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How I Lost My Google Glass (and Regained Some Faith In Humanity)

Posted by Unknown on from the like-a-phone-for-your-face dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "The winter weather made my hands numb. I was distracted, rushed, running late to a meeting. Put those two things together, and it's a recipe for disaster,' Boonsri Dickinson writes in her account of how she lost her Google Glass unit. 'The cab had already gone two blocks before I realized my Google Glass was no longer in my hand. I asked the driver to swing back around to where he picked me up; I retraced my steps along the snowy street to my apartment, looking for my $1,500 device. No luck. Total panic.' The device featured photos, video, email, and other data that, in the wrong hands, could seriously upend her life. Fortunately, the person who found the Glass unit was a.) more interested in returning the device than wrecking her existence, and b.) engaged in quite a bit of digital detective work to track her down (with some help from Google). 'The device holds more than enough data to make me nervous about the possible voyeuristic invasion of my privacy, and the fear of the thought that the media connected to my Glass would possibly end up online, somewhere, cached forever in a Google search,' she concluded. But the saga also reset some of her faith in humanity."

13 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. BuzzDot...I mean SlashFeed, I mean UpNerds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I see dice is hiring the same 'writers' that work at those new bastions of internet journalism.

    This article has not restored my faith in Slashdot

    1. Re:BuzzDot...I mean SlashFeed, I mean UpNerds by shadowrat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      yeah. she writes as though she has the impression that the guy was so altruistic returning her glass. Really, he probably saw it belonged to some cute chick and probably thought he might get some action for helping her.

  2. Privacy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...The device holds more than enough data to make me nervous about the possible voyeuristic invasion of my privacy...

    Funny how your only worried about your privacy here...

    1. Re:Privacy? by StripedCow · · Score: 4, Funny

      She saw me naked and tied to the bed, you insensitive clod.

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
    2. Re:Privacy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This tastes like an advert, but maybe it's just a way of currying favour with Google. Anyway, I've also found expensive stuff lying on the ground, including significant sums of money, and I've always found the owner (if contactable) or reported to the police. Maybe it's because I'm not in the US, but here this just seems like the right thing to do. It's actually been profitable, too, since some things aren't claimed, so end up being legally mine.

      This person is worried about their privacy YET access to their life's data to one company. They're worried about their privacy YET filming everyone around them. The cognitive dissonance is strong with this one. But most humans, no matter how much logic they're capable of, are excellent at putting logic aside when it suits their drives (this would have to be so: there is not even a reason to live beyond, "I feel like it.")

    3. Re:Privacy? by chronoglass · · Score: 3, Informative

      it's also showing a serious misunderstanding of how glass works.. it gets connected via bluetooth (for data) or wifi (for data). the images/searches/whatever go to google first.. then get dropped back to your phone via the magic of "the cloud".

      they are already cached forever in google search, and available online.. blocked only by your privacy settings on g+

      I suppose if you only ever used it as a bad go pro, you could in theory get away with not having the uploading "feature" there and just pull everything via USB.. but you'd have to disable bluetooth and wifi.. which means, again, all it is... is a bad camera.

      I am an explorer, and have been wearing the thing for 3 months now. While an interesting self study, I haven't found a huge amount of usefulness out of it yet. Maybe it will run /. beta?

    4. Re:Privacy? by LoRdTAW · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Maybe it's because I'm not in the US, but here this just seems like the right thing to do. It's actually been profitable, too, since some things aren't claimed, so end up being legally mine."

      Oh come on. Its not like everyone in the US are a bunch of selfish, thieving jerks. There are people who are low-life jerks and there are people who are good people. I have had my phone returned to me, twice. The first time it was a goy in brooklyn who honestly looked like a gangbanger thug. He didn't ask for a dime and refused the 20 bucks i was giving him as a thankyou. The second time I dropped it in a cab in Atlantic City. I called my phone, he picked up and arranged to ship it back to me. A few days later the phone came in a padded envelope and he didn't ask for any money. I mailed back 40 bucks and a note telling him to treat himself to a nice lunch or whatever.

      Of course there are crappy people all over, shockingly, outside of the US as well. I used to go to a bar where the bartender kept every thing he found someone had left behind. He was a piece of shit so that goes hand in hand with being a lousy thief.

  3. Me Too! by Akratist · · Score: 5, Funny

    I misplaced my cell phone the other day. It also upended my existence. Then, I found it and restored faith in myself. In other news, some bears crapped in the woods.

  4. Google Glass or not by Lucas123 · · Score: 3, Informative

    "The device featured photos, video, email, and other data that, in the wrong hands, could seriously upend her life." She's carrying data around on a mobile device that could seriously upend her life? I don't even store that kind of data on my home laptop in the clear. It never ceases to amaze me that people store sensitive information unencrypted on small mobile device. One word: TrueCrypt.

  5. Talk about Knockout game.. by duckgod · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Got an invite to purchase Google Glass last week. I was excited and had almost made the purchase before my coworker made the observation that if I wear them anywhere in downtown Rochester NY there is a good chance I will be mugged. I guess the moral of the story is until they make it not obvious that I am wearing $1500 on my head that this is probably an impractical accessory for anyone living where crime is at all prevalent.

  6. This is News? by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Stupid Git Loses Thing, Good Samaritan Returns It" isn't really what I'd call front-page headline material... if it is, society is far more fucked than I previously believed.

    OH, the 'thing' was Google Glass? Well, that changes everything, doesn't it?

    Side note: If the person who found them "engaged in quite a bit of digital detective work to track [the stupid git] down," What gives her the impression they didn't clone everything on the device before handing it back over?

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  7. Re:Too bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    honestly. when I saw the headline "how i lost my google glass and regained some faith in humanity" I assumed it was about a person who lost his/her google glass and came to his/her senses about how awful it is to wear those everywhere.

  8. Irony by GT66 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "'The device holds more than enough data to make me nervous about the possible voyeuristic invasion of my privacy, and the fear of the thought that the media connected to my Glass would possibly end up online, somewhere, cached forever in a Google search,' she concluded. "

    So she has a device that can essentially record, upload, index and publicize the activity of others without their consent and she's worried about her privacy. Oh, sweet irony, how have thee forsaken the narcissist hipster Glassholes?