[sveme]

There seem to be two major topics governing the front page of hackernews lately - the NSA leaks and Google Glass (though Glass was obviously much earlier). And reading through the comments about these two topics feels like being on two completely different web sites, with completely different audiences: a device tracking minute details of your life, that is sold by an advertising company, intended to use all the information available to sell you even more stuff you don't really need, is hailed nearly uncritically as the next big thing. A secret service that tries to track all physical and virtual movements of every living human is rightly criticized as detrimental to democratic societies.

Glass is a wet dream for intelligence services. I would have expected these two topics to influence each other much more. Is it because there are indeed two disjoint HN populations (or rather n disjoint populations), or because some of a nerd's aggravation is easily soothed by the latest cool gadget?

Disclaimer: I find Glass fascinating and creepy at the same time, so I could fully understand the latter possibility.

[nrivadeneira]

I comment on Glass articles because I'm very excited about it. I don't comment on NSA articles because I personally don't find it to be an issue and I know I'll be burned at the stake and deemed an idiot for even considering having a differing view on privacy than the majority here.

In the first instance, I'm excited and can expect rational discussion. In the second, I'm more or less indifferent and certainly not masochistic.

[r00fus]

You're not the only one who's amazed by the overlap between Glass, the NSA leaks.

I'll add another datapoint: the new MS XB One is also another intelligence services wet dream, and is yet another fascinating but creepy product.

Why are all the new hot products giant spying devices? For my part I'd be much more thrilled with the concept of Glass if it did NOT have a camera. I want an assistant, not an overseer.