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Comment by cseelus | Hacker News Reader

I thing what people bugs most about Glass is the fear to be taped all the time without consent and without even noticing it. Glass should be clearly signaling when its filming/streaming via a hardwired LED or something, so that it is obvious when someone is filming and when not.

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Anecdotally, the Glass team had a large internal battle about exactly this: half of the team wanted a hardwired LED indicating when it was recording, the other half of the team didn't. Supposedly the debate grew so heated that it fractured the team completely, and the half that lost mostly transferred onto other Google X projects, like Loon.

That sounds silly,unless they were going to do a test of the LED in order to activate the camera. Otherwise people determined to record could just break the light. It's not like there isn't a ton of spy cams available anyways.

It's all about good intentions - assholes who want to record without permission will still exist, but the vast majority would not enable that hack, unless it was socially acceptable to do so.

I think the LED lost out because then it would look all too much like the Borg.

So what's gained by hardwiring an LED versus forcing it via software? The stuff I saw has a front light fairly clearly.

Hardwired LEDs for cameras are common, precisely to prevent what you describe. Laptop cameras have their own processors, memory, and software, and if the light doesn't turn on then the camera won't turn on.

This isn't just so others can know when your device is recording them, it's for you to know when your own device is recording you.

Of course, it can still be hacked. http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/perv-utopia-light-on...

What's to stop someone from just disabling the light? Can you not jam a pin in it or something?

Yes but if someone went to those lengths they could just use a hidden camera. My fear is not some very unlikely determined person secretly recording my conversation, my fear is giving every single person in the world an easy tool that they will use that can also secretly record conversations.

Hidden cameras exist, but there is very little reason to use one in everyday. But giving every single person a thing they have constantly that does this functionality is a real change. The linked article mentions how cameras were banned, but I still dislike cameras and if I see people with one in public taking photos I will avoid them. If those cameras were always out and always pointing at people I would feel very uneasy.

As far as I know (which is very little), you're right - disabling the ability to produce light doesn't disable the camera as long as the software thinks the light is on. There are likely hardware-only approaches but they may be prohibitively expensive for a feature no customer wants to pay for.

That's the big difference between designing a light for the owner's protection (who probably won't disable the light and will notice if it breaks) versus a light for the protection of others (who might not know to look for a light in the first place, especially once Glass evolves to look like regular glasses).

There's a laptop accessory market for physically blocking camera switches with state determined at glance. Wearable cameras may need to adopt a similar mechanical approach for today's social expectations, but putting switches on your face is somewhat at odds with designing away from the Glasshole Borg look.

You can, of course, always remove/unwire the LED if you're that desperate to discretely film people.

when you're recording something the light is turned on and it's very noticeable.

The light seems to turns on for a number of reasons, which makes it an unreliable indicator.

I watched a googled give a talk (on privacy) with his google glass on, the display lit up about 20 different times throughout his talk.

It's not even just the fear of being taped.

But I imagine there would be a very strong correlation between those who wear Google Glass and those are technically astute. Which then leads you to think they would put that video on the internet somewhere.

A lot of people don't wan't their drunken, embarrassing moments on the internet. It can affect relationships, career, etc.

Since the video cameras were made, people have known that they're being taped. You know that almost all buildings have security cameras, or that they're being taped by a tourist, weather they know it or not. The public is just not seeing the full picture, I could honestly, before Glass came out, recorded people with a camcorder or security camera. Also... If people are worried about others seeing how they act in public, then they need to fix how they're acting. A picture can mean a thousand words, but a video be chapters of your life. Choose how you want to have your book written, don't make bad decisions.

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