The creator of Nearby Glasses made the app after reading 404 Media’s coverage of how people are using Meta’s Ray-Bans smartglasses to film people without their knowledge or consent. “I consider it to be a tiny part of resistance against surveillance tech.”
more at: @feed@404media.co
i mean… you can also just look around and see the guy with the dorky out-of-place classes…
You are thinking Google Glass. Those aint those anymore.
I agree but the biggest defense for this is to always assume you’re being recorded when in public even if you’re not. You never know.
The issue becomes relevant in private spaces, to me. Nobody with smart glasses is coming into my home.
the biggest defense for this is to always assume you’re being recorded when in public even if you’re not
So women in July should wear tarps?
What posible application is there for this CreepTech?
Doesn’t this boil down to self-censorship in public? Better not critizise the government in public becaus you never know whos waring smart glasses…
I agree 100%, but a thought occurred to me…would these help lead to more arrest if assaults were captured on the cameras. It sucks that such an existential threat to privacy could do real good. Forces some moral and ethical issues that techno feudalism is forcing on us, and we aren’t making the choice.
Those who would give up any measures of Liberty to purchase any amount of temporary Security deserve neither Liberty or Security.
I agree 100%, but a thought occurred to me…would these help lead to more arrest if assaults were captured on the cameras. It sucks that such an existential threat to privacy could do real good. Forces some moral and ethical issues that techno feudalism is forcing on us, and we aren’t making the choice.
you should be reading more cyberpunk / scifi literature. There is literally the case for human action and freedom within the machine. And assuming that AI cameras are also the freuquent next step in police states. Do you really want this? Are you allowed to have ambitions outside the machine?
I would love for an AI machine to be all knowing and all pervasive. It honestly sounds like it could be great.
Except definitelt not because we know 100% that nobody could be trusted to be in charge of it.
Ofc I don’t want this. But I look at my wife and daughter and their safety comes first hence the dilemma. And philosophy should be considered as well.
This is fantastic, but from what I understand they use randomized OUIs, so wouldn’t they be undetectable or at least unreliable in detection?
Following for the iOS port
meta is all about surveillance cant expect anything less
Wasnt there a ton of outrage and such incl people not being allowed on planes, back when google glass was released?
Why is it all OK now?
It still isn’t OK.
It is just that the technology became so small, you can’t differentiate with regular sunglasses anymore.
I mean you kind of still can. Wire frame sunglasses are still too small to have recording hardware.
There’s a window of attention for public discourse and there’s fatigue. We, as a group, can only be upset about so much. It’s a tried tactic to just try to distract us with some crazy shit, like Trump did with the alien files. If one crazy thing comes up in the news, other stuff will drop from our radar. And that’s why people try shit again and again and again. Always in the hope that this time people are distracted by other stuff or are finally worn down enough.
Same reason our governments suck ass. Something unpopular tries to get passed again, and again, and again, and again, and eventually people get desensitized and worn out from trying to fight against it. That or it hits on the right time when people are distracted by something else bigger or more important.
Years of privacy violations going deeper and deeper under pretend of “progress” and “pRoTeCt the cHiLdReN”. I am glad that people started rebelling against Flock, and some removed their Amazon cameras following the Superbowl’s ads, but that’s not even close to how much we should be mad at these mass surveillance actors.
I remember Google Glass itself receiving a ton of outrage actually: People hated it and anyone wearing one was made fun of (“glassholes” was a popular insult at the time).
Many years of indoctrination. When Google glass was introduced, it was just ‘a neat idea’. Now it’s a product, and therefore it’s clearly more trustworthy because someone is profiting from it. (/s)
You know what sucks?
In that AR glasses, in theory, are such an interesting technology with lots of potential, and certainly a piece of tech I would love to have and work with and on. Not to secretly record people, but to, well… augment my field of view with whatever digital tools or displays I would like. It would be so useful
It’s honestly kinda saddening to me that it most likely will get completely ruined by our current toxic relationship to technology. A step towards our ever increasing cyberdystopia, and not towards enchanting our limited lives
Obviously either way I don’t trust Meta, but an open-hardware device running a FOSS AR system? It would be nice…
I still hold out hope that this somehow could be resolved, and I would love to contribute to open software for these devices. Maybe one day soon-ish I will. My expertise should be well applicable, after all
The truth is that we already are living in the surveillance state and people are just going to have to “get over” being recorded in public by anyone that walks by.
I don’t like it either. But that’s the reality we’re entering into, where privacy isn’t a right but a privilege and that privilege does not exist save for some very select (if any at this point) places like your home … Maybe.
If you want to bend and spread, you do you. You don’t have to tell us to “get over” it and share your fetish. That’s a not-nice thing to do.
No, people do not have to get over that. People need to stand up for their rights. Being in a public space isn’t justification to have your movements recorded and logged 24/7. Stop being the fucking knee you coward.
What does this even mean? You gonna punch every other person you see?
You don’t need to actively punch everyone you see. Just punch the Nazis. For the privacy part, what one could reasonably do once the tech becomes affordable is to eg.: wear passive EMP devices or something similar that disable cameras near you (at some point, the tech has to fit in a space too small for EMP shielding).
Fuck off with your disingenuous comment
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but an open-hardware device running a FOSS AR system? Until these display my health, ammo and the direction to my next objective, I’ll pass.
It would be incredibly useful in construction. Having a digital overlay telling you exactly where to put up the framing for a separating wall, or an overlay showing the correct distance between screws, or where wires and pipes are inside a wall? There are so incredibly many awesome possible uses for AR in construction.
Unneeded. We already have a tool for that it’s called blueprints, they haven’t failed in over 3000 years.
Or playing Pokémon GO
Sure, that creepy 48 year old on the subway is just looking for a Charmander.
I always wanted to build an AR app for inside data centers. Imagine looking at a server and being able to open a terminal or desktop that you can immediately interact with on the floor. or have it display resource information like hardware utilization, temps, network throughput and configuration, etc.
it would make a difficult job just bit more manageable.
Pretty sure that already exists.
But it is mainly used for solving hardware problems where a technician can film whatever they are working on with their phone, and a remote technician can “draw” in AR on the image in real time to point towards the things that need manual interventions.
I really like the special tagged tape that could bring up AR tags and details about it. Organization and directions are so more useful.
It would be so cool to have something like this integrated into your monitoring platform. Imagine being able to “tap” on a switch in a rack and be able to view it’s mac table or port assignments
It’s already used in construction as a documentation device. Photos are big as a documentation tool and some inspectors already use wearable cameras as a tool.
I’m in the AEC industry. Almost any implementation of on site augmentation sucks ass most especially because the tech nerds making them have a really hard time truly understanding the needs OF tradespeople and installers.
Almost all of them are top down implementations meant to assess tooling and field quality rather than actually acting as an overlay aid in construction (which, like, 90% of tradespeople worth their salt don’t actually need FYI).
Also, I’ve found, most of these tech nerds making this shit don’t know how to actually put a building together and are constantly flummoxed by the methodology.
I’ve worked in construction, and now work as a CAD specialist, so I know your pain, but the problem with “how to actually put a building together” is a very wide issue, also present with engineers and architects.
Drop the cameras and microphones and replace them with a couple accelerometers and gyros. Paired with your phone’s GPS tracking, the glasses can tell where you’re looking without actually seeing anything. You can get handy features like a floating ‘turn here’ sign over your exit while driving with GPS navigation without recording anyone or anything at any time. Better battery life, too.
Tbh I don’t even mind cameras that much if they were entirely controlled by the individuals themselves. I have a much bigger issue with it when you’re streaming my facial recognition data to Evil Megacorp 2™ servers that also feed directly to the “Not Spying… Again” agency, though.
What about a camera that is covered by a cap that can only be lifted if they press the mechanical button on the side of the glasses?
You could still film things like posters to get more information about the event, while not filming everyone all the time.
Is that what you’re referring to? https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-facial-recognition-glasses These people have no ethics and no moral code. They know we’ll hate it, so they want to sneak it!
I don’t think that would work particularly well with AR: People get sick if movement isn’t synced up properly, not having any sort of cameras or sensors at all would exacerbate that problem.
If you are talking about a simple HUD, then that might be a lot more viable, but for AR and the tech we currently have, some sort of camera or sensor array is kind of a requirement practically speaking.
See, I don’t really want full AR. I want a HUD, a very small number of rudimentary AR features, like floating windows for text documents or videos, physical buttons on the arms of the glasses, small drivers by the ears for audio, and battery life that will last most of the day. I already have to wear glasses and if I’m paying more for extra features I want ones that will last the whole time I might want them, not just the six or so hours a day that the current offerings have.
Except that one cool thing with AR is being able to have it tell what you’re looking at is. Not just positioning things in space. A lot of cool shit that could be done with AR, like real time text translation, object identification, etc needs some kind of camera, even if it just sees IR light. Lotta cool shit needs a microphone, too.
Using an AR display on those glasses with frames that thick is such a horrible idea. Google was on the right track with the HUD displayed on a frame-less prism that doesn’t block half your vision.
Last thing I’d want is to be in the middle of something with my hands full and the display bugs out, blocking the one eye, making me screw something up.
Last thing I’d want is to be in the middle of something with my hands full and the display bugs out, blocking the one eye, making me screw something up.
Maybe don’t cause your own problems.
I agree, it would be nice.
Absolutely fantastic.
Paywalled article. Here’s the link to the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses
Edit: it’s licensed under a license I never heard of. I’m curious, I don’t understand why it was needed.
“Why draft new licenses? Until now, there has been no standardization of this kind of source code license, even though it has become increasingly common. This has resulted in confusing and overlapping licenses, which need to be analyzed one at a time. Lack of standardization has used up the time and resources of many in the software industry, as well as their lawyers. The objective of the PolyForm Project is standardization and reduction of costs for developers and users.”
Seems like that exact XKCD about standards.
That license looks like Creative Commons Non-Comercial, which is not an open source license.
This is an unpopular opinion, but using licenses to actively prevent commercial exploitation of voluntary communal labor is not a bad thing. I would even argue that allowing commercial exploitation of free, communally-maintained software is downright unethical. I don’t tolerate this pejorative “it’s not open source unless the rich and powerful can exploit it” bullshit.
If you dont want corpos to exploit it, you go with GPL. Then they are forced to share back.
This is not a remotely unpopular opinion, sharing is awesome and corpos can suck it
Thank you, I see this so often and it always irks me.
"oh but you’re limiting your reach with this license because companies won’t want to us— boo fucking hoo, maybe not everything is about market-share and having a morbillion downloads.
I know, and yet the code is open source. Confusing.
No, the code is available, which is not the same as open source.
True, but I have no issue preventing commercial use. I view that as just as good if not better than traditional open source.
They do call it “open source” in the docs though.
That’s called “source available”. FUTO basically did the same thing with their stuff after the community rightfully got angry over their use of “open source” in their docs.
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Yeah I noticed it in the favicon too. Bad aftertaste.
Admittedly, this is cyberpunk as fuck.
Should not be needed… but it’s a fucking cool solution.
Should be expanded for IP cams
Install this on kali nethunter and make glassholes pay for their crimes.
Perfect response. Record someone without consent, it should be the last time those glasses are wearable.
I can’t speak to the laws in other nations but in the US it depends a lot on where they’re recording. If you’re just out on the street, it’s not only not a crime to record in public, it’s a protected right. So if you punch them they’d be solidly in their rights to mace you or break your legs, maybe even shoot you in many states. And then have you arrested and force you to pay for a new pair of glasses.
But if they were doing that shit on private property or somewhere worse like a restroom, give them the ol western bouncer treatment and send them flying out the door with a broken pair of glasses. I mean you could assault them out bin public too, but there could be some unpleasant consequences.
Breaking someone’s legs requires excessive force, so no, you would not be within your rights to break someone’s legs for punching you in the face. That would absolutely be an escalation of force and not legally defendable.
In order to shoot someone in self defense, you have to prove that you feared for your life. Its not a get out of jail free card.
I dislike Facebook and deleted my account even before they changed to “Meta”. I also value privacy.
But what privacy violations do “smart glasses” provide that weren’t already trivially available? Tiny cameras are insanely cheap. A reasonably handy person could hide several on their person and there are plenty of “spy shops” that sell actual wearable hidden cameras.
The “I love ICE” kid was wearing Meta Ray Bans but the first video I saw of it was from someone else’ camera. I can’t leave the house without getting filmed from multiple angles. The only thing those glasses do is make it really obvious that the wearer is a dumbass.
There is a big difference between available and normalized. Buying a tiny camera to film people without consent makes you a creep in a way buying a social media corporation’s product doesn’t. Pulling out a camera to film someone is a signal to them that they are being filmed in a way looking at them while wearing camera glasses isn’t.
These glasses could change the landscape of our social reality. If they catch on, corporations will know your facial expressions, your location, and what you are looking at whenever you are in public, even if you have no account.
They will learn the face you make when you are too tired to argue and tell the shops you’re heading towards that you’re an easy mark today.
They will see a flash of defiance on your face when you hear someone say Nazi shit and change the video advertisements you walk by to ones that will make you feel powerless.
And so the net is pulled ever-tighter. All we can do is try to cut our way out.
The main differences I can think of are:
- Better video quality
- More normalized
- Easier to get your hands on
- They look like raybans and are brand name
- They’re debatibly “cool”
- Also Facebook is involved
Basically they produce better video and are more normalized in society.
The difference is that meta glasses constantly upload to their creepy servers to do automatic face recognition.
EDIT: For all of you downvoting, this isn’t conspiracy or speculation. Just a few days ago the FBI publicized footage in the Guthrie case that was acquired illegally.
True, but understand, every wireless-connected smart device you wear or interact with in any way is doing the same.
Meta’s nonsense isn’t unique, and should be regulated into nonexistence, but unless you’re keeping your phone in a Faraday bag you too are being constantly filmed, tracked, and snooped upon.
Alternative android OSes also not withstanding.
No, my iPhone is not doing that because they give you a switch to turn it off and encrypt anything Apple touches. It disables some handy features but it’s a worthwhile trade off in my opinion.
I’m sure that switch disables it and isn’t just a presentation, but if you haven’t, get a faraday bag and keep your phone in it when you’re not using it.
Cheers.
Found the fanboy.
“HEY GUYS IT’S NO BIG DEAL NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. I DISLIKE FACEBOOK BUT DEFINITELY DON’T SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THESE ALWAYS ON SPY DEVICES THAT ARE CONSTANTLY CONNECTED TO DEMONSTRABLY EVIL PEOPLE”
Not actually what they said, though.
Downplaying in the war for privacy is vouching for the enemy.
Well, my glasses don’t give off bluetooth signal or record but I’m afraid I’ll end up caught in the crossfire with my XR glasses on trains and planes. I travel for work so it’s nice to have a big screen to watch media on when I’m traveling for 20+ hours.
Not the purpose of the thread I know but would you care to share additional information? Model, price, comfort, compatibility, are they good?
I picked up the Viture Luma Cyberpunk edition for like $550 USD, they’re sold out now but so far I think they’re okay. They definitely don’t fully live up to the hype but that’s part of being an early adopter in the enthusiast space I guess. The app kinda sucks and it’s seriously limited, so if you’re looking for that 3DoF or lightweight use on the 180VR you’ll be out of luck there. The immersive 3d is a neat party trick and seems to work well enough. I like that function for showing off videos that I’ve taken while traveling or at work. They have built in diopters so you can get the focus right while you’re using them as a follow screen. For watching movies or playing games on your tablet while traveling, I think they’ll be hard to beat. They have apps for android, windows, ios, and mac. I haven’t tried them on PC yet but I’m hoping the pc app is far more flushed out. So far, comfort is pretty good and it seems like they’ll be okay for burning a few hours. I also work in a remote location with frequent weather days, so having a private method of watching big screen content in my cabin was a big selling point for me.
Overall, neat little device, but it’s definitely quite early in the product development cycle and I’m excited to see what the next few years hold.
Sorry for the incoherent bits and poor formatting, I’m actively falling asleep while typing this out. I’ll be more than happy to answer any additional follow-up questions you may have when I’m fully awake.
Open season on meta wearers when?
Green light!
I’d fork this just to name it more appropriately: “Glasshole radar”
Pretty sure the Meta Glasses come with NipAlert pre-installed.
