Heather Zheng and Ben Zhao, computer science professors at the University of Chicago created a wearable that jams microphones. I immediately thought of Alexa/Echo/Google Home type things, but their demo video reminded me that we may be surrounded by devices that are listening to everything all the time.

This is a just a proof of concept, but with a smaller form factor, I could see people using this. I wonder if it might be more fashionable as a necklace or hat, so long as it doesn’t reduce its ability to jam microphones.

It reminds me a of the infrared privacy glasses that we saw a few years ago. I could see these used together to help insure some privacy in our increasingly surveilled world.

via Slashdot

In this talk, Mitch Altman asks some tough questions about technology and how it is applied in the cultural context. His thoughts about hacking and community really hit home.

via Hack a day