Posted by thunderbong 10/26/2024
Meta smart glasses can be used to dox anyone in seconds, study finds (31 points, 7 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41724957
Students Add Face Recognition to Meta's Glasses to Dox Strangers in Real Time (13 points, 8 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41724310
I have something called prosopagnosia - face blindness: while I know what a face is, and can read faces for emotional signals with no problems, the cabling between the face recognition areas in my brain and my database of facts about that face is sub-optimal. Where others can look at someone and immediately know if they know that person and what interactions they've had in the past - that doesn't happen for me. Instead I have to rely on other signals - their voice, the way they walk, typical clothes for that person, etc - to get the connection between person and my memories of that person.
Having a pair of glasses that could take the face of a person in front of me and (reliably) let me know I know that person, what their name is and what relationship we have with each other would be really useful. But if it can't do the matching in less than a couple of seconds then it's not going to be helpful to me - people can get really upset if their friends, relations, neighbours, etc don't know who they are within a second of that first contact.
I don't like all the other AI information gathering stuff. I just want the name of the face in front of me.
In the UK, speed cameras are painted bright yellow.
These are Raybans - designed for social dynamics - with the addition of a concealed camera.
Both are “any camera” that can dig out realtime information about people. Not this comment per se, but the lack of critical thinking in comments here on topics like this is frightening. Especially given this is where you’d hope to find the discussion, and likely contains many people steering this technology and change. And to be honest, my critical thinking ain’t that sharp but I can see something interesting beyond its any camera.
the lack of critical thinking in comments here on topics like this is
frightening. Especially given this is where you’d hope to find the discussion
...but not by much. The difference here is that spying with glasses is passive, whereas spying with other devices requires the spy to take some kind of action.
If some stranger wants to identify me using their smart phone, or other portable camera, they need (1) to care enough about me to bother (2) to physically hold up their device (which draws attention, and is socially unacceptable).
But smart glasses, CCTV, and other passive spy devices are much worse: the subjects being spied upon can be spied upon en masse, and get fewer opportunities even to notice they are on camera.