CNN has become the first news agency to integrate Google Glass stream reporting to their breaking newsroom through the iReport platform for wearable technology.
This ‘citizen spying portal’ called iReport allows Google Glass wearers to be assigned journalistic tasks such as bringing news to CNN of first-hand, real-time incidents with photos, video and interviews.
iReport gives average people the chance to “contribute stories” on CNN’s news website. Three years ago, an estimated 1 million individuals registered to be part of iReport.
One million citizen spies using facial recognition software!
The addition of the use of Google Glass adds an element of expansion to CNN’s program. The iReport portal has been tested for its acceptance among US audiences and is currently not an international program.
Katie Hawkins-Gear, editor for iReport, explained: “From an iReport standpoint, making it easier for people to upload iReports and share stories with CNN is key for us.
The Google Glass functionality is part of that. We’re also focused on better integration with social networks like Instagram, where countless people are sharing amazing images and stories every day.”
Lambda Labs is developing a facial recognition app for Google Glass users.
The success of the beta-test in 2012 brought together an international initiative for a common goal: to create a biometric control that would become a trendy addition to Google Glass.
The app will remember your friend’s face, find your friend in a crowd, match “interesting” potential persons for networking purposes, highlight “intelligence contacts” and more.
Steve Lee, director of product management for Google Glass claims : “We’ve consistently said that we won’t add new face recognition features to our services unless we have strong privacy protections in place.”
However, Google Glass is expected to be fitted with technology that will allow the user to take a picture of a person and use their biometric information to collect personal data on them nearly instantaneously. While the app has yet to manifest, users of Google+ aresubject to facial recognition software online.
http://www.occupycorporatism.com/home/cnn-ireport-turns-google-glass-wearers-citizen-journalists/
Privacy complaint against Snapchat results in 20-Year FTC consent order:
Following a 2013 EPIC complaint, the FTC has signed a consent order with Snapchat, the publisher of a mobile app that encourages user to share intimate photos and videos.
Another private company encouraging citizens to spy on each other and what’s the common denominator? Its the money Snapchat is worth $800 million!
Snapchat claimed that pictures and videos would “disappear forever.” However, the images could be retrieved by others. As EPIC wrote in the complaint “Snapchat photos and videos remain available to others even after users are informed that the photos and videos have been deleted.”
“Despite Snapchat’s claims, the complaint describes several simple ways that recipients could save snaps indefinitely,” the FTC said in a press release.
The FTC went into detail on how even those people who aren’t particularly tech-savvy could save Snaps. “When a recipient got a video message, Snapchat stored the file in a location outside of the app’s ‘sandbox,’ the private storage area on the device that other apps can’t access.
Because the file was in an unrestricted place, the recipient could connect their device to a computer and use simple browsing tools to locate and save the video,” the blog post says. “That method was widely publicized as early as December 2012, but the FTC says Snapchat didn’t fix the flaw until almost a year later when it began encrypting video files sent through the app.”
The complaint also detailed how Snapchat deceived its users regarding the amount of personal data it collected and the security measures taken to protect that data. It accused Snapchat of “failure to secure its Find Friends feature resulted in a security breach that enabled attackers to compile a database of 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers,” the statement said.
“If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it keep those promises,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in the statement.
“Any company that makes misrepresentations to consumers about its privacy and security practices risks FTC action.”
Under the settlement, Snapchat will be subject to 20 years of privacy audits, and will be prohibited from making false claims about its privacy policies. EPIC pursued similar claims involve false promises about data deletion with AskEraser.
http://epic.org/2014/05/epics-snapchat-privacy-complai.html
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http://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2014/05/cnns-ireport-turns-1-million-google.html
if my doc wears one… i’ll till him to go get screwed…