Apple Watch's Always-On Listening Makes Orwell's Telescreens Look Tame
Dystopian Surveillance Is Becoming a Reality
Apple's new Apple Watch feature, Audio Intelligence, continuously transcribes conversations in the background and summarizes them daily. While the owner's privacy is protected, anyone nearby could be recorded without consent. The author argues this is the latest in a long line of surveillance concerns, from smart speakers to Meta's AI Glasses, and warns that surveillance devices will soon be worn on our bodies, far surpassing Orwell's telescreens.
The surveillance devices will be hanging around our necks, in our earbuds, built into our glasses. We will be wearing them, carrying them in their pockets, driving them, etc. This goes far beyond the breadth and scope of the telescreens George Orwell envisioned in his dystopian novel 1984.
- in_absentia
Many geeks are the embodiment of the "don't trust the government" / "don't trust corporations" counterculture, but when equity grants entered the equation, we architected much of the modern techno-surveillance state. Flock is an YC company. Probably a quarter of the people who frequent this site work at Meta or Google.
We're always eager to say how much we dislike it, but there's so little self-reflection in our community.
- gblargg
> I don’t like the idea that anything I say in a public setting or in a conversation with others could end up in a transcript summary on someone’s personal device.
Pretty minor if it's just that individual. But for certain this means there is a transcript on Apple's servers that can be subpoenaed by law enforcement, or sooner or later, searchable without a warrant.
- astrolx
The legal implications of these devices are just baffling. I see Meta glasses being sold where I live. The law states that you cannot photograph of film people without their consent, even in the street where there are other people around ...
Now it will also be voice recording one has to be aware off ?
Is that the AI future we want or need?
- bradgessler
The solution is legal and political, not technical.
- autoexec
Cell phones are so useful that I'm not surprised that people are willing to bug themselves and their homes with them, but wearables offer so much less while being just as invasive. I suspect that people will take the bait anyway. I don't see very many "glassholes" running around though, and there was a lot of pushback against "friend" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friend_(product)