The iPod Nano is a great workout buddy. It is small and lightweight, yet the screen gives people better control over what is playing than the smaller screen-less shuffle. Apple a couple of weeks ago released the latest update in the Nano line and added a feature that ultimately may change who and where people use their shiny new iPods. Of course I speak of that tiny camera Apple felt the Nano needed; an electronic eye that may deal a lethal blow to privacy.
Peeping is as old as human life. Looking behind the curtain, seeing what we should not, it even gives me a tiny adrenaline rush as I sit here to write. Not necessarily sexual, voyeurism has reached a new pinnacle aided by technology. ACORN for instance has spent months trying to change public and political perception; all because two filmmakers decided to secretly record interactions with the organization. Whether what ACORN did was right or wrong is not this article’s issue, the right of privacy is.
Apple has given us a tool, shrunken the camera, given us the ability to record behind the curtain, whether or not other parties know or consent.
Secretly taping or recording meetings or other interactions is nothing new. Corporations and governments have been doing it since the technology was first invented. The ability to easily post and share what is recorded is new though. YouTube, Flip Cameras, the iPhone, and now the iPod Nano have made us all potential directors. We can record, secretly or not, edit and post our mini masterpieces with the greatest of ease and with little regard for the privacy of another.
The key problem is the ever growing digital quagmire that is the Internet. Once something is posted, it exists in cyberspace forever. Whether it is legal or not, moral or not, it is cached in the deepest recesses of servers across the world. If it is something really salacious, blogs worldwide further imbed the material. No lawsuit can remove the video and pictures of a nude Erin Andrews in her hotel room getting dressed. The grainy low resolution video was not only an embarrassment for her; it was clearly a violation of her privacy. A violation of privacy you can see now if you know where to look.
This article was inspired by this article about Life Time Fitness restricting the use of the new iPod Nano from its 84 facilities. The Gym is the last place most of us want to be filmed or photographed. I have been into a gym locker room once in my life and I am blushing right now. Very few people in that situation would want a video recording device in the room. But that is exactly what Apple gave us in their 1.1 cubic inch iPod Nano. I can’t wait to see the iPhone Nano’s camera.
The 8GB model of the Nano can reportedly record up to 7 hours or video. That means a person can turn it on and just record whatever they are doing and then edit out the boring and leave the Internet with all the “good bits” (literally and figuratively). Even with rules and laws in place to protect privacy, the smaller the devices get, the harder it will become to enforce such rules and laws. A mid-sized gym in Minnesota may be trying to get ahead of the problem, but can they really?
Imagine getting money from an ATM. How many of you cover the keypad while entering your PIN. I don’t. Now imagine the person behind you recording your keystrokes with their iPod Nano. Forget your ATM card and you could kiss your money goodbye.
Recently people have found ways of making keys from pictures. How long before a still video frame can yield the same result? Not long. A locked door could no longer be enough.
As technology makes everything smaller and better a red flag should go up for all of us. As cameras and video devices get smaller and easier to use all of us should give pause to consider our privacy. If Erin Andrew’s hotel room was not safe, is ours? Do we all need to do a sweep of hotel rooms every time we enter? It isn’t very hard to setup an iPod Nano behind a hole somewhere and just let it record for hours. Are we all at risk? Yes! And it will only get worse, regardless of the stand one gym in Minnesota makes.
TwinCites.com via AppleInsider
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