I made an app.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglassesNearby Glasses is here to warn you when smart glasses are nearby.
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@mewsleah I think I see your concerns. Anyhow, I did not ment to be ableist and want to improve.
Yes, it's a canary app. Do you have suggestions for me how to make this more clearly?Afaiu, technically disturbing BLE and WiFi is not illegal in most jurisdictions. By complying to FCC regulations, devices must not do so but accept any interfering signal. But a smart glasses jammer app is of some other breed
@yjeanrenaud for a canary app, i think the emphasis has to be on "no signals detected" and happy symbolism - maybe a dancing canary?
- and that has to be something that's visible at a glance; if a signal is detected, flip the notification to "be cautious: there may be smart glasses in the vicinity" (maybe a canary shielding its face with its wing... if i had the talent, i'd contribute icons)maybe also a list of the known kinds of smart glasses, with photos, in a helpfile - or a wiki? won't help with Ray-Bans et al which look identical to the non-smart variants, of course
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@vfrmedia thanks. Do you have suggestions for me?
@yjeanrenaud make warnings more prominent on the app and its associated webpages, maybe a reminder that in many countries (pretty much all of Europe) it can be a potential criminal offence to harrass someone because you *think* they are wearing a covert surveillance device, which may even be a greater offence than actually using such a device.
Its a genuinely complex legal situation and laws vary across countries - for instance in Britain its perfectly legal to wear bodycam, hidden microphones and all sorts of surveillance kit *provided* you aren't using the information gathered for harassment of others (for instance there's loads of middle aged women wearing discreet bodycams when dog walking due to paranoia over XL bullies and other aggressive breeds)
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@yjeanrenaud i agree with you. these things should absolutely not exist. and one of the worst aspects of their existence is that so many people wear glasses out of necessity, and would never dream of owning smart glasses.
maybe the way to go is to change the emphasis - from "smart glasses possibly detected" to "no smart glasses here!"? and also to try and identify the type of glasses from the communications they're sending, and if possible bring up some visual aid, so people know what to avoid? (i don't know whether that's possible at all)
@mewsleah thanks, I will look into that.
And to make things worse about that tech, there are reasonable use cases for smart glasses with cameras as well. E.g. as a reading aid or navigator for visually impaired people beyond prescription glasses. There might even be legitimate recording purposes I can't think of right now. But that's not where Meta focusses their market share onto, I'm afraid. It's merely bound to be abused.
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I made an app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses
Nearby Glasses is here to warn you when smart glasses are nearby.I hope it's useful for someone.
The app is open source, free and rather simple
https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglassesIt's also downloadable outside the Play Store. iOS port is in the making
@yjeanrenaud Feel like this is the sort of thing that shouldn't be released with false positives. Maybe this is the sort of thing that shouldn't be released at all given it's gonna be abused and inevitably used to harass people. Tech like this has massive social implications. On the one hand, fuck other people's spyware, but I'm not sure making ones own spyware with false positives is the winning move.
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@yjeanrenaud Feel like this is the sort of thing that shouldn't be released with false positives. Maybe this is the sort of thing that shouldn't be released at all given it's gonna be abused and inevitably used to harass people. Tech like this has massive social implications. On the one hand, fuck other people's spyware, but I'm not sure making ones own spyware with false positives is the winning move.
@zyd you'd consider this spyware?
But thanks for your feedback, too. I will consider this -
@yjeanrenaud make warnings more prominent on the app and its associated webpages, maybe a reminder that in many countries (pretty much all of Europe) it can be a potential criminal offence to harrass someone because you *think* they are wearing a covert surveillance device, which may even be a greater offence than actually using such a device.
Its a genuinely complex legal situation and laws vary across countries - for instance in Britain its perfectly legal to wear bodycam, hidden microphones and all sorts of surveillance kit *provided* you aren't using the information gathered for harassment of others (for instance there's loads of middle aged women wearing discreet bodycams when dog walking due to paranoia over XL bullies and other aggressive breeds)
@vfrmedia thank you
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@yjeanrenaud for a canary app, i think the emphasis has to be on "no signals detected" and happy symbolism - maybe a dancing canary?
- and that has to be something that's visible at a glance; if a signal is detected, flip the notification to "be cautious: there may be smart glasses in the vicinity" (maybe a canary shielding its face with its wing... if i had the talent, i'd contribute icons)maybe also a list of the known kinds of smart glasses, with photos, in a helpfile - or a wiki? won't help with Ray-Bans et al which look identical to the non-smart variants, of course
@mewsleah good point. Maybe it's also not good to give visual directions. It's more like "be aware, maybe mask up or leave, ask others for help, shield each other"
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@zyd you'd consider this spyware?
But thanks for your feedback, too. I will consider this@yjeanrenaud I'm not sure to be honest. It does feel like spyware in a kind of counter-spyware way. Military tech often uses Bluetooth detection to determine the location of targets to kill.
Read this article to get perspective on the social implications of your software, it's a really good and fun read despite the serious topic: https://calebhearth.com/dont-get-distracted
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@yjeanrenaud I'm not sure to be honest. It does feel like spyware in a kind of counter-spyware way. Military tech often uses Bluetooth detection to determine the location of targets to kill.
Read this article to get perspective on the social implications of your software, it's a really good and fun read despite the serious topic: https://calebhearth.com/dont-get-distracted
@zyd thanks
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@mewsleah good point. Maybe it's also not good to give visual directions. It's more like "be aware, maybe mask up or leave, ask others for help, shield each other"
@yjeanrenaud certainly in the app, yes. definitely discourage people, in the strongest of terms, from attempting to go and confront who they think might be using smart glasses for surveillance purposes. both because they might be wrong, and going after someone completely innocent - and because they might be right, and the footage would almost certainly end up being used against them
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I made an app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses
Nearby Glasses is here to warn you when smart glasses are nearby.I hope it's useful for someone.
The app is open source, free and rather simple
https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglassesIt's also downloadable outside the Play Store. iOS port is in the making
May be used by people selling thin wire cable security lanyards for smart glasses to stop them being stolen?
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I made an app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses
Nearby Glasses is here to warn you when smart glasses are nearby.I hope it's useful for someone.
The app is open source, free and rather simple
https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglassesIt's also downloadable outside the Play Store. iOS port is in the making
@yjeanrenaud Bwahahaha I was just posting a reel talking about just that!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVJkLEbDNhr/?igsh=MWFncjFzbzB3bzljMA==
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@yjeanrenaud @daltux @manualdousuario
Your license has a non commercial clause. Is that compatible with f-droid? I'm not sure, but it's worth noting.
@lxskllr @yjeanrenaud @daltux @manualdousuario Nope. It's well-estsblished that non-commercial licenses are not open-source, and F-Droid only accepts open-source.
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I made an app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses
Nearby Glasses is here to warn you when smart glasses are nearby.I hope it's useful for someone.
The app is open source, free and rather simple
https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglassesIt's also downloadable outside the Play Store. iOS port is in the making
Why not write it for an ESP32s3 or C5?
Then it's device agnostic. See colonel panic's git. -
Yeah I saw that - kinda like Flock You.
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@yjeanrenaud Now we need an app to Jam them or make them stop working altogether.
@Pamela1960 @yjeanrenaud That app is already there
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I made an app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses
Nearby Glasses is here to warn you when smart glasses are nearby.I hope it's useful for someone.
The app is open source, free and rather simple
https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglassesIt's also downloadable outside the Play Store. iOS port is in the making
@yjeanrenaud call it "Nearby Glassholes", time to bring back the term
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@lxskllr @yjeanrenaud @daltux @manualdousuario Nope. It's well-estsblished that non-commercial licenses are not open-source, and F-Droid only accepts open-source.
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I made an app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses
Nearby Glasses is here to warn you when smart glasses are nearby.I hope it's useful for someone.
The app is open source, free and rather simple
https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj_nearbyglassesIt's also downloadable outside the Play Store. iOS port is in the making
@yjeanrenaud I real modern hero ! Well done! I await the IOS and will download.
Several commenters raise good points, the replies you made are perfect - well done!
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@mosquete @yjeanrenaud Probably not the best idea given its security track record. Should be put on Accrescent though.
@asterisk @mosquete @yjeanrenaud hi, i am curious. Do you have links or information about fdroid security issues ?
