# How to really disable microphone inputs?

## frank9999

The reason is the "audio wiretap attack" by Google with chrome AND chromium >= Version 43.x.x

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2015/06/google-chrome-listening-in-to-your-room-shows-the-importance-of-privacy-defense-in-depth/

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Without consent, Google’s code had downloaded a black box of code that – according to itself – had turned on the microphone and was actively listening to your room.
> 
> 

 

Here is the Gentoo Bug for chromium:

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=552298

For a PC there is no problem as long as you have not connected a external Microphone.

But in laptops Microphones are built into. I do not need and do not want a Microphone, which I have no control.

Remove would be best, but is sometimes very difficult, also void the warranty and can damage the laptop...

So IMHO is the the only way to prevent this in the future reliable, seems to me to patch the kernel.

The best would be if the alleged audio data from mic come in reality from /dev/random...

Is there already a patch for this?

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## xicod

There is a patch of a different sort - an electrical tape on the microphone hole   :Smile: 

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## schorsch_76

To really disable it, remove the microphone plug. This is the only real solution. 

On a Laptop it becomes more difficult of course .... I would unselect the Audio Card module for the Sound Card. To disable only the microphone, i guess you need a custom patch for your sound card module. I am not aware of any other method to permanently disable the mic.

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## frank9999

 *xicod wrote:*   

> There is a patch of a different sort - an electrical tape on the microphone hole  

 

Is there already, as it was right next to the camera my laptop  :Wink: 

But the absorption is not particularly high.

@schorsch_76

I can live with the plug.

Yes, it probably looks as if the there is no general solution on kernel side  :Sad: 

I'll be looking at times the code for my sound drivers, the question is now at what point, as some modules are loaded ...

lsmod | grep snd

snd_hda_codec_hdmi     37160  4 

snd_hda_codec_realtek    55904  1 

snd_hda_codec_generic    51137  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek

snd_hda_intel          21956  4 

snd_hda_controller     18434  1 snd_hda_intel

snd_hda_codec          89284  5 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller

snd_hwdep               6874  1 snd_hda_codec

snd_pcm                79854  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller

snd_timer              24188  1 snd_pcm

snd                    66762  16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel

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## szatox

A guess of a hack for ALSA: redefine devices to make default input read /dev/zero instead of a microphone?

I know, it's not perfect, but it might be a silencer good enough for most cases. You know, default input tends to be set to something sane  :Wink: 

Also, calling hardware directly for playback prevents other applications from accessing it. Does it work for input as well? (redirect mike to /dev/null so it can't be used?)

Can't test it now as I don't have my PC around  :Sad: 

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## eccerr0r

If ALSA handles it properly, plug in a shorted microphone cable?  Hopefully ALSA would think you want to use the external input and it's shorted to silence.

That would be so funny if this always worked...

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## The Doctor

The point seems moot now since chromium has reverted to not including it.

See  Hanno Boeck's comment on￼ 2015-06-24 15:06:08 UTC (Currently the last in the bug report)

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## ct85711

seems this issue is finally getting resolved in a better way, looks like I'm going have to switch from chrome to chromium...  (sadly, this phrase "trust us" holds no value anymore considering all these other issues like lenovo, and stuff...)

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## el muchacho

So much for the opensource !

 *Quote:*   

> Yesterday, news broke that Google has been stealth downloading audio listeners onto every computer that runs Chrome, and transmits audio data back to Google. Effectively, this means that Google had taken itself the right to listen to every conversation in every room that runs Chrome somewhere, without any kind of consent from the people eavesdropped on. In official statements, Google shrugged off the practice with what amounts to “we can do that”.
> 
> It looked like just another bug report. "When I start Chromium, it downloads something." Followed by strange status information that notably included the lines "Microphone: Yes" and "Audio Capture Allowed: Yes".

 

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2015/06/google-chrome-listening-in-to-your-room-shows-the-importance-of-privacy-defense-in-depth/

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## frank9999

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1020756.html

 :Wink: 

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## frank9999

@szatox @eccerr0r

These are some interesting approaches.

@The Doctor

Yes it fixed for now. 

But with a little forethought you can say, such a thing will happen again. 

Whether intended or due to an error.

The only effective measure is therefore to prevent.

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## eccerr0r

I hope we don't have to get to the day we have to run on machines that "don't have sound cards"... meaning, a VM with either no sound or fake sound card that's always silent.

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## The Doctor

 *frank9999 wrote:*   

> @The Doctor
> 
> Yes it fixed for now. 
> 
> But with a little forethought you can say, such a thing will happen again. 
> ...

 Unfortunately true for everything. Constant vigilance is the price we pay for free software.

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## desultory

Merged two posts.

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