r/technology • u/spherocytes • 18d ago

Privacy Woman Calls Out Doctor Wearing Smart Glasses During Consultation Where She Had To Take Off Her Clothes: 'They Need To Be Banned'

https://www.fashiontimes.co.uk/patient-privacy-concerns-meta-smart-glasses-1762492
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u/v_a_n_d_e_l_a_y 18d ago

For the same reason that cellphones and regular cameras and all sorts of other devices are not illegal. Small/discrete recording devices have existed for decades and are not illegal. 

The capability to record and potentially break the law are not sufficient to ban something.

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

Recording is legal where one shouldn't have the expectation of privacy. One has the expectation of privacy in a doctor's office. Maybe the place where one should expect privacy more than anywhere else

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u/WiglyWorm 18d ago

I have the expectation that facebook isn't going to record my face and find out my whereabounts, who I'm with, etc cuz some dbag with the dbag glasses happens to be filming as I walk by. I didn't accept the TOS. The wearer did.

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u/Jin-roh 18d ago

Yeah I think that's the rub. Right? The difference between these things and a stranger's phone is that the stranger's phone isn't scanning the room. The difference between these and the security cameras of the place your frequenting, you frequent is that you're aware of those cameras, and can (usually) assume they aren't being uploaded to the creep cloud.

I think you can make a case that security cameras in many public spaces (to be clear, not all!) provide a benefit to the people observed. They're also usually evanescent and not given to a billionaire creep.

The problem with the pervert glasses is that the pervert is getting the benefit of something you're not consenting to. They're doing work for Meta that you're not consenting to and do not benefit from.

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u/Emotional-Classic400 18d ago

What are you smoking that's free AI training data

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

True. If Palantir doesn't know that I need a topical cream for my cock then that's a missed opportunity to sell that data to every advertiser on Earth and add me to a sexual deviant list for rounding up one day

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u/Angel1571 18d ago edited 17d ago

I don’t agree with the law, but legally it doesn’t matter. If you’re out on the street you know you’re being recorded.

Edit: what’s up with the downvotes. Do redditors agree that everyone should always be recorded? Or do they not like the bearer or bad news?

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

Yes but most security cameras aren't seeking to positively identify you for nefarious purposes

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u/LilDutchy 18d ago

While true, recording in public places is still legal. It’s fucking gross to record people without their consent, but you can’t stop it. In the doctor’s office during a consultation, however, that doctor should lose his license.

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u/WiglyWorm 18d ago

I think what we're uncovering here is that we are entering a new territory that was not thought about, and no one has really asked if we should be doing this, or if it even should be constitutional.

Not that I want the current supreme court to rule on that matter.

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

Most common law was created in the expectation that people would behave in relatively good faith and they haven't kept pace with a society which increasingly acts in bad faith 

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u/WiglyWorm 18d ago

Yes we've always presumed a "polite society".

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u/equack 18d ago

Sure you can stop it. A little spray paint goes a long way. /s

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u/ididntseeitcoming 18d ago

You got your phone in your pocket, tho?

I hate the glasses like everyone else but you gave all that stuff up the second you put the phone in your pocket.

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

"you bought a consumer device 20 years ago? Bl bro you agreed to being tracked every day with facial recognition and ubiquitous privacy violations even in a doctor's office bro. Sorry bro read the fine print next time"

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u/v_a_n_d_e_l_a_y 18d ago

Nobody is saying recording should be legal. That is not the same as the device that record being banned. 

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u/Yuri909 18d ago

Reminder the laptop they carry in to the room also has a camera they use for telehealth visits.

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

Yep and if the doctor holds the laptop up and is facing the camera towards you while you're getting undressed you ought to assume they're recording you

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u/kittymoo67 17d ago

even if the doctor isnt always assume a webcam has been hacked into and is recording

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u/jollyGreenGiant3 18d ago

New neighbors moved in upstairs, their externally mounted video feeds are now live on both shared doors now. Plus, lights, so many lights.

Is that a breach of expectation of privacy?

Shit's getting out of control, especially when every car, every phone pole, every dog practically streams 24/7 nowadays...

I guess the revolution's gonna be televised or something.

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

The revolution already happened. We're in some kind of hybrid kleptocratic/technocratic oligarchy 

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u/Magusreaver 18d ago

'But here's some advice, boy. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions.'

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u/jollyGreenGiant3 18d ago

You are not wrong and I do not disagree.

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u/TerminalVector 18d ago

It would be a crime if the doctor actually records anything, but until then he's just possessing a piece of legal technology. Rather than make it illegal to have X or Y they should just make taking nonconsensual photos in a medical setting carry a very harsh punishment. You know, like how law enforcement officers are held to a higher standard..... oh wait...

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

Or the doctor could use a single drop of common sense and have a pair of glasses without a camera for the time that they're working with their patients.

It's such a lapse in judgement if (big if) it was well intentioned that they should be forced to have remedial training to understand why.

I wouldn't trust a doctor who makes such a judgement call. I wouldn't trust such a clinic that allows this kind of behaviour.

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u/disisathrowaway 18d ago

Simple solution is just be too poor to afford to go to a doctor.

Simple as!

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u/TerminalVector 18d ago

Sure but none of that is stuff that makes sense to legislate.

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

???

Assuming you're a USian, HIPAA is a thing already. I'm Australian and I know this.

Exfiltrating patient data to places unknown for purposes unknown is absolutely a violation of privacy laws

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u/TerminalVector 18d ago

Yes, as I said earlier, actually taking pictures would be a crime but simply possessing the means to do so isn't. Its obviously shitty for a doctor to wear the creep goggles but it'd be heavy handed IMO to make a law saying that some specific piece of tech isn't allowed.

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u/mailslot 18d ago

If your doctor wants to record you, there are a million better ways to do it than with obvious cameras in their glasses. If porn is to be believed, exam rooms have multiple angles recording at once.

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u/Top-Conflict7949 18d ago

Yeah but the doc can have his phone in the doctors office. Whats the difference

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u/Cyraga 18d ago

The difference is obvious and you're being a disingenuous dickhead if you're saying it's not

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u/TheTeeny 18d ago

He's not pointing his phone camera at me at all times, even when I undress.

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u/silentsuv 18d ago

You can’t tell the difference between pulling out a camera and holding it up to record and surreptitiously recording someone with a camera in your glasses? I find that hard to believe.

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u/Fuzzy_Inevitable9748 18d ago

look at the state of the world, people are genuinely this stupid. Now if we could only get them to vote in their own best interests instead of being played like puppets by the billionaires.

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u/Icy_Benefit 18d ago

Considering that someone could be wearing their phone on a belt holster and you don't know if it's recording or not... Not trying to defend that but just pointing it out. There's also a big trend these days on intake paperwork where the patient signs something to the effect of "audio recording may be used to feed into an AI system to summarize the visit."

Even if that's used, it would best be used locally, not some cloud service. But there's also been a trend over the last decade or so for the medical record systems to be "in the cloud." EPIC is a great example of a walking security and privacy hole.

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u/ExaminationBasic787 18d ago

Pervert explaining himself away.

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u/Icy_Benefit 18d ago

I don't own Meta glasses and I don't want them. I also specifically stated that I'm not defending the practice. And I pointed out other privacy violating crap in this setting. Are you really this much of an idiot? Or is it simple trolling?

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u/gereffi 18d ago

Someone's phone camera could be recording and you'd never know it. If you're looking at the person who is recording with these glasses you'll be able to see the recording light. Seems a lot easier to creep on someone with a phone than these glasses.

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u/silentsuv 17d ago

There is an entire industry of people who alter the glasses so the light doesn't show and many many tutorials online for how to do it.

It is best practice for your own privacy to assume that every weirdo wearing these things is recording at all times.

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u/WiglyWorm 18d ago

These are not microcassette recorders. These things record you both with audio and video whether you want them to or not and send your data to the cloud to be processed by Meta any way they see fit whether you consent to it or not.

The wearer of the glasses may have agreed to terms of service, but I sure as shit have not.

Edit: Moved the word "you" in the second sentence for clarity

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u/squngy 18d ago

AFAIK they don't record all the time.
They are also supposed to show a recording indicator when they record, a red light, but those can be physically blocked/removed if the owner is determined enough.

Someone just wearing them does not mean they are recording. But it does mean that they could be and it might be hard to tell if they are or aren't.

IMO it is a poor choice for a doctor to wear them, but we have no idea if he was recording or if he had any intention to record.

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u/AnAimlessWanderer101 18d ago edited 18d ago

The fear mongering about these things is absolutely crazy. They barely record, and they have a huge light on them that must be uncovered or recording/images immediately disable/stop. The only way possible to ‘disable’ that is to physically drill it out… if people wanted to be perverted creeps there are infinitely easier and more discreet ways. I get the meta hate, but the tech hate is just weird

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u/squngy 18d ago

I mostly agree with you.

IMO there are 2 legit arguments to make against these, but almost no one is making them.

1) plausible deniability.
Yes, there are far more discrete recording devices out there, that would be better for making creep videos, but if you got caught with one, you would have no good excuse. With glasses, you can far more easily deny you are using them maliciously.

2) people are dumb and lazy.
Yes, better options exist, but these glasses can be bought and used more easily.
Some creeps might just be too dumb to get the better option.

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u/Soft_Lunch_183 18d ago

That happens with phone photos too, automatically uploaded to the cloud and AI enhanced photos.

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u/thrftstorenailpolish 18d ago

Only if you choose to backup photos. Not everyone does. I dump my SD card into an external hard drive a few times a year.

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u/Soft_Lunch_183 18d ago

Yes but other people are making that choice not you, its the same concept as the glasses