Counter Omni AI Surveillance

Privacy
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As I’ve been watching the AI gadget space there are a few noteworthy devices coming up that’s purpose is to record/film everything. Rewind Pendant, is a necklace device that is always on and recording for the purposes of providing the user a detailed transcript of their daily conversations. Sounds neat, but there is a crucial privacy issue they have and it is a flaw I expect to see in other devices, namely, data is sent to Large Language Model services running on cloud infrastructure. Undoubtedly running an LLM that is useful on consumer grade hardware is a technical hurdle they and many other device manufacturers are skipping by sending data to their cloud. Another device in the works, Humane Ai Pin, which actively records audio and video around the user. These are not exactly new, Google’s glasses were a precursor, but these devices have real usefulness that will enable them to gain widespread adoption.

All that to say, I think we, the privacy community, should be actively considering technical solutions to guard against other people’s devices actively recording us WITHOUT our consent. Any info regarding technical methods/ devices would be appreciated. Heck if anyone can do a crowdfund for decent tech around this problem I’d gladly contribute.

At the moment I’ve seen niche devices like white noise emitting devices and IR LED’s in baseball caps, but most of these things are not well documented or supported.

2 Likes
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And also a meme, white nouse is one of the easiest thing to remove post production. And IR LED doesn’t block camera that doesn’t really focus on IR range (also you became an IR beacon). Also post processing can make the brightest/darkest image at least recognizable

What we really need is proper regulation for this kind of shit

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I agree it’s something to think about, but most solutions I’ve heard about are questionable if not outright harmful in most scenarios. For example, using anti-ai wearables might paint a massive target on your back because you’ll stand out from anyone else and draw suspicion.

Being the only one to walk around wearing anti-AI clothing is equivalent to walking around wearing black clothing and a mask. You might not be immediately recognizable, but standing out from the crowd will likely more than undo any privacy improvements.

Currently, I think the most effective solution would be wearing less noticeable things like medical masks, sunglasses, hats, or scarfs in combination with plain clothing that hides any high-risk identifiers, especially tattoos.

Everything further is outside the scope of everyday concerns. Here’s a video that’s orientated towards the threat model of a protestor in an authoritarian country: