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People Staring at Computers

kylemcdonald.net

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Re: People Staring at Computers

#221

Post by [deleted] »

Miner49er wrote: post #182
titzer wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is like shitting on someone's car to point out the fact that...birds shit on cars. Installing software on an entire Apple Store's set of display models because one employee supposedly "consented" is a serious violation of their property. The fact this software took pictures of unaware people directly right in their face is gobsmacking. But it was an "art project". At first I was pretty miffed right along with th…

Do people not reguarly install software on display computers? Everytime I've used one (especially phones) they've been full of installed apps. That's illegal?

[deleted]

Re: People Staring at Computers

#222

Post by overboard2 »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #145
yupper32 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's classic shoot-the-messenger. No it's not! I don't go around shooting people to advocate gun control laws. I don't go around stealing people's belongings in cars to advocate that people shouldn't leave valuables in cars. This is vigilante behavior that should never be condoned.

But you are defending a home raid on someone who was not brought to trial, but was making a politcal and moral point about corporate tools and corporate behaviours. When you think criticism - oblique, but clearly still harmless - is more of a problem than the behaviours, you are very much trying to shoot the messenger.

>But you are defending a home raid on someone who was not brought to trial

He should have been brought to trial

Re: People Staring at Computers

#223

Post by chrisseaton »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #209
CaptArmchair wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with that assessment. To my mind, the act of capturing faces in and off itself isn't even the reason why he was investigated. Consent from members of the public is an entirely separate discussion. This boils entirely down to him not having formal consent from Apple. He simply walked into the store and quite literally installed a small application on each Macbook without Apple's consent. > I remember being a b…

> He simply walked into the store and quite literally installed a small application on each Macbook without Apple's consent. People install free software on computers in Apple Stores all the time though, don't they? It's part of testing out the computers, and expected by Apple. As mentioned in the story, Apple resets the computers each night. My guess would be this is part of why they decided they didn't have a legal…

> People install free software on computers in Apple Stores all the time though, don't they? It's part of testing out the computers

But he wasn't testing out the computers, which was what they were intended for and he knew that. That's why it was abusive of him.

Re: People Staring at Computers

#224

Post by yawn »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #115
yarcob wrote: post #89

The most curious thing about this project is how people seem to have a visceral reaction to having photos of them made without their permission; but having their activity tracked online hardly evokes the same reaction. It's weird. What harm is a random picture of my face in public going to do? But still some people worry so much about that. Whereas only very few people show the same reaction to the fact that Google s…

It's magical thinking. People don't understand how technology works. More than that - because it's not really about computers . Most people don't understand how reality works. What is information. How reasoning works. What can you infer from observations. They feel (and sometimes, in some places, really think) that a picture is like a piece of their soul. But it isn't. It's just a hash of their phenotype, useful most…

Nobody on the street recognizes who the string "TeMPOraL" is. Show them a picture and now they all recognize.

Re: People Staring at Computers

#225

Post by sovnade »

yupper32 wrote: post #46

They installed spyware on someone else's computers. Of course that's illegal, regardless of whether or not the AG decided to go after them. Are people serious here? There's nothing ethical or legal going on with the blog post here. The fact that they got off is just luck. There's no whistleblowing or any other protection granted, and there shouldn't be. Period. And the worst part in my opinion is the author has no in…

That was my first thought. Inside an Apple store is not a public place. A sidewalk is a public place - you can take photos there and post them with no consequences. Inside a private business might as well be inside someone's private residence as far as the law is concerned.

Just because a business is open to the public does not mean it is a public space. People confuse the two.

Re: People Staring at Computers

#226

Post by SamBam »

enimodas wrote: post #194

Reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of art of the 21th century: surveillance camera man: https://www.bitchute.com/video/OkQQggPH6a9B/

This is really good. I could only stomach the first half because of the awkwardness, but that's exactly the point:

> "Excuse me, you don't take a video without asking."

Exactly.

Re: People Staring at Computers

#227

Post by criddell »

yupper32 wrote: post #46

They installed spyware on someone else's computers. Of course that's illegal, regardless of whether or not the AG decided to go after them. Are people serious here? There's nothing ethical or legal going on with the blog post here. The fact that they got off is just luck. There's no whistleblowing or any other protection granted, and there shouldn't be. Period. And the worst part in my opinion is the author has no in…

> And the worst part in my opinion is the author has no intention of not doing something like this again.

I think the author's intentions are what earn him some sympathy from people around here. He wasn't stealing bank info or passwords. He wasn't tracking their location or scanning their email. He was essentially doing street photography albeit with cameras owned by Apple.

The author may be naive but he's not malicious and that matters to me when I try to come up with some kind of judgement.

Re: People Staring at Computers

#228

Post by orestarod »

bregma wrote: post #178
yarcob wrote: post #89

The most curious thing about this project is how people seem to have a visceral reaction to having photos of them made without their permission; but having their activity tracked online hardly evokes the same reaction. It's weird. What harm is a random picture of my face in public going to do? But still some people worry so much about that. Whereas only very few people show the same reaction to the fact that Google s…

Tell someone there are a billion stars in the universe and they'll believe you. Tell them there is wet paint on a bench and they'll have to touch it to be sure.

The stars can be seen too. Except if you mean "only" a billion stars.

Re: People Staring at Computers

#229

Post by h0nd »

yarcob wrote: post #89

The most curious thing about this project is how people seem to have a visceral reaction to having photos of them made without their permission; but having their activity tracked online hardly evokes the same reaction. It's weird. What harm is a random picture of my face in public going to do? But still some people worry so much about that. Whereas only very few people show the same reaction to the fact that Google s…

There are a few things that come to my mind, reading your thoughts and observations.

Everyone can do the same activity as I do, go the same places. Buy the same things. But nobody can have the same face as me. In this way, things do not seem comparable. Privacy is at risk on another level.

Also, I feel it is in tendency easier to understand the risks and potential abuse of your picture being online as compared to the risks and abuse when google knows what you type into their search field.

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