How to protect yourself from external use of your webcam from around the world

It is a well known fact that if you leave your computer in internet mode by leaving up your browser (Firefox, Explorer etc.) that people can if they wish turn on your Web cam built into your computer or laptop and watch whatever is happening in the room as well as hear everything happening wherever and whenever they do this when you have our computer on with the internet on too from worldwide places.

So, basically it would be like having your skype function on only people could only see you and hear you instead of you hearing and seeing them.

How much information could they glean about you and your family to harm you or steal from you or whatever else they wanted to do?

And this isn't limited to your computer or laptop it also includes your Ipad, or other type of device. It also is even worse on your phone, especially if it is a smartphone which is known to be the biggest security problem you likely will ever have at this point in technology.

So, on all my computers and Ipads I cover the web cam, so even if they can hear conversations (I'm not sure what to do about that) they cannot see me or my family in various states of undress or recognize our faces to tie them to our voices which might be being recorded by anyone anywhere or by many someones anywhere anywhere and any or all times around the world.

I started by taking a piece of scotch tape with a little piece of paper I cut out. But now, I find it is easier to just use the end of a bandaid where I cut off a piece of the sticky part of the bandaid and stick it over the web cam of my laptop or Ipad or Imac or whatever.

I can't get my kids to do this but I at least can do this for my wife and I.

My son's attitude (he is more tech savvy than I am) and he is sort of resigned to the complete loss of privacy of all mankind and sort of sad about the whole thing but just accepts it as the way the world is.

However, I'm more protective of my family than that.

I grew up in the 1950s when people wouldn't put up with any of this at all here in the U.S.

So, privacy and freedom is very important to me. To me, the problem becomes "who specifically is stealing our privacy and rights worldwide?" And what are they going to do with that information in the short and long run?

And the obvious next question: "Will any of us at all survive what they are going to do with it?"