@smallcircles @lrhodes I have deliberately chosen not to buy Meta, I confirm; but I always am not saying that Meta is evil and Envision is saint - in fact, lately Envision has disappeared (still alive, but no newsletters, no blog posts, no events, since April). This worries me but does not automatically mean "these are imposters".
That said, the cloud related concern is very concrete, very real, and no one completely worries about it. What I'm trying to propose, is something which doesn't need cloud. Technology is here, I think. Orcam smart glasses aren't cloud-based, they do fewer thing, but work off line. And guess what? They're unaffordable for most pockets! More than 3 thousand euro and dollars. Then, tech was born in Israel, don't know what it has to do with this, but I don't trust that. Alternatives could exist if community would sit on tables and try cooperate together, for example with regular in-person and virtual hackathons together with blind community, but no one has ever proposed this - take a pair of potential smart glasses and work on them. Many open source "genius" folks around, and in this area, silence.
Decentralization, community cooperation, etc. But no one of those who fairly oppose to glasses cloud initiatives, never concretely launch any effective idea to help us, as an example I could say, a database where you could publish (as a sighted) every kind of description, then the blind person can load it on their glasses and use it offline. No one says "we could organize a decentralized voluntary network", for video-calls and photo description.
There's already one company doing this, it's called Be My Eyes. Here since 2014 or even before, they have a centralized server where sighted and blind connect together, to give and receive assistance. It's video call, and since 2023, even AI based text descriptions.
But? No one of these think of privacy. You blind person could be even naked while having the volunteer assisting you on video. Volunteer could read a pregnancy or HIV test for you, but you have no legal signature or contract that says "I cannot blackmail my assisted person if they show me a positive result"
How many blind folks are sexually and digitally educated?
Being an accessibility professional, then a digital education and HIV awareness advocate, believe me. Especially in newest generations, if sighted educated people are few, let alone when a disability is in.
One of my friends, girl, sighted, has been verbally sex-harassed by a blind man during voluntary video-assistance.
I'm firmly against people prohibiting glasses usage, because the mistake is system. If you are a pervert, you can use even your own eyes to look at someone in the wrong way. I have nothing that defends me from someone who looks at my breasts while walking or my backside if I bend over to fasten my shoes strings. Coming out: I defend myself from this, at least for my backside, avoiding to wear shoes with string. Better velcro, or elastic, or any alternative. Or double knot so they unfasten more rarely.
You know what's the truth? Sighted never concern really about their own received "silent" sexual harassment. They worry when it's evident (someone insisting to follow you, or talk to you in rude terms). But they are starting to seriously worrying, now, that silent harassment potentially comes from someone wearing a technology making their eyes more "potent". Paradoxically they feel, in this context, blind like us, because they lose control on this tech's presumed powers.
But? We blind people have said this for centuries. Sexually non-educated sighted people are a potential danger, and when someone follows you or talks you rudely, it's frankly already too late.