Hey Chris, don't know if you're aware of this or not so I wanted to share it.
About a week and a half ago I stumbled upon this story out of the blue. Apparently Meta is providing free Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses to 130,000 blind veterans. Most of the news articles I found, including the write up on the Blinded Veterans Association's own website, treated this as an amazing demonstration of corporate philanthropy, and initially it indeed sounds amazing.
However, my immediate thought was "holy shit, what a perfect target test group for Meta to secretly harvest 24/7/365 data from". None of the articles I've read seem to even mention the massive privacy risks these blind veterans will be exposing themselves and their families to.
Anyways, I'm including the link below if you wanna check it out. Understand, I would love to see those blind veterans receiving tech like this that could greatly improve their lives.............. IF it could be trusted. But as this article points out, it can't right now.
Yeah, that's a good idea, though as I'm not a veteran myself I don't know if I'd feel comfortable going that route. By all means though, anyone who is or does can definitely consider that.
When I get time later this morning I plan to reach out to the Blind Veterans Association and send them Chris' article. I plan to just tell them that I'm concerned about the potential that Meta could abuse the privacy rights of their blind veterans and so, I wanted to reach out just to inform them of the risks.
Hopefully, by exposing Meta's many violations of privacy and trust to a big enough audience, Meta can be shamed into reconsidering their actions and the blind vets can still benefit from the tech without being exploited. At least until we can hopefully get legislation like the ER proposed in this article passed...
I'm aware of no lawsuit against YWF and personally I have no reason to sue them. If someone is saying they want to sue them then I am 1. Unaware 2. Am clearly and plainly saying I have no standing/damages to claim. YWF could literally show this comment in court and say "see he said he has no standing"
Because...my legally blind ancient husband can go walking in our little town for an hour and a half most days because of the Meta glasses, which can tell him where he is if he gets lost, place a call for him if he's in trouble, take a photo of something he doesn't understand and figure out what it was later, because a similarly blind runner in Brighton recently could run a marathon getting input from around the world from other Meta glasses owners that allowed him to run on his own - and....George Floyd.
I didn't know any of this nightmare stuff about Meta until I read this piece; all I knew was that Meta glasses were not a huge hit and probably weren't going to be further developed which is a real problem for the visually impaired. This incredibly valuable bit of tech shouldn't be shut down just because its corporate self is, as usual, behaving badly. But they should be smacked down hard and required to do more for the nearly blind community - they could do so much more. And recording in public is just fine, especially if ICE is around.
For the Ukranian military and the country's tech engineers - so ingenious and capable in innovating a vast array of drones and now even missiles - to develop another version of these glasses for their blinded soldiers. A safe and secure version!
Then, do what they are doing now so capably with EU nations and others: sign either export contracts or co-production agreements.
--- I am going to post Christopher's message today on various Ukranian sites, e.g. United24 Media and The Kyiv Independent. Maybe also on EuroMaidan. I'd send a message to Defense Minister Fedorov if I could. He is extremely techsavvy. And he supports the welfare of troops and veterans.
Meta is scum. Depend on them for nothing.
Seek alternatives - overseas, if need be. Tech is produced everywhere! Not just in the USA!
The problem has never been the tech. The problem has always been who owns it and how they disregard the people it affects, including avoiding any potential regulation that would bind them but actually make the tech safer.
A complex subject. My first thought was that your impulse to own them to wear around ICE was a good one — documentation AND self-preservation. And then when you learned more about their insidious nature, you recalibrated with integrity. And then, true to your ER path, you and your Team wrote legislation for us to use. Thanks, Chris. Awesome, Awesome, Super-Awesome! 💙
I just remembered Zuckerberg walking into court one day and the judge saying Those are Meta glasses and take them off right now. The brazen balls of that man. I wonder if he was trying to capture the faces of the jury.
Mad respect for you owning up to, and trying to right a wrong even when it was unintentional, and doing it in a public way that goes above and beyond righting your own mistake.
Exclamation, exclamation, censored words. I am gob smacked. I had no idea. I am truly a technical Neanderthal.
I once used my credit card at a McDonalds drive through window and the attendant swiped it via a machine and stole my number. I caught it disputed the charge, won and BoA canceled the card, issued a new one. I have never used my credit card at a drive up window since, and I check my charges daily. I pay balance before it is due,.
But this is even more frightening your credit card number can be captured by glasses.
A lot of people commenting below say they had no idea about the real and potential privacy invasions these glasses pose--even when they are helping the visually impaired or totally blind. My rule of thumb is simple. If a device or gadget is made by any tech company--especially giants like Google or Meta or Apple or Microsoft--I consider it guilty until proven innocent and won't go near it. These companies are arrogant, evil, and way too rich for our own good. Tech can be helpful, but it is just a tool. Nothing greater. It doesn't make us kinder, more compassionate, or wiser. It just helps us do some jobs better. I got over tech worship probably more years ago than most of the readers here have been alive. I have been using this shit in my work since the mid-1970s. Fossil alert!
Right! And what about states that no longer allow children to have accounts on social media? Will they continue allowing people to continue sharing images & recordings of children without consent? These glasses are so creepy
Whether it's Meta's AI glasses, Flock surveillance cameras, the computers quietly collecting data behind the scenes, our iPhones, or the advertisements we click on every day, the amount of information being gathered about us continues to grow. This includes our medical records.
We have entered George Orwell's 1984 in ways many people never imagined. Our privacy is disappearing piece by piece. Every time lawmakers or the public manage to close one avenue of data collection, companies develop another.
The sad reality is that true privacy is becoming a thing of the past. Unless stronger privacy laws are enacted—with meaningful enforcement and real penalties—we will continue moving toward a society where nearly every click, purchase, conversation, and movement can be tracked, analyzed, and monetized. The question is no longer whether our data is being collected, but who has it, how it's being used, and whether citizens will ever regain control over their own personal information.
Canadian here. I used to do global policy research about Online Harms on behalf of the Canadian government.
Research shows the USA is extremely behind and wholly negligent in terms of protecting user privacy - that's worldwide, not just in the USA.
The European Union and Australia are FAR FAR FAR ahead.
Sadly for Canadians, but each time our government tries again to pass a decent law to protect our citizens' privacy in the digital realm, the US government and the Big US Tech Firms "lobby" with eveything in their power to squash it...
Of course! Too bad about 80% of our trade is still with the US.
Also too bad that we are so close and are so often regarded as a captive market, on the one hand, and a handy supplier of resources and skilled labour, on the other.
A field mouse living beside an elephant prone to throwing its weight around, worldwide.
Please don’t judge the trump presidency as our feelings toward Canada or Canadians or for that matter to the rest the of the world. The majority of us can’t wait to get rid of Trump
Thank you, I was distressed when I heard you did this but needed verification. You worked I believe in the government and I’m sure there was an inkling you had that they were violating privacy but as it turned out you were unaware of the consequences. Please contact the person who was upset.
Good. But we need it more at federal level. Unfortunately, this sort of bill only seems to gain traction in U.S. Congress when it’s limited to children. Not universal.
Universal. Federal, mostly for my own amusement at this point. Let them argue for why random dudes should have video of some guy's wife ;) swear I want to be in the room they make that argument to maga. Put tucker and mtg on it. Maga can carry this one if done right.
Just in case anybody wants to reach out to their representatives quickly but doesn't have time to draft up a full letter themselves, I am including the one I drafted up that you can just copy/paste into email or webform email below. It doesn't include anything individual or rep specific so you can either copy and use it directly, or you can modify it to fit your personal needs. I will also reply to this comment with the same letter, but one that includes the full text of the legislation. If you would rather use that one and can fit it all, feel free to copy/paste that instead.
As a constituent of yours and someone who is deeply concerned about the major security and privacy risks posed by new technologies like the Meta AI glasses, I am writing to ask you to consider reading and offering your thoughts on the Wearable Recording Device Privacy Act that Chris Armitage and his people at the Existentialist Republic have put together. They have put the entire text of this proposed legislation on their Substack, and it can be found here:
This Act would put real protections in place that could deter and prevent the massive privacy violations that companies like Meta have already been found guilty of, and held accountable for, regarding this new type of wearable tech. Meta has already been found to have been secretly collecting and transferring private video and audio recorded data that their glasses had collected without the user's knowledge. Data like videos of them having sex in their own homes, private conversations, facial recognition data of people the user's glasses had observed while out in public, and other massive violations of privacy. Obviously, our country needs federal legislation quickly that can protect us from these types of abuse.
Please consider reading over the legislation they are proposing and, if you approve of it, consider sponsoring it as well. If you would rather I send the full text of the proposed act instead, please let me know what email address to send it to and I would be happy to forward it in full.
Hey Chris, don't know if you're aware of this or not so I wanted to share it.
About a week and a half ago I stumbled upon this story out of the blue. Apparently Meta is providing free Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses to 130,000 blind veterans. Most of the news articles I found, including the write up on the Blinded Veterans Association's own website, treated this as an amazing demonstration of corporate philanthropy, and initially it indeed sounds amazing.
However, my immediate thought was "holy shit, what a perfect target test group for Meta to secretly harvest 24/7/365 data from". None of the articles I've read seem to even mention the massive privacy risks these blind veterans will be exposing themselves and their families to.
Anyways, I'm including the link below if you wanna check it out. Understand, I would love to see those blind veterans receiving tech like this that could greatly improve their lives.............. IF it could be trusted. But as this article points out, it can't right now.
https://bva.org/glasses/
Reddit has strong veterans groups. Seems like a good place to get their feedback....
Yeah, that's a good idea, though as I'm not a veteran myself I don't know if I'd feel comfortable going that route. By all means though, anyone who is or does can definitely consider that.
When I get time later this morning I plan to reach out to the Blind Veterans Association and send them Chris' article. I plan to just tell them that I'm concerned about the potential that Meta could abuse the privacy rights of their blind veterans and so, I wanted to reach out just to inform them of the risks.
Hopefully, by exposing Meta's many violations of privacy and trust to a big enough audience, Meta can be shamed into reconsidering their actions and the blind vets can still benefit from the tech without being exploited. At least until we can hopefully get legislation like the ER proposed in this article passed...
I hope this is legitimate for them, but understand your concern. Our Veterans get screwed badly enough by the government and in many ways used.
Yeah, I agree and I hope it works out for them too..
Holy crap on a cracker - devious bastards are yet again finding ways to disrespect our veterans.
Why don't we just outlaw them?
Very valid point
Drop the lawsuit.
What lawsuit?
the one against yourweirdofriend.
I'm aware of no lawsuit against YWF and personally I have no reason to sue them. If someone is saying they want to sue them then I am 1. Unaware 2. Am clearly and plainly saying I have no standing/damages to claim. YWF could literally show this comment in court and say "see he said he has no standing"
Because...my legally blind ancient husband can go walking in our little town for an hour and a half most days because of the Meta glasses, which can tell him where he is if he gets lost, place a call for him if he's in trouble, take a photo of something he doesn't understand and figure out what it was later, because a similarly blind runner in Brighton recently could run a marathon getting input from around the world from other Meta glasses owners that allowed him to run on his own - and....George Floyd.
I didn't know any of this nightmare stuff about Meta until I read this piece; all I knew was that Meta glasses were not a huge hit and probably weren't going to be further developed which is a real problem for the visually impaired. This incredibly valuable bit of tech shouldn't be shut down just because its corporate self is, as usual, behaving badly. But they should be smacked down hard and required to do more for the nearly blind community - they could do so much more. And recording in public is just fine, especially if ICE is around.
Wouldn't it be awesome to have tech oligarchs work on behalf of good sometimes? If only they were truly religious ...with some fear of hell
My dream?
For the Ukranian military and the country's tech engineers - so ingenious and capable in innovating a vast array of drones and now even missiles - to develop another version of these glasses for their blinded soldiers. A safe and secure version!
Then, do what they are doing now so capably with EU nations and others: sign either export contracts or co-production agreements.
--- I am going to post Christopher's message today on various Ukranian sites, e.g. United24 Media and The Kyiv Independent. Maybe also on EuroMaidan. I'd send a message to Defense Minister Fedorov if I could. He is extremely techsavvy. And he supports the welfare of troops and veterans.
Meta is scum. Depend on them for nothing.
Seek alternatives - overseas, if need be. Tech is produced everywhere! Not just in the USA!
The problem has never been the tech. The problem has always been who owns it and how they disregard the people it affects, including avoiding any potential regulation that would bind them but actually make the tech safer.
Because there's too much money to be made. 🙁
A complex subject. My first thought was that your impulse to own them to wear around ICE was a good one — documentation AND self-preservation. And then when you learned more about their insidious nature, you recalibrated with integrity. And then, true to your ER path, you and your Team wrote legislation for us to use. Thanks, Chris. Awesome, Awesome, Super-Awesome! 💙
Ditto!
I just remembered Zuckerberg walking into court one day and the judge saying Those are Meta glasses and take them off right now. The brazen balls of that man. I wonder if he was trying to capture the faces of the jury.
Good grief! I hadn’t heard that! Any chance you have a source? I’d love be to post it!
Just search the Internet for "zuckerberg wears meta glasses to court" and you will find umpteen sources.
Thank you!
Anything the oligarchs are involved with can, and will, be used to spy on our citizenry. You can take that to the bank.
Mad respect for you owning up to, and trying to right a wrong even when it was unintentional, and doing it in a public way that goes above and beyond righting your own mistake.
My thought also
Exclamation, exclamation, censored words. I am gob smacked. I had no idea. I am truly a technical Neanderthal.
I once used my credit card at a McDonalds drive through window and the attendant swiped it via a machine and stole my number. I caught it disputed the charge, won and BoA canceled the card, issued a new one. I have never used my credit card at a drive up window since, and I check my charges daily. I pay balance before it is due,.
But this is even more frightening your credit card number can be captured by glasses.
A lot of people commenting below say they had no idea about the real and potential privacy invasions these glasses pose--even when they are helping the visually impaired or totally blind. My rule of thumb is simple. If a device or gadget is made by any tech company--especially giants like Google or Meta or Apple or Microsoft--I consider it guilty until proven innocent and won't go near it. These companies are arrogant, evil, and way too rich for our own good. Tech can be helpful, but it is just a tool. Nothing greater. It doesn't make us kinder, more compassionate, or wiser. It just helps us do some jobs better. I got over tech worship probably more years ago than most of the readers here have been alive. I have been using this shit in my work since the mid-1970s. Fossil alert!
it would seem that every parent would want this act passed yesterday
Right! And what about states that no longer allow children to have accounts on social media? Will they continue allowing people to continue sharing images & recordings of children without consent? These glasses are so creepy
Always quality writing, Chris. I’m gonna send my emails tomorrow.
I'll keep doing my best to be of use. Thank you for being here and for your activism.
How depressing. Grateful to you for giving us a means to dissent.
Whether it's Meta's AI glasses, Flock surveillance cameras, the computers quietly collecting data behind the scenes, our iPhones, or the advertisements we click on every day, the amount of information being gathered about us continues to grow. This includes our medical records.
We have entered George Orwell's 1984 in ways many people never imagined. Our privacy is disappearing piece by piece. Every time lawmakers or the public manage to close one avenue of data collection, companies develop another.
The sad reality is that true privacy is becoming a thing of the past. Unless stronger privacy laws are enacted—with meaningful enforcement and real penalties—we will continue moving toward a society where nearly every click, purchase, conversation, and movement can be tracked, analyzed, and monetized. The question is no longer whether our data is being collected, but who has it, how it's being used, and whether citizens will ever regain control over their own personal information.
Canadian here. I used to do global policy research about Online Harms on behalf of the Canadian government.
Research shows the USA is extremely behind and wholly negligent in terms of protecting user privacy - that's worldwide, not just in the USA.
The European Union and Australia are FAR FAR FAR ahead.
Sadly for Canadians, but each time our government tries again to pass a decent law to protect our citizens' privacy in the digital realm, the US government and the Big US Tech Firms "lobby" with eveything in their power to squash it...
It’s not surprising, but if Canadian law makers want it done they should not let anything stop them.
Of course! Too bad about 80% of our trade is still with the US.
Also too bad that we are so close and are so often regarded as a captive market, on the one hand, and a handy supplier of resources and skilled labour, on the other.
A field mouse living beside an elephant prone to throwing its weight around, worldwide.
Please don’t judge the trump presidency as our feelings toward Canada or Canadians or for that matter to the rest the of the world. The majority of us can’t wait to get rid of Trump
I know that.
I am speaking about the entire and ongoing period since 1945...
I think our relationship with Canada has always been a good one but that each country will always try to get the best deals for it’s citizens
Thank you, I was distressed when I heard you did this but needed verification. You worked I believe in the government and I’m sure there was an inkling you had that they were violating privacy but as it turned out you were unaware of the consequences. Please contact the person who was upset.
Just be aware that federal legislation faces a big roadblock. Meta’s CEO is wife of Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA).
The legislation in this article is meant to be state level
Good. But we need it more at federal level. Unfortunately, this sort of bill only seems to gain traction in U.S. Congress when it’s limited to children. Not universal.
Universal. Federal, mostly for my own amusement at this point. Let them argue for why random dudes should have video of some guy's wife ;) swear I want to be in the room they make that argument to maga. Put tucker and mtg on it. Maga can carry this one if done right.
"most important, he is a devoted husband and father of six bright young women for whom he wants to preserve the American dream"
And
"Dave and Dina are proud to support organizations that work with veterans and their families."
So, 6 daughters [4 bio].
Something tells me vets also don't want random guys with video of their kids....
https://www.davemccormickpa.com/meet-david/
Good on ya.
Just in case anybody wants to reach out to their representatives quickly but doesn't have time to draft up a full letter themselves, I am including the one I drafted up that you can just copy/paste into email or webform email below. It doesn't include anything individual or rep specific so you can either copy and use it directly, or you can modify it to fit your personal needs. I will also reply to this comment with the same letter, but one that includes the full text of the legislation. If you would rather use that one and can fit it all, feel free to copy/paste that instead.
As a constituent of yours and someone who is deeply concerned about the major security and privacy risks posed by new technologies like the Meta AI glasses, I am writing to ask you to consider reading and offering your thoughts on the Wearable Recording Device Privacy Act that Chris Armitage and his people at the Existentialist Republic have put together. They have put the entire text of this proposed legislation on their Substack, and it can be found here:
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/i-wore-metas-glasses-then-i-read?r=4otx7o&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer
This Act would put real protections in place that could deter and prevent the massive privacy violations that companies like Meta have already been found guilty of, and held accountable for, regarding this new type of wearable tech. Meta has already been found to have been secretly collecting and transferring private video and audio recorded data that their glasses had collected without the user's knowledge. Data like videos of them having sex in their own homes, private conversations, facial recognition data of people the user's glasses had observed while out in public, and other massive violations of privacy. Obviously, our country needs federal legislation quickly that can protect us from these types of abuse.
Please consider reading over the legislation they are proposing and, if you approve of it, consider sponsoring it as well. If you would rather I send the full text of the proposed act instead, please let me know what email address to send it to and I would be happy to forward it in full.
Thanks for your time and consideration
☝️ 10/10 example ☝️
Thank you!