Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Glasshole

penny-arcade.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 106 posts

Re: Glasshole

#11

Post by enraged_camel »

cookiecaper wrote: post #6
mjolk wrote: post #2

I've been trying not to get too worked up over the whole NSA/PRISM issue, but the potential success Google Glass changes the magnitude of the issue. By proxy, every Google Glass owner will be acting as a remote recording device for government agencies. Everyone in the line of site/hearing range of the device forfeits privacy.

Everyone is already carrying a remote tracking and recording device called a cell phone, optionally including video (which may or may not be useful). Admittedly Glass gives a much better vantage point for videos, but that's the only added aspect.

Cellphones are in people's pockets or purses most of the time, and even when they are being used the camera is mostly pointing at the ground or the person's lap.

Google Glass will show The Watchers exactly what the person is looking at. Even when the person takes it off and puts it on, say, a table surface, it will be showing something, as opposed to a phone which either points downward or up towards the ceiling.

I could go on. The point is that "everyone is already carrying a remote tracking and recording device" is hugely different in terms of both the scope and depth of surveillance that said offers when compared to Google Glass.

Re: Glasshole

#12

Post by teej »

JDGM wrote: post #8

I was amazed to see this on the front page, assuming it was a link to today's comic, which would possibly have been the first time I witnessed a non-xkcd submitted to HN. That would've been cool, it's a good one. The fact that this is actually a link to the accompanying article from Tycho is great as his pieces are usually quite interesting but I miss out because they don't come up on the Penny Arcade website until a…

The writing on Penny Arcade has always been insightful and funny. I think being great writers is what makes them great comic artists.

If you're interested in games news, I've found the Penny Arcade Report to be fantastic. It hasn't been around long, but I several articles from it have already hit the front page of HN. http://penny-arcade.com/report/

Re: Glasshole

#13

Post by Kylekramer »

enraged_camel wrote: post #11
cookiecaper wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is already carrying a remote tracking and recording device called a cell phone, optionally including video (which may or may not be useful). Admittedly Glass gives a much better vantage point for videos, but that's the only added aspect.

Cellphones are in people's pockets or purses most of the time, and even when they are being used the camera is mostly pointing at the ground or the person's lap. Google Glass will show The Watchers exactly what the person is looking at. Even when the person takes it off and puts it on, say, a table surface, it will be showing something , as opposed to a phone which either points downward or up towards the ceiling. I…

Doesn't the sheer amount of noise (in the intelligence agencies' eyes) produced by Glass make it a fairly useless data source? If I worked for the secret shadowy three initial organizations I rather have access to call logs and email. At least it would have some curation.

Re: Glasshole

#14

Post by molbioguy »

mjolk wrote: post #2

I've been trying not to get too worked up over the whole NSA/PRISM issue, but the potential success Google Glass changes the magnitude of the issue. By proxy, every Google Glass owner will be acting as a remote recording device for government agencies. Everyone in the line of site/hearing range of the device forfeits privacy.

Glass makes it so much more convenient to record others. While you can do this with smartphones, the process is so much more obvious with those devices. Most people won't know if they're being recorded or not with Glass. And by putting the device close to your face, it's less likely someone will try to move it aside or block it.

It all comes back to privacy being a sense of control over what someone releases to the world about themselves. Glass helps take away that control (as does secret NSA data collection). People are uncomfortable when someone else controls the release or collection of their personal data (images, whereabouts, friends, etc).

Re: Glasshole

#15

Post by moskie »

ironchief wrote: post #3

He brings up a very good point that a lot the information humans pickup is from each other's faces. The nonverbal feedback facilitates turn-taking in conversation as well as emotional feedback. Perhaps Glass causes visceral reactions because of the combination of its foreignness (unlike glasses) and proximity to the face.

That foreignness should go away with time. I'm sure plenty of people were offput by people wearing glasses when they were first introduced to society at large.

Re: Glasshole

#16

Post by enraged_camel »

I think there is good discussion to be had here, but holy shit, I have never been able to get over how utterly pretentious Jerry's writing is. The comics are usually fantastic and at strange odds with the accompanying news.

Re: Glasshole

#17

Post by atwebb »

cookiecaper wrote: post #6
mjolk wrote: post #2

I've been trying not to get too worked up over the whole NSA/PRISM issue, but the potential success Google Glass changes the magnitude of the issue. By proxy, every Google Glass owner will be acting as a remote recording device for government agencies. Everyone in the line of site/hearing range of the device forfeits privacy.

Everyone is already carrying a remote tracking and recording device called a cell phone, optionally including video (which may or may not be useful). Admittedly Glass gives a much better vantage point for videos, but that's the only added aspect.

Why are people discounting the importance of that vantage point? It's incredibly pertinent and a main issue.

Re: Glasshole

#18

Post by BurritoAlPastor »

enraged_camel wrote: post #16

I think there is good discussion to be had here, but holy shit , I have never been able to get over how utterly pretentious Jerry's writing is. The comics are usually fantastic and at strange odds with the accompanying news.

It's always been my understanding that he writes that way simply because he enjoys it, and he's perpetually incredulous that he can make a living doing so.

Re: Glasshole

#19

Post by cookiecaper »

enraged_camel wrote: post #11
cookiecaper wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is already carrying a remote tracking and recording device called a cell phone, optionally including video (which may or may not be useful). Admittedly Glass gives a much better vantage point for videos, but that's the only added aspect.

Cellphones are in people's pockets or purses most of the time, and even when they are being used the camera is mostly pointing at the ground or the person's lap. Google Glass will show The Watchers exactly what the person is looking at. Even when the person takes it off and puts it on, say, a table surface, it will be showing something , as opposed to a phone which either points downward or up towards the ceiling. I…

Yeah, that's what I said.

I recognize it will give much more useful video stream. But it's an incremental increase in capability -- if they can already pinpoint your location with GPS and record all surface-level interhuman information exchange with microphones, they're already getting a very large section of what one would like to keep confidential.

Re: Glasshole

#20

Post by alex_stoddard »

In Kim Stanley Robinson's 1993 sf novel "Red Mars" a member of the first Mars colonization mission also works for news agencies back on Earth and wears "camera glasses". I forget the exact arc of the subplot but as I recall they resign and refuse to wear the 'glasses' anymore because they were ostracized by the rest of the crew.
Post reply on HN