
Life Recorders May Be This Century’s Wrist Watch - malte
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/06/life-recorders-may-be-this-centurys-wrist-watch/
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lsc
I wonder what the legal implications of wearing a wire all the time are?
'cause it would actually help me out quite a bit, at least if there was a way
for me to easily add tags (or otherwise make it search able)

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masklinn
As long as the data remains yours and you're its handler, why would there be
any intrinsic legal implication to wearing that kind of stuff? It'd be no
different than carrying an always on camcorder.

Though I think that box is ugly and impractical, I'll wait for artificial eyes
or systems tapping the optic nerve.

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patio11
_why would there be any intrinsic legal implication to wearing that kind of
stuff?_

For one, in many states it is illegal to record a conversation without the
consent of all parties. (In most states it is illegal to record a conversation
without the consent of at least one party to it.)

You'd literally bump into people at the supermarket and say "My, what a
beautiful child you have and BY THE WAY I'm wearing a discrete wire please
don't talk unless you want it recorded."

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jwilliams
There may well be copyright implications too.

You might be recording images & audio without the rights to do so.

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ivanstojic
Just another example of how pathetic the current views on copyright are.

I wonder if you could prosecute a person with photographic memory for the very
same thing: "recording" images and audio without the rights to do it.

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jwilliams
It's not such a crazy question. If the person reproduced the work, certainly.

However, there is also part of copyright that involves "fixing" a work in a
medium so that it can be reproduced. With the rather vague caveat of unless
it's for "transitory duration".

There is even debate on if a RAM buffer constitutes infringement. If I recall
some lectures on this Sony ran into this problem when they started offering
RAM buffering on their CD Discman devices (although the issue goes right
back).

However, this recently got challenged with a series of decisions that went the
other way - RAM buffers were fine - These decisions had more of a focus on the
"economic value" that can be derived from a copy... It also accepted the fact
that the practice is widespread and essential in most electronic devices.

So in light of the later trend... You're probably ok.

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speek
Y'all should check out the movie The Final Cut (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Cut_(2004_film)>
<http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2978742553/> ). Not only is this one
of the best Robin Williams movies I've seen, but it is also one of the best
sci-fi films I've seen in a while.

~~~
Tichy
Strange Days is another variation of the theme:
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114558/>

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Edinburger
Rather than just collecting data as a reference, I really like the idea of
analysing what I've been doing (often wasting time!) and taking the chance to
live my life better in future.

~~~
smiler
As long as you don't always record yourself analysing the recordings of what
you've been doing - otherwise you're going to have some interested video
feedback :)

Also, think of all the time you will waste analysing that you have indeed
wasted time. It will mean you just end up wasting even more time ;)

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zandorg
My collaborator Ted Nelson (of Xanadu fame) has been carrying a camcorder to
record (on hundreds of tapes) just about every conversation with people he's
met, for about 30 years. Pretty ahead of his time, I guess. I'm on some of his
tapes too, which is nice.

~~~
jamesbritt
Isn't that what Andy Warhol used to do?

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billswift
Have any of you read David Brin's "Transparent Society"
[http://www.amazon.com/Transparent-Society-Technology-
Between...](http://www.amazon.com/Transparent-Society-Technology-Between-
Privacy/dp/0738201448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252345687&sr=8-1) He
makes the argument that universal monitoring is going to happen, almost
certainly, and the only real alternatives is who gets to watch, just the
gov't, or will we get to keep an eye on the gov't too?

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dejb
In the long run this will be revolutionary for society. The benefits of being
able to observe videos of ones self in sport are well recognised and they
should carry over to ordinary life as well. 'Know thyself' could finally be
possible (as long as you have the time to watch the 'logs').

For society it should bring in huge reductions in crime as well as many types
of deceptive behaviour. Combined with reputation management people would have
a bigger incentive to do good.

Society will probably need to adjust to a few 'minority' behaviours somewhat
analogous to homosexuality. Those who had recognisably harmful conditions
would be able to identify them and have access to help.

I'm sure there will also be some problems, but they will be dwarfed by the
benefits. Data is power.

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pmorici
This sounds like about the worst idea I've ever heard of. Big brother's
ultimate fantasy.

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vijayr
as if the intrusions in life and privacy aren't enough already.

just reads like the novel 'The prometheus deception'. The worst part of this
post is that Arrington makes it sound as if it is a great idea, and very much
needed.

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swombat
I voted yes. I'd definitely get one of these if it was affordable and discreet
(or otherwise fashionable).

I'd even consider broadcasting everything live most of the time.. but not 100%
of the time.

I think the realism of this device depends on the stage of your life and work,
too. For example, within the context of a start-up, I'd definitely not want
the photo of every person I meet broadcast to the world. However, within the
context of blogging and being an online personna, if that was my full-time job
(and who knows, it may get to that later on), this device would be great.

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ajuc
I thint this thing would be very useful even if not connected to web. If it
could write everything to disk, not to web. Of course - volume of its memory
will have to be enormous.

Also - it has to encrypt data with private key, and public key will be safe in
home, so nobody can see your whole life when you will lost this thing, or sbd
will steal it.

About crime prevention etc - there should be button that starts sending all
data to police without encrypting it in real time.

I would buy one.

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teamonkey
It will lead to a whole new level of celebrity culture. If you're interested
in someone's life, then you can watch it live! Either that or it will kill all
interest as people realise how mundane other people's lives are.

Also, has anyone read Halting State by Charles Stross? In that book life
recorders are commonly used by, for example, the local police force in their
day-to-day investigations.

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ulf
Crowdsourcing meets 1984...

~~~
patio11
I read a good sci-fi book recently about the possibilities for a device like
this. (It was the one about orcs raiding an MMORPG bank in Scotland and
causing a financial panic. I don't remember the title but if you Google it you
should probably find it fairly quickly.)

They didn't tag the people -- they tagged the cops. I'd be 150% in favor of
that -- the camera preserves all the evidence impartially, regardless of
whether it shows the cop in the right or in the wrong, and the minority of bad
apples would probably clean up their act a bit if they knew they were being
watched by something they could not intimidate or cajole into silence. Plus as
a public servant, while they are on the clock, cops have zero expectation of
privacy.

If I had my druthers I'd give them to everyone with a badge and make their use
compulsory 100% of the time when in uniform, with a 5 minute time-out button
for bathroom breaks which, if you punch in the middle of a traffic stop, means
you lose your badge.

See the book for how it would revolutionize policing. The cops could use
simple voice commands to produce authenticated timestamps for, e.g, arrests
and collecting evidence. It would greatly simplify arrest reports and the
like. It would make a HUGE portion of criminal cases even more open and shut
than they already are -- "Look, we've got you on video swinging your fist at a
cop. Please guilty to the possession charge and resisting arrest, or you'll be
convicted of assault."

~~~
jacquesm
'halting state'.

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malte
It is really fascinating to see the oppositional reactions to this idea. It
seems like either people love it or they are really scared (like me) and
cannot understand why other people would like it. This is also reflected in
the poll results on TC (so far).

~~~
gjm11
There's another point of view, which is found e.g. in David Brin's "The
transparent society": privacy is inevitably going to be more or less a thing
of the past pretty soon, so the challenge is to find a way to make that not
end up benefiting the people with power and completely screwing the people
without. Brin thinks it can be done...

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jacquesm
I can see a device like this embedded in the line just above the windshield in
cars. Instant black box, accident investigations would become a lot easier.

Not sure if I'd like the privacy issues resulting from that though.

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pmichaud
I've lost count of the times my wife has said: "I never said that..." And I
thought, "Damn, I wish I had recorded that conversation... if only there was a
device..."

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davidusher
full on information over load, i can hardly keep up with the digital photos
between my laptop, desktop and iphone.

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maneesh
i want this now, I've been trying to monitor what I'm doing using a mashup of
rescue time, saving tweets, but an auto camera and audio recorder? perfect.

Speaking of, has anyone ever filmed themselves to see how they interact in
social situations?

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JacobAldridge
> Speaking of, has anyone ever filmed themselves to see how they interact in
> social situations?

Not directly, but enough to know that Me + Spice Girls + Bourbon != Positive
Social Interaction

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clistctrl
I don't want my ancestors knowing about some of the things i lookup on the
internet just for giggles... or seeing how many times i turn the device off
while sitting at the computer.

~~~
billswift
I don't have to worry about that, my ancestors are all dead; or did you mean
descendents?

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berntb
Consider changes for crime and evidence sitauation. Especially against drunk
people and in countries (like my native Sweden) where the police force isn't
functional.

Consider generation two, when loggers have monitoring of e.g. blood pressure
and pulse -- and automatic notification of ambulances.

I want one, too. (No, I don't drink much!)

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onreact-com
"Imagine a small device that you wear on a necklace that takes photos every
few seconds of whatever is around you, and records sound all day long"

Your own personal NSA.

