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Comment by jmillikin | Hacker News Reader

Can someone please explain to me why the tech press thinks a $1500 fashion accessory is better for taking secret video than a $30 pen camera?

I suspect the answer is "tech press don't know pen cameras exist, because they were invented more than five years ago".

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It's not that Glass is so much "better" at discrete filming - it's that it would be more common. Most people don't buy or carry around pen cameras. Glass, on the other hand, would have so many other uses that many people would already have have them.

Further, even hidden cameras require a degree of boldness to point and position. It's far easier and less conspicuous to record when you simply need to look in the right direction.

I think this is exactly right. The difusion of this tech would give this kind of public recording public legitimacy. While recording in public is legal, it's still viewed as creepy --but ubiquitousness would make this 'normal' and accepted.

Just as 20 years ago appearing that you were talking to yourself would have been odd, now talking out loud is normal because people have internalized that speaking into a phone's wireless mic is normal.

Google Glasses presumably have more CPU power, the ability to transcribe conversation on the fly, and enhance our reality, use your smartphone for more CPU, and also upload on the fly.

A pen camera, while useful as a sousveillance tool, isn't just as useful as a google glass.

Because the 30 USD pen is hidden? Do you think people would not wreck the 30 USD pen if they found out they were filmed whith that?

Maybe I'm biased, but I don't see a "spy toy" being the same thing as a camera mounted on your head that could potentially film everything you see and directly upload it to youtube.

it's enough to make you miss the days of the bowtie camera.

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