Life Recorder

Bruce Schneier writes "In 2006, writing about future threats on privacy, I described a life recorder: A 'life recorder' you can wear on your lapel that constantly records is still a few generations off: 200 gigabytes/year for audio and 700 gigabytes/year for video. It'll be sold as a security device, so that no one can attack you without being recorded."

Comments

Rogue-like

[hansamurai]

It'll be sold as a security device, so that no one can attack you without being recorded.

Except when getting stabbed in the back.

Re:Rogue-like

[InsprdInsnty]

or wearing a disguise of any sort

Re:Rogue-like

[WrongSizeGlass]

I'll just steal your "Life Recorder" after I beat you up. Thanks for understanding.

Re:Rogue-like

[tehniobium]

Exactly what I thought, but TFA suggests/hints at the possibility of the data not being stored locally.

So not only do you get to have your life recorded, but your life is stored in the cloud! Fantastic isn't it??

Re:Rogue-like

[jeffmeden]

If this is the case then why is storage relevant? It's the bandwidth necessary to get the data out; doing it reliably is necessary too. An attacker could theoretically just jam the frequencies that the recorder/transmitter uses, and then attack you, steal or destroy the device, and no one would be the wiser. As a security measure, this needs to be better thought out.

On top of that, what does Bruce Schneier need with protections from attack? I hear that behind his beard lives an inordinately large prime number of fists.

Re:Rogue-like

[Pharmboy]

Is it just me, or do you live in a really, really bad neighborhood? Most people in my town just die of heart attacks, cancer, or car wrecks, with the occassional random act of violence. Not that this device is a good idea (unless you are the one selling them) but most people tend to die in ways that are less worthy of a James Bond movie plot.

As for being a witness for "every crime that ever happens near you", how many felonious crimes do you personally witness in the average day? I'm not talking copyright infringement, but about muggings, rapes, murder, burglary, robbery, etc. If your answer is > .009, you need to move. Soon.

Re:Rogue-like

[Attila Dimedici]

It's illegal in Illinois to record anyone without their permission, and nothing recorded without someone's permission can be used in court here.

I call it the "liar's law". But this tech won't help any Illinois crime victims.

There is a good reason for such laws. I used to work for a guy who regularly recorded people (n violation of the law) and then egged them to say things that he thought he could use to fire them (he had two business partners, which limited his ability to fire people on a whim). He would delete where he had said inflammatory and demeaning things first. After the HR person told him that he couldn't use those recordings because they were illegal, he engineered a confrontation with her and fired her (she is now suing for wrongful termination).

Hmm...

[ShadowDragoonFTW]

I don't like the privacy concerns if something like that was ever stolen or linked into...

Can't use it in MD

[ColdBoot]

MD is a 2 party consent state - can't use it here!

Re:Can't use it in MD

[cenobyte40k]

Sure you can. In MD they use security camera's all the time. In fact I have seen hidden security cameras in MD. The only time consent for taking your picture or recording is necessary is when one or more parties have assumed privacy. IE in there own home, on the phone, etc. Once you are in public is doesn't matter. Consent BTW doesn't have to be in writing either. If the camera is obvious that's good enough.

It already exists

[kaldari]

A little pricey, but you can already buy such a thing: http://wearcam.org/domewear/

Copyrights?

[Thiez]

Good luck getting into a cinema wearing one of those.

The Final Cut

[omnichad]

And they can make a great highlight video of your life to show at your funeral. Whether you were a good man or a bad man is all in the hands of the editor.

Re:The Final Cut

[phulshof]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364343/
That one you mean?

Law Enforcement Implications

[Anonymous Coward]

Cops do not like being recorded by civilians.

Expect to be harrassed, criminally charged with trumped-up charges, maybe even have illegal drugs or weapons planted on you, and in extreme cases possibly even get beaten up or even killed (depending on your location) as a result of recording any interaction with police.

Re:Law Enforcement Implications

[Spatial]

No, that's what happens when you don't record them.

Bicycling

[ciaohound]

How about a bicycle-ride recorder, for the next time someone throws trash at you or yells obscenities.

Re:Bicycling

[Anonymous Coward]

How about a bicycle-ride recorder, so law enforcement can ticket bike riders for not obeying traffic laws like they are supposed to?

Re:Bicycling

[maxume]

Bicycles are traffic.

There are restrictions, such as freeways, but this is true for most roads.

Stealth as the only option

[Zero_DgZ]

I sort of use something like this today, in the gritty old present day.

In my car I've got one of my old PDA's mounted instead of a GPS device. It's rather firmly permanently mounted to the dash until you take all the bezels off and unscrew it from the back, so I consider its risk for theft fairly low. Also, it's not mounted in the usual look-at-me GPS area but down by the driver's side kick plate.

Anyway, I have it there because I use Pocket Excel (don't laugh) to keep track of all my invoices and orders for the day. I also have a mapping program installed, and obviously it uses GPS. I've successfully used it to defuse two frivolous traffic tickets by less-than-scrupulous police officers: Once by making it a policy to keep all of my GPS logs, and once by happening to have a hotkey for the note taker "record" function bound, so I could easily and silently (also legally, in this state!) record everything the lying police officer said.

I've also seen on DealExtreme and other places some always-on, rolling-record capable video cameras for mounting wherever, and I've been tempted to pick one up and mount it in my car, police car style. Mailing a CD-R every month to the local precinct with video of their police officers flagrantly breaking traffic laws would be optional, but probably a lot of fun the first couple of times.

Remember: Big Brother is only bad for you if you are not personally Big Brother!

Doesn't have to be that big

[cenobyte40k]

It doesn't need to have that much space. Anything over a day is more than enough for now, sure as storage and power gets smaller and cheaper having days,weeks,months or years will happen, but I think we will start to see them before they get all the way to a year at a time. Oh and when are we going to make the cops wear them? Can we start doing that now? As we know cops are involved with more violence per capita than any other group of citizens annually, year after year. (With the exception of maybe solders)

Re:Hunny!

[maxume]

I'm pretty sure you are well past "She's not worth it" if you are having that discussion.

OMG!!!

[owlnation]

It's like twitter with moving pictures.

Here's some footage of me taking a dump...

And it will only make it so much easier for every cheap whore celebutard to release a sex tape, or some other low-life publicity stunt.

Do NOT want.

I don't even know where to begin.

[dotfile]

How many things are wrong with this kooky idea? Completely ineffective if you're attacked from behind, if your assailant wears a mask, if the attack happens at night, etc. Of course the very FIRST thing that's going to get stolen is your "life recorder", so now your mugger knows your ATM PIN code, all your passwords, your address, your home, your family, your friends, EVERYTHING. Your "life recorder" will of course provide evidence against you in any trial. Your employer will use it to prove you've been slacking off or sneaking off to your car for a company policy prohibited smoke. Use your imagination, there's almost NO upside to this.

If you live in constant fear of being attacked, you either need counseling or you REALLY need to move somewhere else. This country is full of small towns, medium sized cities, and even larger cities where you will be quite safe.

BS on 200GB/year for audio

[Rockoon]

The assumption the author is making is that there is always something to record. I'm pretty sure that the 1/3rd of the year that a person sleeps will contain highly compressible audio, not to mention the fact that he seems to think that a 64kbps bitrate is a requirement.

Regular telephone quality audio (from the "you can hear a pin drop" era) was considered to be about 8,000 samples per/second, which is in fact 64kbps for an 8-bit sample depth. This is uncompressed recording here. TFA can't beat uncompressed telephone quality audio? Really?