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Might also want to cover the microphone if you are concerned about that.

Or better yet, laptops should have a hardware switch that disables these like they used to for wifi/bluetooth

I did those. Thanks

Or a laptop without a webcam in the first place.

What about your mic? I can hear you :-p

Plugging in a headset with speaker and then cutting the cord should disable the sound, but impossible to test I guess.

Me too. Within a couple of weeks of getting my first laptop, I was starting to get banner ads for clothes that seemed specific to my appearance, even though I've never yet purchased any clothes online. That did it for me. I try to keep the microphone covered too.

Heard the same about ads that appear to target you from what they hear.