Stop webcam spies with free, 3D-printed "RAT TRAP"
Stop webcam spies with free, 3D-printed &ldquo;RAT TRAP&rdquo;

                      
                      
          Ever worry that shadowy hackers—or your school district—are using remote administration tools (RATs) to watch you through your webcam? Do you already keep a piece of tape over the lens? Would you like to indulge your paranoia with more style? Then consider the RAT TRAP, a small plastic rodent that clips over the top of a laptop screen and blocks the camera. Slide it to the side and the camera is usable again.
If the RAT TRAP is less practical than a piece of tape—which can remain on when closing the laptop lid—it's still a clever idea from a set of advertising creatives in the Boulder, Colo. area. Rather than sell the little critter, the group developed it as a digital file suitable for 3D printing and gives it away freely under a Creative Commons license. One of the founders tells me that the idea was to create a nonprofit awareness campaign around the issue of webcam spying, which has surged in recent years. The founder says his own perception of the problem comes from reading articles about the issue on Ars and other sites. Newly crowned Miss Teen USA recently announced that she had been spied on with a RAT and then blackmailed over the resulting images. And earlier this year I spent time among a community of RATers, who traded tips for spreading the software and shared pics of their "slaves."
I asked Ars Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson to take time out from his busy schedule to print one for me on the Official Ars 3D Printer. He did so. Here is what it looks like in pink:

    
              
                
              
                
                                  
                    Credit:
                                          Lee Hutchinson
                                      
                              
            
                  
          
    
    
          Credit:

          
          Lee Hutchinson

                  
          
  
        
            

Personally, I'd rather just buy a computer with an LED hardwired to the camera, letting me know with certainty when it has been activated. Still, that wouldn't spur any discussion down at the coffee shop—the RAT TRAP might.


          
                      
                  