Hacker News Reader

Comment by taligent | Hacker News Reader

I still don't understand why nobody is talking about the legal and social issues around the video recording capabilities of the Google Glasses. Which so far looks like its only real use case.

It is illegal to record someone without permission in particular on private property. It is illegal to record children. There are major implications if illegal activity is recorded. Are you responsible if you don't notify police about a crime. Then there are the myriad of social concerns. If you record me and for privacy reasons I want the video erased how can I do so ? Or am I forced to remove the glasses from your head and destroy them?

Just like smartphones are required to make a noise when taking a photo I wonder whether there should be a red LED light to indicate when recording is occurring or a button to erase the last 5 minutes of video.

View on HN

Just like smartphones are required to make a noise when taking a photo

I'm pretty sure that just about every smartphone allows you to mute the shutter sound.

Not on iOS IIRC.

And it definitely is a law that ALL smartphones make that sound in many countries e.g. Japan, South Korea.

iPhones in vibrate mode make no shutter sound.

Not in Japan.

On my Japanese iPhone (and all Japanese phones) the sound cannot be disabled; on my American iPhone, it can.

My Nokia Lumia most definitely does not make any noise when taking a photo.

Just took two pictures in two different camera apps on iOS and not a peep.

In the US, maybe.

I don't think that's entirely correct, at least in the United States. As far as I understand the law, it IS legal to videorecord people, children and otherwise in public places with or without their permission and on private property under some conditions. I'm certainly not a legal expert and I would be interested in seeing any citations that might prove this wrong. Here are a few sources I found on the web:

http://communications-media.lawyers.com/privacy-law/Child-Ph... (note that according to this, in the state of Georgia and possibly New Jersey it may now be illegal to photograph children who aren't your own)

http://www.uvu.edu/wrs/trainingmaterials/recording.html

So ignoring the fact that the US has far more lax privacy restrictions than many other countries. It would still be illegal then to record audio without consent and record video on private property, wherever a sign has been displayed or in places like public bathrooms.

Which again begs the question. Nobody seems to care then that it would be illegal to use the device for its current intended purpose.

As devil's advocate,

I doubt the intention is to record other people's conversations, in fact quite the opposite since everything is recorded.

The real question is, when an incriminating conversation is recorded, which would otherwise be inadmissible, would a court allow it? I suppose yes because the recording is accidental, not intentional.

Do you have a LED light on when you're recording a video with your phone? Some countries mandate it, others don't. Do you find it weird that nobody is talking about issues involving the recording capabilities of cellphones?

In public, by law, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. In private, it's up to you to deny entry to someone using recording devices. If he's your friend and you are ok with it you let him in, otherwise you ask him to remove the glasses, exactly as you would do with someone with a camera. And, as with a camera, the intent is what matters.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com