
The creepy cameraman of Seattle wears Google Glasses - Cbasedlifeform
http://brianshall.com/content/creepy-cameraman-seattle-wears-google-glasses
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AUmrysh
Brian sounds like an angry google hater. If you read some of his other blog
posts, you will see that he sensationalizes his headlines. He says that the
cameraman wears google glasses, but then provides no evidence. He also has a
post where he somehow twists a commercial [1] for google glass showing a
mother, child, father, and friends all using glass to do a hangout into
"Google Glasses commercial encourages taking video of womens[sic] tits and
uploading it to Youtube", a title concerning a video that includes no nudity
and no youtube uploading.

Privacy is a major concern with things like this, and I am worried that it
will be violated with the glass product, but I'm really more worried that I'll
be the one violating my own privacy on accident rather than some perv spying
on me with it. If you think about it, the guy with the hidden camera on the
train is far less conspicuous than a guy wearing "GOOGLE GLASSES (TM)" and
staring at you.

1: [http://www.brianshall.com/content/google-glasses-
commercial-...](http://www.brianshall.com/content/google-glasses-commercial-
encourages-taking-video-womens-tits-and-uploading-it-youtube)

~~~
xvolter
I just fear for Google Glasses. I am hopeful for them, primarily since I'd
like to try them, but in recent news there have been a few cases of people
against the idea of being recorded. People being recorded tend to find it a
privacy risk. I myself might, but I think it'd depend on the person wearing
the glasses/camera far more than the camera itself. There are of course
inherit risks with concepts of hidden cameras and recording people without
their permission. Poses risk to projects like Google Glasses.

~~~
AUmrysh
I think it's about as concerning as cell phones. There are plenty of places
where you are not allowed to bring a cell phone, especially if you're going to
be looking at or talking about something confidential. I think the same rules
would apply to glasses. Both devices have a camera and can upload a recording
to youtube or qwik or any other number of video services, and both devices can
be used to secretly record videos.

I hope that Google will take measures to reduce the risk of unwanted
recording, perhaps by having an LED or a shutter/record sound which can not be
muted.

~~~
pyre
I remember at one point that my dad was having a hard time getting a new
cellphone, because he wasn't allowed to bring cellphones with cameras into
work. This was maybe 8 years ago or so at this point, but I imagine that a lot
of places have had to redact those policies.

------
eob
Legality of this aside...

I assume the best in people. So I assume this is a person trying to call into
focus the blurry spectrum between experiencing an event, documenting an event
on paper, drawing, pictures, and video. And he's probably doing it because
with the technology coming down the pipeline, these lines are going to get
even more blurred. Perhaps he's even an advocate of legislation to prevent
things like this and just figures you have to poke someone (the public; the
legislature) in the eye to get them to respond.

But even so, this is a pretty jerk-ish way to do that for animalistic reasons.
He's not just recording people, he's staring at strangers.

Several times he made the plea of "I'm not being threatening." That's patently
false. We're mammals. Staring at a stranger for prolonged periods of time is a
direct, unambiguous threat. If a stranger stared at me like that, blank faced
and unmoving, I would call the police with or without a video camera. And if I
saw you doing it to someone I cared about, I'd probably consider attacking
you, or at least putting on a good show of it.

So he's missing the whole point, and the headline reads "creepy cameraman.."
instead of "Man draws focus on ubiquitous surveillance." His creepiness is
confounded with the recording such that it's impossible to ply apart what part
of the reaction is because of _him_ and what part is because of his _camera_.

Hopefully it'll draw out the public discussion I assume he wants drawn out.

------
engtech
That blog is quoting from a Seattle newspaper article without linking to it,
here's the link to the article:

[http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2012/10/31/who-is-
seatt...](http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2012/10/31/who-is-seattles-
creepy-cameraman/)

The newspaper article is quoting from the photography is not a crime blog:

[http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/2012/10/10/creepy-
man-...](http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/2012/10/10/creepy-man-disrupts-
school-with-camera-in-comical-youtube-video/)

[http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/2012/10/30/creepy-
came...](http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/2012/10/30/creepy-cameraman-
reemerges-as-surveillance-camera-man/)

According to photographyisnotacrime, the original youtube Creepy Cameraman
uploader was itsrighttherenow which has been deleted for copyright
infringement.

Here's a google cache of his youtube page:

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6OBvqhK...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6OBvqhKr7dsJ:www.youtube.com/user/itsrightherenow+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk)

That's as far down the rabbit hole as I could go to find the original source
of this story.

~~~
AUmrysh
There is no mention of Google Glass in any of those articles. This post is
just anti-Google blogspam.

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Cbasedlifeform
Hi all I posted the blog link (by Brian Hall) as I thought his take on it was
interesting (if inflammatory). I read the original Seattle PI article it links
to. I note that the cameraman does not in fact use Google Glasses and
apologies for passing on false info. Thanks to the other posters for their
detective work.

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jchavannes
I don't see how Google Glasses is any more of a threat than the average smart
phone. Here's a video I saw just a few days ago that's just as invasive:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTcvQSqE21g>

And another one I saw a few years ago:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbaDw7A6anA>

I basically live my life assuming I'm being recorded unless I'm in my own
home. Just wait another 15 years and I'm sure the military will have developed
bug-size (or smaller) cameras that can fly and will be nearly undetectable.

"The age of privacy is over."

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borlak
where does it say he is wearing google glasses?

