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Google Releases Glass Kernel Source Code

Posted by samzenpus on from the get-you-one dept.

hypnosec writes "Google has released the kernel source code of Google Glass publicly just a couple of days after the wearable gadget was rooted by Jay Freeman. Releasing the source code, Google has noted that the location is just temporary and it would be moving to a permanent location soon saying: 'This is unlikely to be the permanent home for the kernel source, it should be pushed into git next to all other android kernel source releases relatively soon.'"

6 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    does it have kernel support for the HOSTS file?

  2. Re:Major source of privacy loss by knarf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    OMG Google rant rant rant ...

    High UID: check
    Ranting against Google: check
    Rooting for Microsoft: check

    Now why did that last sentence not surprise me? At least with Microsoft you would have *what*?

    --
    --frank[at]unternet.org
  3. Re:Major source of privacy loss by stinkywob · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in Europe. Here privacy doesn't end when you step outside. Hence the many problems Google is having in Germany and other EU countries.

  4. Re:Major source of privacy loss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think you forgot two.

    First post from a new account: check
    First post on a thread: check

    If it smells like a shill and it posts like a shill then I'm betting it's a shill.

  5. Re:Major source of privacy loss by bhagwad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As I live in a country where corruption is rampant and where police officials openly ask for bribes and misbehave with people, I can't wait for thousands of people to be wearing these babies all the time.

    It's about time we started watching our government publicly. This will revolutionize things, make no mistake.

  6. Re:Could someone with privacy concerns please resp by PhamNguyen · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If Google glass were to become popular, it would combine four elements: pervasiveness, non knowing when you are being recorded, the appearance of a legitimate motive for recording people, and connectivity.

    With smartphones it is usually clear when someone is recording someone else because of the physical location of the camera. It is not common or socially acceptable to record a person that you are interacting with. And glass has the potential to be recording all the time while it is very inconvenient to walk around recording everything with your cellphone.

    A person who wears a spycam all the time and is found out will generally be shunned. Google glass has the appearance of legitimacy.

    Video cameras by the government or private companies are governed by some set of regulations that mean they can't just post something you said to facebook or youtube.

    The end result of Google glass is that now you have a situation where, so long as you are interacting with a person wearing Google glass, you may be being recorded. This will end up being very tiresome as people have to "watch what they say" all the time. The change is not a qualitative change: whenever people interact with others, in private or public, what they say or do may become known in another context. It is a quantitative change: now there is only one context: your boss can hear the dirty joke you tell at a party. Your friends and coworkers can hear the awkward one liner you use on a girl at a bar. Every political statement you make must be vetted for "racism", "sexism", "homophobia" and "anti-semitism", or you will be thrown out of university.

    Btw I'm not saying they should be banned, I'm just explaining why I think Google glass does raise novel concerns about privacy.