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I feel one must question why people are upset about glass-cameras but are perfectly fine with omnipresent CCTV or NSA data collection. The Surveillance Camera M

I feel one must question why people are upset about glass-cameras but are perfectly fine with omnipresent CCTV or NSA data collection. The Surveillance Camera Man video series highlights the same issue. Do people genuinely care about privacy, but only think about it when the breach is obvious and in their face?

grey-area 12y ago
Glass intrudes in private spaces normally off-limits to CCTV, and it's internet connected so could easily stream the video. Worse than that, the corporation providing it has shown they're interested in collecting as much information as possible (e.g. trawling for wireless data with streetview cars). Such centralised information banks give that corporation a lot of power and are vulnerable to retrospective government requests for the data. Google has enough info about me as it is thanks (search, analytics, docs, emails, now video). That's completely different to most closed circuit TV cameras which record for a limited time and without great quality, for purposes like security against burglary. Just as I'd object to having a permanently on internet-connected camera in my home, I'd also object to someone wearing Google Glass there. Even more objectionable would be hundreds of thousands of google connected video cameras walking the streets. Maybe that makes me unusual, but apparently not given the reception of Glass. The camera was a terrible mistake from my perspective and completely put me off the possibility of owning it, and also puts me off Google the company for condoning such an obvious invasion of the privacy of others without their consent, and people who wear it for being so tone deaf - it would be like walking around with your camera phone permanently switched on pointing at your focus of attention - how weird and creepy. The whole thing reminds me of The Entire History of You or the telescreens in 1984 - I don't want to record everything I do, nor do I want others to do so without my consent, just as I don't want everything I write on the internet to be retrievable in an instant catalogued against every alias I've ever used. Maybe that will happen one day and there's nothing we can do about it, but there are definitely downsides. PS I'm not perfectly fine with omnipresent CCTV or NSA data collection either; nice straw man.
lentil_soup 12y ago
I think they are two different things. Having a friend filming your conversations feels a lot more personal and tangible in my mind. A dumb example, but let's say you talk to your friend about how you hate your boss or how you cheat on your partner. Your friend can very easily cause you a lot of problems by just emailing that conversation to someone else. While CCTV and the NSA are terrible in their own right the damage that they can do is at a whole different level. (Except on particular cases) they don't care too much about the specifics of your personal life.
- csallen 12y ago
  Your friend can repeat what you've said to others without any device at all. He can also make an audio recording of your comments while pretending to fiddle around on his phone. Hell, he can do it without taking his phone out of his pocket. People are a-ok with this state of affairs, but are appalled at the idea of being "surreptitiously" recorded by someone wearing possibly the least stealthy device ever created by man. Why? Because a legitimate fear of being recorded isn't what lies at the heart of mainstream hatred toward Glass.

grey-area 12y ago

Glass intrudes in private spaces normally off-limits to CCTV, and it's internet connected so could easily stream the video. Worse than that, the corporation providing it has shown they're interested in collecting as much information as possible (e.g. trawling for wireless data with streetview cars). Such centralised information banks give that corporation a lot of power and are vulnerable to retrospective government requests for the data. Google has enough info about me as it is thanks (search, analytics, docs, emails, now video). That's completely different to most closed circuit TV cameras which record for a limited time and without great quality, for purposes like security against burglary. Just as I'd object to having a permanently on internet-connected camera in my home, I'd also object to someone wearing Google Glass there. Even more objectionable would be hundreds of thousands of google connected video cameras walking the streets. Maybe that makes me unusual, but apparently not given the reception of Glass. The camera was a terrible mistake from my perspective and completely put me off the possibility of owning it, and also puts me off Google the company for condoning such an obvious invasion of the privacy of others without their consent, and people who wear it for being so tone deaf - it would be like walking around with your camera phone permanently switched on pointing at your focus of attention - how weird and creepy. The whole thing reminds me of The Entire History of You or the telescreens in 1984 - I don't want to record everything I do, nor do I want others to do so without my consent, just as I don't want everything I write on the internet to be retrievable in an instant catalogued against every alias I've ever used. Maybe that will happen one day and there's nothing we can do about it, but there are definitely downsides. PS I'm not perfectly fine with omnipresent CCTV or NSA data collection either; nice straw man.

lentil_soup 12y ago

I think they are two different things. Having a friend filming your conversations feels a lot more personal and tangible in my mind. A dumb example, but let's say you talk to your friend about how you hate your boss or how you cheat on your partner. Your friend can very easily cause you a lot of problems by just emailing that conversation to someone else. While CCTV and the NSA are terrible in their own right the damage that they can do is at a whole different level. (Except on particular cases) they don't care too much about the specifics of your personal life.

csallen 12y ago
Your friend can repeat what you've said to others without any device at all. He can also make an audio recording of your comments while pretending to fiddle around on his phone. Hell, he can do it without taking his phone out of his pocket. People are a-ok with this state of affairs, but are appalled at the idea of being "surreptitiously" recorded by someone wearing possibly the least stealthy device ever created by man. Why? Because a legitimate fear of being recorded isn't what lies at the heart of mainstream hatred toward Glass.