Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Linux.com promoting Google Glass?

[Ted Smith]

On Fri, 2013-05-17 at 19:16 +0200, Michał 'rysiek' Woźniak wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> I find this... disconcerting:
> http://www.linux.com/news/friday-funnies/the-iron-penguin-part-2
> 
> I understand that Google Glass is a Linux-based device that makes rounds in 
> the press and seems to be a very... convenient vehicle of promoting Linux, 
> but 
> there is a multitude of problems with it.
> 
> First off, I don't see Google promoting the fact that it's Linux-based. 
> Google 
> doesn't help promote Linux.

Google funds Linux hacking and makes sure there are GNU/Linux ports of
their non-free software (I see this as worse than libre software on
Windows, but better than not supporting GNU/Linux at all -- a net
negative, but not the worst case, and not something I'd note as a
positive to anyone not subscribed to this list).

> Secondly, Google Glass has a lot of dangerous implications for privacy and 
> personal freedom -- the very personal freedom that Free Software is poised to 
> protect, although in a bit different area.

Does it? The only implication is that now individuals have an easy way
to essentially tape a long-running camera to their face. People have
been doing that for a long time, and your public life has been
constantly surveilled for much longer.

Google Glass doesn't take away any privacy. It just makes the existing
privacy losses much more blatant.

There is no technical solution for this problem. It's not clear if the
technological attacker or defender has a clear advantage at the moment,
and the arms race will continue for some time.

The best social solution for this problem is to attack centralized
surveillance, since it seems much more harmful overall than
decentralized surveillance. I can't think of any horrible things
decentralized surveillance has done, but I can think of several positive
things it's done (the Rodney King tape and a large number of similar
tapes, the Russian meteor footage).


-- 
Sent from Ubuntu

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