10.4: Disable integrated iSight cameras

Mar 26, '07 07:30:04AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

I've been moved to action on this because of a recent NSA security document that states that it is not possible to disable the iSight cameras integrated into Apple computers without also disabling things like USB keyboards and mice. This is simply not true. When a program from OS X (Tiger at least) needs to access the integrated iSight camera, it has to call the QuickTimeUSBVDCDIgitizer.component. This file is located in the /System » Library » QuickTime folder.

Simply deleting this file will prevent any program from being able to access it. Instead, the system will simply display a message stating that the hardware is already in use by another program, and that it recommends you quit that program in order to use the camera. The beauty to all of this is that any program on your Mac that needs to verify the iSight at the hardware level can still do so. This allows things like Skype and iMovie to continue functioning, but without use of the camera. I've been using this on over 200+ MacBooks and iMacs at our Academy, and it works beautifully without causing other issues.

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