Just when you thought personal privacy was as dead as it could ever get, someone has devised a way to allow Snapchat’s trendy new Spectacles to record you and everyone else without you realizing it. Hooray for innovation!
One of the biggest cases against Google Glass was that you never knew when someone was actually recording you. Seeing someone with a camera on their face is weird enough as it is, but without being able to tell when and what they’re capturing, it was an unsettling experience for anyone in the vicinity.
Snapchat (sorry, “Snap” is the actual company name, in case you forgot like I always do) tried to mitigate that creepy feeling by creating a lighted ring of LEDs that swirls whenever a video is being recorded. It’s a great addition, and it’s easily noticeable without being obnoxious.
A pair of self-proclaimed “Spectabros” — yeah, that’s what they’re calling themselves, apparently — are now selling tiny black stickers that fit over the top of the LED ring, obscuring “those distracting lights” so the wearer can stealthily record. They’re calling them Spectaholes and they’re selling these tiny decals for $3.99, because of course they are.
After getting pushback and criticism on Product Hunt, one of the creators played it off as “all in good fun,” and suggested that you can still see the lights even with the sticker in place, though from the GIFs they provide, it’s hard to imagine how anyone would see the tiny flicker of light around the edge of the stickers, especially in broad daylight.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
