Is Google bringing creepy back?
Some of the reaction to Google Clips, one of the many gadgets the
company unveiled Oct 4, is approaching the Google Glass-creep level.
Clips is a US$249 clip-on camera that automatically records several
seconds worth of bursts of "action" in your life. The company is
positioning it as harmless – like GoPro for the mundane – and aimed at people
who might want to record precious memories of their kids and pets.
Not like Glass, which got banned from places such as bars and dark
movie theatres, where bespectacled early adopters were known to roam.
There's no shortage of headlines like this one from the Verge
"Google's new Clips camera is invasive, creepy, and perfect for a parent
like me."
Some people were reminded of the movie The Circle, which was based on
the Dave Eggers book about an all-knowing tech behemoth that resembles Google.
But Google says the camera, which is "coming soon," was made
with privacy in mind.
"All the machine learning happens on the device itself,"
Juston Payne, product manager for Clips, said in a blog post. "And just
like any point-and-shoot, nothing leaves your device until you decide to save
it and share it."
Payne also points out that Clips "looks like a camera, and lights
up when it's on so everyone knows what Clips does and when it's
capturing."
Believe it or not, the original Glass did not
have a light to show people when it was recording. (But the Enterprise Edition,
unveiled in July, does.) — San Jose Mercury News/Tribune News Service
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