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471 points tosh | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.203s | source
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steelframe ◴[] No.41863798[source]
My concerns are around the normalization of pointing high-resolution cameras at people around you all the time. Perhaps this specific device may have a company behind it that, at least at the moment, will resist handing the video feed with you in it to the data brokers.

Make no mistake though, the data brokers are foaming at the mouth to get access to high-resolution constantly-streaming video content that includes your face, your location, and your activities. Imagine the sorts of things that are going to be sold to whoever is buying.

"Jake Jacobs, who is married, is striking up a lengthy conversation with the young woman seated next to him. His wife might be interested in ads for divorce lawyers."

"Jeff Jones is taking a middle-of-the-week flight to San Jose, and he just finished writing an email to a recruiter from another company who is based out of that city. His company is paying the data broker for intel on employees who may be shopping around, so let's get this info to them stat."

"Jennifer Smith looks to be 3 months pregnant and is flying from Texas to Colorado. She's reading a Planned Parenthood pamphlet. The State of Texas passed a law in 2026 requiring data brokers to report on such activities, so of course we'll let them know."

As competing products come along that are cheaper than the Apple doohickies in part because of the subsidies they get from the data brokers, portable VR headsets are going to bring along a significant deterioration of our already-dismal privacy protections.

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1. ppkgpe ◴[] No.41863915[source]
To the degree that this is a risk, I'd note that airports and train stations tend to have a _large_ quantity of cameras in them; some of them owned by the airport operator, some by law enforcement, and some by lessees of retail space within the airport.

This problem is real, but it is better managed by creating massive, punishing fines for companies that engage in that behavior than it is by attempting to ban augmented reality devices (or laptops, or tablets, or phones, or any other camera-containing device).