3 ms·

Google could do the same thing with android, and would be more likely to, IMO

by TheSoftwareGuy 10y ago

jhasse 10y ago
Android is open-source, so you could just flash a ROM without that feature.
- Jonnax 10y ago
  I'd argue that this is a bit too tin foily. But it is possible for camera manufacturers to build the logic into the camera's firmware. For example, if it detects the infrared signal, it'll just send a blank feed to the phone's OS.
  - jhasse 10y ago
    Good point. But the camera would need a processor then to decrypt the infrared signal, wouldn't it?
    - Jonnax 10y ago
      But they already have processors. Calculating white balance, compensating for lens characteristics, and converting the raw data into the format wanted by the OS. The GPS receiver handles all the calculations for determining position. Same with the accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer.
      - jhasse 10y ago
        Oh didn't know that. Could an infrared filter help in that case?
        Jonnax 10y ago
        In this case if it used infrared, sure. But you have to remember that humans can't really notice the high frequency changes in light. There's plenty of scope to encode data in visible light. I'm sceptical if this would be implemented it would be quite a negative selling point for mobile phone cameras. And I don't see why mobile phone manufacturers would consider implementing this functionality.
  - jonathankoren 10y ago
    It's not tin-foilly at all. Scanners won't scan money. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/advice/8597875/Why-cant-I-scan-a-banknote.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/advice/8597875/Why-can...
- themihai 10y ago
  Not so fast...without manufacturer support you can't do that. Also many parts of android are actually close-source. The only mobile open source OS that you can actually use, build, modify is Ubuntu
  - jhasse 10y ago
    Can you tell me which part of Android (AOSP, not Google Play Services of course) is close-sourced?
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - forgottenpass 10y ago
      The parts that people, manufacturers, carriers and Google themselves refer to by using the word "Andriod" in any context other than splitting hairs about AOSP.
      - jhasse 10y ago
        I think on HN most people would say that Cyanogenmod is an Android ROM and that Amazon is using Android on their Fire tablets. Also there are many (mostly Chinese) manufactures which claim Android support without officially supporting running the Google proprietary Play services.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    Android itself is fully open source. It requires closed-source blobs (mostly drivers) to work on most devices, and so does Ubuntu Touch; in fact, they get them from Android.: https://wiki.edubuntu.org/Touch/NewPorting#Retrieving_the_proprietary_blobs_from_Android https://wiki.edubuntu.org/Touch/NewPorting#Retrieving_the_pr... You also can install Google's proprietary layer of services and libraries, but that's optional if you're building it yourself.
    - themihai 10y ago

Google could do the same thing with android, and would be more likely to, IMO

jhasse 10y ago

Android is open-source, so you could just flash a ROM without that feature.

Jonnax 10y ago
I'd argue that this is a bit too tin foily. But it is possible for camera manufacturers to build the logic into the camera's firmware. For example, if it detects the infrared signal, it'll just send a blank feed to the phone's OS.
- jhasse 10y ago
  Good point. But the camera would need a processor then to decrypt the infrared signal, wouldn't it?
  - Jonnax 10y ago
    But they already have processors. Calculating white balance, compensating for lens characteristics, and converting the raw data into the format wanted by the OS. The GPS receiver handles all the calculations for determining position. Same with the accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer.
    - jhasse 10y ago
      Oh didn't know that. Could an infrared filter help in that case?
      - Jonnax 10y ago
        In this case if it used infrared, sure. But you have to remember that humans can't really notice the high frequency changes in light. There's plenty of scope to encode data in visible light. I'm sceptical if this would be implemented it would be quite a negative selling point for mobile phone cameras. And I don't see why mobile phone manufacturers would consider implementing this functionality.
- jonathankoren 10y ago
  It's not tin-foilly at all. Scanners won't scan money. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/advice/8597875/Why-cant-I-scan-a-banknote.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/advice/8597875/Why-can...
themihai 10y ago
Not so fast...without manufacturer support you can't do that. Also many parts of android are actually close-source. The only mobile open source OS that you can actually use, build, modify is Ubuntu
- jhasse 10y ago
  Can you tell me which part of Android (AOSP, not Google Play Services of course) is close-sourced?
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - forgottenpass 10y ago
    The parts that people, manufacturers, carriers and Google themselves refer to by using the word "Andriod" in any context other than splitting hairs about AOSP.
    - jhasse 10y ago
      I think on HN most people would say that Cyanogenmod is an Android ROM and that Amazon is using Android on their Fire tablets. Also there are many (mostly Chinese) manufactures which claim Android support without officially supporting running the Google proprietary Play services.
- icebraining 10y ago
  Android itself is fully open source. It requires closed-source blobs (mostly drivers) to work on most devices, and so does Ubuntu Touch; in fact, they get them from Android.: https://wiki.edubuntu.org/Touch/NewPorting#Retrieving_the_proprietary_blobs_from_Android https://wiki.edubuntu.org/Touch/NewPorting#Retrieving_the_pr... You also can install Google's proprietary layer of services and libraries, but that's optional if you're building it yourself.
  - themihai 10y ago