When I place a sticker over my laptop's camera, people think I am freak or acting like a hacker. In fact, I just want to protect my freedom. However, society doesn't care freedom. They care just their popularity and don't want to be alienated. I think this is where problems come from.

I could wear a tinfoil hat and claim I was protecting my freedom. That doesn't make it a great idea.

Of course nobody wants to be alienated. We do a lot of stupid shit to fit into society. But with the range of potential attacks on your freedom, putting a post-it note on your webcam is right up there with tinfoil hats.

There are real actions you could be taking to defend your freedom - like contacting your representatives in government, or donating to organizations that fight for your rights, or telling your friends and family why they should care. You can vote with your dollars, and vote with your actual vote, and your feedback.

After all that's done, fine, put up the post-it note. But you can at least write "remember to get milk" on it so people don't assume it's a tinfoil hat.

I wouldn't call it "tinfoil hat" because the cost/benefit is extremely low. Negligible effort in exchange for piece of mind. It's a reasonable trade-off. You can never be sure what all your software is doing unless you piece together your own linux system from scratch.

That's what a tinfoil hat is. Nobody wants to watch your particular webcam, just like the government does not want to influence your particular brain. But people put on the tinfoil hat anyway because it's cheap and it gives them piece of mind.

You could also just implement strong security guarantees according to best practice for your OS, but the piece of paper is definitely much cheaper and more effective for this one purpose.

I believe "tinfoil hat" implies illogic as well. Reasonable trade-offs aren't illogical. Also, it's been proven that it's entirely inside the realm of possibility that state agents are infiltrating our systems and gathering sensor data, and it's far more likely than alien mind probes that can be thwarted with tinfoil...

What I never understood about tape people is that they almost always forget the existence of a microphone. The microphone is far more invasive than a camera in my opinion.

Use clear tape, electrical tape or some tape that matches the color of your machine.

Honestly though, your explanation should be sufficient. If it isn't, you'd have to wonder the tech. understanding of the person who's questioning you in the first place.