

Google Deal With Luxottica Will Bring Glass to Ray-Ban, Oakley - bane
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303949704579459770701232200

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xyzzy123
So. Post-Snowden, does anyone think Glass is a remotely good idea?

I believe the only kind thing that can be said is that glass is "perhaps not
terribly worse than carrying a cellphone".

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bpodgursky
The fact is, outside the echo chambers of HN and reddit--and even within, by a
silent minority at least--people simply don't worry about NSA / etc concerns
enough to let it affect their day to day life. I'm one of those.

This isn't to say I endorse in any way what's going on (and I've written to my
congressional representatives to that extent), but whether rationally or
irrationally I am really not concerned about NSA surveillance affecting me
personally. Will it negatively affect the nation as a whole, sure, but I
honestly don't think wearing Glass (once the price drops enough I'd even
consider buying one) will pose an real threat to me.

So yeah, I do think it's a remotely good idea, as long it's useful to me
otherwise.

~~~
xyzzy123
I understand your position and I think it's pragmatic.

My concerns are mainly societal, as widespread use would provide unprecedented
new surveillance capabilities.

The main difference is that cellphones mostly only compromise your own
privacy, whereas Glass users are in a position to enable data collection on
everyone around them too.

Data from Glass may _already_ be available to existing collection efforts.
It's just an Android device. Glass cloud syncs by default and uses the regular
(insecure) Android backup mechanism.

Google have been careful to point out that Glass does not support facial
recognition. Sure, but image recognition is much better done in a server farm
across bulk collected data anyway.

If glass is widespread, it becomes plausible to track targets (non users,
vehicles etc) through "crowd-sourced" surveillance images. This gets really
interesting when you have fine-grained location data and the ability to
correlate between multiple users (whose path in the world is known). Most of
the time the system could just work off passively collected (synced) data.
There would be no indication on the device itself that this is going on, but
it would not be real-time.

However if a target is sought in a certain area, you could go active. Software
could be pushed to nearby Glass units to conduct a high intensity search[1].
In a metropolitan area, you could turn on thousands of eyes at will[2].
Naturally you could also collect audio or other sensor data if you needed it.

What amazes me is that this is not science fiction - it's an obvious extension
of existing collection efforts. A lot of the required infrastructure already
exists.

Given what we know to date, I view efforts to develop such a system as
basically inevitable. The idea is too obvious, too tempting. That's why I'm
worried about Glass.

[1] Take lots of pictures. Be willing to drain battery. You might want to do
some local processing to minimize load on the cell network.

[1] Google can push software to Android devices. Carriers can push updates.
There are probably a bunch of other ways to get software on there.

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line-zero
Just when I thought those sun-glasses couldn't get any more douche-baggy . . .

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davidw
Interestingly, both Luxottica and local rival Safilo are both from small towns
in the middle of the Dolomites:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safilo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safilo)

Not the first place that would come to mind for precision manufacturing, but
there you have it.

~~~
carlob
> Not the first place that would come to mind for precision manufacturing, but
> there you have it.

Why not? Aren't Swiss watchmakers in the Alps as well?

And regarding sibling poster saying they have production mainly in China: I
remember reading they've actually moved some of the production to Italy after
acquiring firms that were making their frames in China. If I find a source in
English I'll post it.

Old article stating 85% production in Italy:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/style/27iht-
rglass.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/style/27iht-rglass.html)

Marketing page about manufactoring:

[http://www.luxottica.com/en/company/world/places/manufacturi...](http://www.luxottica.com/en/company/world/places/manufacturing)

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davidw
> Why not? Aren't Swiss watchmakers in the Alps as well?

This says... not really:

[http://www.fhs.ch/en/history.php](http://www.fhs.ch/en/history.php)

At least not compared to someplace like Agordo, which is still not that easy
to get to today:

[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Agordo,+Belluno,+Italy&hl=en&...](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Agordo,+Belluno,+Italy&hl=en&ll=46.272461,12.057495&spn=0.214533,0.528374&sll=45.406504,11.891245&sspn=0.217898,0.528374&oq=agord&hnear=Agordo,+Belluno,+Veneto,+Italy&t=p&z=12)

Which is probably why Luxottica moved to Milan, and Safilo here to Padova.

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WestCoastJustin
There is a great 60 minutes episode about Luxottica @
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDdq2rIqAlM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDdq2rIqAlM)

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headShrinker
Sad that Google will sink to doing business with Luxottica over some awesome
company like Warby Parker. I have no interest anymore.

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OWaz
It does seem to make sense to me that Google would partner with a company that
can place Google Glass in front of the average consumer. Luxotica owns 7000
retail locations [1] and I am pretty sure most of those locations accept
EyeMed insurance (which Luxotica also owns). People would be very happy to put
their insurance benefit towards a pair of Google Glasses.

I'm on my second pair of WB frames because I don't like spending a ton on eye-
wear. I understand the value that WB provides to consumers. I just think
Luxotica currently offers way more to Google than WB could.

[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica#Retail](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica#Retail)

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headShrinker
True, and your right. It's good for them. I am just so apposed for so many
reasons and I rarely feel that way about google products. Oh well.

