[Infowarrior] - Disable integrated iSight cameras

[Richard Forno]

(I'm not sure if DOD front-desk security folks would know whether or not
they could approve this -- in their eyes the presence of a camera, even if
it's been disabled electronically or physically, still means it's a camera
and likely prohibited....but I pass this tidbit along anyway........rf)

10.4: Disable integrated iSight cameras

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070323094959262

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.