big enough to watch a video, play a game, and in a pinch surf the internet. At least you can do it with OS 2008, full browser is available and usable on it. I doubt that a cell phone size screen would cut it. The Nokia s 800 x 400 resolution on a 4â diagonal screen is as small as I would want to go.
So features you MUST have:
Is your Internet Throttled? Install DD-Wrt, OpenWRT or Tomato to learn the truth! Google: 1Gbps/1Gbps: 5 Communities
Most of these cameras can be pried out w/ a Flathead screwdriver. Sure - it voids the warranty on most products - but at least you don't have to deal w/ the security thing anymore.
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For a while the T650 was only available with camera - the no-camera version was released by Verizon 3 months after the camera version (which was held back 9 months so they could cripple the phone, after that contract expired I happily became an AT&T customer).
When I started my current job, I couldn't bring a phone with camera into the building. So I popped the back off, yanked the camera module, and popped it into a film canister in case I ever wanted to use it again. Never did in the end.
2 years later my company changed their policy so that cameraphones were allowed if you took a training course on proper use of a camera device within the facility. (30 minutes of training to basically say "don't use it at all" :) )
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
My latitude D820 has no camera. Buy a used laptop like D820, there are plenty of lease return vendors. Buying a high end 2 or 3 year old laptop is about as good a low 2 mid level laptop today.