Why does the new version of edge want to turn my web camera "ON"

Nor do I think it acceptable for Microsoft to access your camera without your knowledge.

The answer from "pscarbor" was, "If you don't like it and don't want to accept the user agreement don't use it..." This is particularly OUTRAGEOUS! Almost no one reads the fine print 1,000 page user agreement. The answer ignores the Right to Privacy guaranteed by our Constitution and the Supreme Court.

This is the province of Voyeurs, Dictators, or Oligarchies such as those of China, Russia and North Korea.

The Chinese, in fact, have facial recognition software to identify every single person in their country. Why should they, Microsoft, or our own government be able to invade our homes, identify us, and see what we are doing in private.

ESET, own Virus Checker, warns me each time Microsoft (or anyone else) tries to access my camera and lets me choose whether to allow it or not. But I also use a simpler solution: I have a "Post It" sticker over my camera with the reminder "BBIW" referring to "Big Brother is Watching" from George Orwell's book "1984".

(It took a little longer, but we are there now!)

I remove the sticker only when I wish to use the camera. But next time you speak your password out loud remember: A hacker may be able to hear you.

I suspect the answer is "9/11," but unless I've a better answer from Microsoft, or they change their policy, I'll soon switch from a PC to a Mac.

If you check the setting, it prompts whether to allow the app or the website to use your camera. You still have control over which information and devices Edge will use.

I recommend providing feedback to Edge's dev team by pressing Alt + Shift + I. Any new updates and implementations will be available in the next update. I'm pretty sure would love to hear about your privacy concerns.

Wrong.  the pop-up specifically says:  " allowed webcam access"  which specifically means allow in the past tense, re it has already been allowed.  It is unreasonable to expect the customer to have to correct this.  It is also unreasonable for you to allow it in the first place.  It needs to be corrected at the source.  This sort of business practice is covered by the "negative billing" practices laws and is illegal in Canada.  No one has the right to foist a service on customers and just expect them to cancel it if they don't want it.  Primarily designed to stop companies from billing for unwanted services but this practice by Microsoft edge is within the same parameters.

Many thanks Alex, Thank goodness they are onto it as it is still relentlessly trying to access the Webcam each time that 'Edge' is opened. (Thank goodness and all credit to Norton which stops it this end) I am sure that there are a huge amount of other people whom share my anxiety and will all be thankful when it is actually put right.

Thanks for sharing your version numbers and extensions! There are web APIs that websites can use to check for the presence of devices, without activating them, which lead to these notifications from antivirus software. These notifications occur not only on Microsoft Edge but on other browsers as well. The Edge team is actively investigating how to solve this problem.

Thanks!

-Alex

I have just checked 3/4 times and starting from the '3 dots top right corner' of the Edge page select 'Setting's then 'Site Permissions' and there is a list of other bits shown with the 'Camera' about half way down the first page.

I didn't see or use anything about 'Advanced' at all. Is it possible that you are using an older version of Edge at all?