‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

ZuckOff is a free app that sees Meta glasses before they see you

400 points · 351 comments · choult

  1. partiallypro · · focus · HN ↗
    I think the panic around smart glasses cameras is so strange, it's SO much easier to be a creep with a phone recording. You'll see it all the time if you're paying attention. Everyone is already on their phones anyhow, and especially with "creep shots" your head is a massive giveaway; with a smart phones, not so much, it can be placed anywhere. What practically could someone record without their knowledge that isn't already widely and more easily available through a smartphone? I just don't get it.

    I do understand recording maybe during a sexual act or something without knowledge, but even that is probably just as easy with a phone. Feels like everyone is focusing on the wrong thing, given that level of privacy has already been eradicated and no one is going to give up their phones.

    1. pbasista · · focus · HN ↗
      There is no "panic". It is more a realization that it is becoming difficult to notice recording devices.

      I assume the most problematic scenarios are private. Private meetings. Private conversations. Private encounters of every kind in general. Environment in which ordinary people used to have good enough confidence that, unless they see a phone or a camera, they are not being recorded. It no longer is that simple.

      Confirming, at least to some extent, that there is no recording going on may now require confronting the other person. And asking them to remove their glasses or hand them over for inspection might be considered rude.

      As a result, I think that it might make people more suspicious and less trusting, especially when meeting new people for the first time.

      1. partiallypro · · focus · HN ↗
        But during private meetings, private conversations, etc people are already 99.99% of the time on their phones. Smart glasses have way less battery life and recording time (I think Meta's is 15-30 seconds now?) Wouldn't it be easier to just record a conversation on your phone without knowledge? You can even have the app running in the background. I haven't seen a complaint yet about them that isn't already worse, more discrete, or already available on a phone.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.