I assume by "recording" you mean reading from an microphone source? (I can't imagine any other way to figure out if an application is recording.)
Also, I'm not sure whether turning the icon red is enough to convey "an application is using the microphone". Maybe we can get some design input before implementing this? By the way, this will most likely be implemented in indicator-sound, not pulseaudio. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of DX Packages, which is subscribed to indicator-sound in Ubuntu. Matching subscriptions: dx-packages https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1224756 Title: pulseaudio should give a visual indication when it is recording Status in “indicator-sound” package in Ubuntu: New Status in “pulseaudio” package in Ubuntu: Triaged Status in “indicator-sound” source package in Saucy: New Status in “pulseaudio” source package in Saucy: Triaged Bug description: David and the security team (inspired by an observation from Rick) discussed that when recording, pulseaudio should somehow unobtrusively show the user that it is recording. The easiest thing to do would be for pulseaudio to alert indicator-sound which would then turn its icon red (similar to indicator-message turning blue with new messages). Marking 'high' because apps with access to pulseaudio can currently eavedrop on users. If the app is allowed to do networking (the default for apps), then it can ship that information off to a server somewhere. Note, this must happen via the out of process pulseaudio server and not the confined app itself to be effective. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-sound/+bug/1224756/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dx-packages Post to : dx-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dx-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp