
Google Glass: The Opposition Grows - milesf
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57574607-93/google-glass-the-opposition-grows/
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pavs
I am a gadget geek just like any nerds out there. I like the concept of Google
Glass but the practical application scares the shit out of me. Google Glass in
its current form is every advertisers/data-miners perfect wet dream.

I can see myself smacking someone for taking videos/pictures of me without my
consent, by holding a camera right in my face. Google Glass almost legitimizes
that kind of behavior. "Oh I can record our conversation because the camera is
inside the glass and look its shiny."

Like the video of this guy holding a camera to random people's face:
<http://www.slashgeek.net/2013/02/26/google-glass-privacy/>

NOT OK!

~~~
redact207
The video doesn't prove google glass is invasive. It just shows that people
don't tolerate jerks too well. Even without the camera, having some weirdo
come up and stare at you without having the decency to respond to you is of
course going to annoy people. Nothing to do with technology.

~~~
XorNot
It also ignores many of the things you can currently do. I've recorded more
then one meeting by simply leaving my iPhone on record mode in my pocket.
Audio is frequently more damning then video, and anyone can do that these days
without giving anything away.

The right to privacy in public is generally regarded as a right to casual
privacy - in the sense that many people can hear and may capture or
accidentally record what you say, but won't publish or broadcast these events.

It seems the problem with Google Glass is more that it's forcing people to
consider what has been true for a very long time: that wherever you go,
chances are you're recorded in dozens of ways, by dozens of people, and the
only actual defense is essentially social ettiquette in handling this content
(and the fact that most people just don't care about who you are or what you
do).

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Shenglong
I used to withhold face-palm reactions to opinions that differed from my own
on the premise that _all_ views deserve to be heard, but there is so much
ridiculous opposition in the world now, that it's become burdensome.

Even reading this trash article was in just about all respects, a horrible
waste of time.

~~~
ghshephard
I really have no idea, based on your short comment, what your position is on
omnipresent surveillance. I, for one, have no problem supporting bars that
promise an ass kicking to anyone who shows up wearing google glass - I'm
hoping we all quickly agree that, with clear exceptions (repair jobs, field
surveys, photo shoots, reporters) - that they won't be an appropriate social
use of technology.

~~~
mayanksinghal
> I, for one, have no problem supporting bars that promise an ass kicking to
> anyone who shows up wearing google glass

Bars can just ban photography and ask their customers to not have Glasses on
without the need of any sort of ass kicking. I would never go to a bar that
advertises ass kicking as a feature - independent of whether I have/wear
Glasses or not.

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merinid
For anything really, sides rally amongst themselves. We have differing
opinions on issues all the time. I have a side concern about how we consider
technology, and science in general. I really think it should be elevated to
something more like free speech. That the dangers of not producing and
experimenting with technology far outweigh fears of it harming ourselves. Well
maybe not a belief but a hope. Something to strive for.

------
PostOnce
What would life be like if everyone wore a spy camera that transcribed all
conversations and uploaded them to various internet services all the time? If
you knew everyone you ever talked to recorded it all and put it on the
internet?

Once your data is recorded, you can't take it back 30 years down the road if
you decide you don't like the direction the company has taken, or if privacy
laws have changed to no longer be in your favor. The data is already out
there. If you think changes in the TOS are bad now...

And your info won't just go to Google. There will be apps. You'll "Post this
conversation to Facebook" or something equally stupid. Now fifty different
niche websites are accessing things you said to your friend that you never
uploaded. (Also, remember seeing in the news that some jobs require your
facebook password as part of the interview process? What if that became more
common? What if it wasn't just facebook, but everything you ever did, said, or
saw happen?)

Our personalities will change, too. We'll become accustomed to constant and
total self-censorship

People's data will be subpoenaed too, or just made available for general
monitoring in some dictatorship somewhere. Maybe you once had a conversation
with someone who later is investigated for something, and out of context your
conversation sounds terrible. Now they investigate you. This investigation
won't lead to a conviction, but it might fuck your life up for a few months.
And that's an optimistic scenario.

I don't really believe it's stoppable though. We're not taking smartphones
back. This is just a smartphone strapped to your head. We probably will tell
people not to wear them in certain places, but how long will that last? We'll
get used to it, like we got used to the TSA. Technology is only going to get
more ubiquitous. Maybe we can fight fire with fire. The cypherpunks have been
doing it for a while.

Play devil's advocate sometimes. Google Glass may end up being the best thing
ever, but we should always question things. If the answer to the question is
good, then it doesn't matter that we asked, but if it's bad... we'll be damn
glad we did.

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bravura
I think this was a far better summary of the opposition to Google Glass:

[http://gawker.com/5990395/if-you-wear-googles-new-glasses-
yo...](http://gawker.com/5990395/if-you-wear-googles-new-glasses-you-are-an-
asshole)

"If You Wear Google’s New Glasses You Are An Asshole"

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stcredzero
_> They say that it will herald a world in which "privacy is impossible and
corporate control total."_

They have this temporally reversed. This world heralded Glass. (Unfortunately.
Stallman could say, "Told you so.")

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kalkat
Like all things, it would have some good use and bad use. But technology WILL
evolve, and many people would adopt. It ultimately settles at a healthy
balance.

In general though, privacy has been dead on the net for a long time now. In
life outside the net too, the guy opposite you could have the camera on while
he holds the phone in his hand. So yes, some people would have issues with
this, but generalizing that response to a majority would be exaggeration.

------
kayoone
Theres alot of new tech i am really excited about. Next generation smartphones
& tablets, things like Leap Motion/Kinect/MYO, cheap and tiny computers etc.

But Glass isnt really one of them... I cant shake the feeling it will end up
in the same strange spot as bluetooth headsets and it just has alot of
potential issues with privacy, usability (voice only?) and general appearance.

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IanCal
"There's no way of even knowing if someone else is recording you through their
glasses from somewhere in the cloud."

I wonder if the author makes sure to turn their monitor to face the wall when
they've finished working so hackers can't film them while they sleep.

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fkdjs
stopthecyborgs? Looks like more microsoft astroturfing. The backlash is
growing in microsoft's dreams only.

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corporalagumbo
Resistance to technologies like Glass is pointless. They're going to happen,
and a whole lot more to boot, like it or not. People running around demonising
Google or Glass are just silly - Google is just one of the few global entities
with the necessary resources and vision to consciously make the next big steps
in a pretty plain sequence.

The real question is adaptation - as Clay Shirky says, it's all about learning
how to work _with_ the wind, not against it.

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codezero
One of the things that hurt the Segway's early adoption was that it was
legislated against its intended use as a walking replacement -- they were
legislated against (or rather, considered powered vehicles) by many nations
and local governments. They are still illegal to drive on sidewalks in the UK.

If enough people block the use of Glass, it could have an adverse effect on
its sales and growth.

~~~
jonny_eh
Were laws really the reason why the Segway didn't take off?

I figure it didn't take off for the same reason non-overly obese people don't
use Rascal carts. People were worried about being perceived as lazy. They're
also really expensive, so you'd be perceived as snobbish as well.

Just look at Gob's character in Arrested Development. They didn't stick him on
a Segway because he's a prudent person that needs to get to places in a hurry.

~~~
potatolicious
I've always thought Segway's failure was simply because it created more
problems than it solved.

It was expensive, large, you had to find somewhere to park it, you had to
remember to charge it, it came with an aura of snobbishness (at that price
tag, not entirely undeserved).

And it solved... what? In suburban America it doesn't go fast or far enough to
get you anywhere in reasonable time. In urban America the distances people
walk aren't _worth_ all of the above compromises.

The Segway makes no sense to the suburbanite whose main mode of transportation
involved their garage door opener. The Segway also makes no sense to the
urbanite who can walk 100 feet to the closest grocery store.

It was a marvelously cool technology looking to solve a problem very few
people actually had.

~~~
stcredzero
It solved problems for cities and city planners. A Segway user could be like
an enhanced pedestrian. You could have fewer stores serve a larger populace.
It didn't get to do this because it didn't solve its own chicken and egg
problem.

~~~
snogglethorpe
There are other, better, technologies in the same solution space, e.g.
bicycles, which are more useful, familiar, _vastly_ cheaper, more reliable
(e.g. don't need charging, simpler all-mechanical design), and already have
tons of existing infrastructure. Bicycles have drawbacks (e.g. the "what do
you do with it" issue common to almost all vehicles), but nothing that the
segway doesn't _also_ have.

The segway solved nothing. It was a neat toy.

------
huhtenberg
It's good to see there's some sense left in the world.

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auctiontheory
Resistance is futile - but I applaud the effort.

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OGinparadise
What a shame, you are going to miss on all these ads that Google has them
lined up for you. Google Glass apps might even sell the fact that your voice
is coarse today and convince Johnson & Johnson for $1.50 off a cough medicine.
Or use an app analyze your toilet bowl before flushing to see if Kellogg's
cereal would benefit your diet. Or suggest some new makeup to your girl
friends, maybe it's the lighting but it seems like they could use some new
makeup. They'd love that. Who wouldn't, right? You are so hip.

Google Glass was designed by people that make a living by tracking you, your
friends and by annoying the hell out of you with advertisements. That is the
fundamental problem, it solves their problems, not yours. For almost everyone,
there is no need to walk with glasses on, unless the designer of such glasses
needs to know every step you take. Need directions? Check the phone and check
it again 5 minutes later. No need to look like a glasshole.

~~~
mayanksinghal
Disclosure: I work at Google.

I wanted to explain myself when I downvoted you, but I am just going to say
that I would rather be a glasshole than be that bitter.

~~~
OGinparadise
_Disclosure: I work at Google._

Or changing the world one ad click and one snoop at a time. (since you started
it)

Fine. Being bitter, assuming I am, can be transitory. Once your sell your soul
for a salary, you can never get it back.

You have a couple of years before "Googler" becomes a toxic word. Maybe less,
given Larry's focus on squeezing every penny out of the ecosystem, so plan
accordingly.

~~~
potatolicious
I downvoted you, and I don't work at Google.

Get off the high horse - tell me what you do for a living and I can find just
as morally damning words to say about you. Unless you are curing cancer at an
orphanage for paraplegics, the morality of your career is, like the rest of
us, more gray than it is black or white.

So stop it with the meaningless emotional rhetoric and attack someone's
arguments on its own merits. To pretend that all Google does is shove ads in
your face, and that their only accomplishments to date have been so, is either
brutally ignorant or blatantly and deliberately disingenuous.

