[HN Gopher] 13-year-old voice recorder captured my entire profes...
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13-year-old voice recorder captured my entire professional career
Author : Tomte
Score : 52 points
Date : 2022-06-27 03:47 UTC (19 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
| chris_wot wrote:
| At one point, Apple started corrupting recordings from the
| Recorder app on iPhones. One Australian journalist lost his
| recording of an interview, and the person soon after died.
|
| Of course, there was no way to get Apple to acknowledge the bug,
| or find a fix. Needless to say, nobody in that newsroom relies on
| Apple any more.
| cromka wrote:
| Is this documented as a more common occurrence? Or just one-
| off? Because if the latter, then could it be just an excuse for
| journalist's own fuckupery?
| adamgordonbell wrote:
| Sony ICD-UX570 is pretty nice, if looking for a similar product
| that is modern.
|
| With the storage size of microSD cards, a low bit enough rate,
| and the auto pause feature combined, it's possible it could
| record your entire professional career on it without erasing
| anything.
| gaudat wrote:
| > the rewind button didn't function, which pushed the recorder
| past the point of usefulness.
|
| What's more impressive is this being a hardware problem that can
| be fixed by rewiring the button. The electronics or firmware of
| the recorder is still functional.
|
| Compare this to software apps and smart devices where it is so
| complex that we have absolutely no hope to fix when they break.
| mmh0000 wrote:
| Fun Fact!
|
| For those of you with an Apple Watch. The watch itself has a
| pretty impressive microphone and the built-in "Voice Memo" app is
| incredibly good at recording for long periods. After starting a
| recording, if you return to the watch screen there's no big "give
| away" that recording is happening.
|
| I've started doing something similar to the Author of the
| article. Whenever I feel I'm entering a conversation I'll need
| later I start recording.
|
| Recordings autosync back to the phone, the "Voice Memo" phone app
| can skip periods of silence, AND best of all the recordings can
| be easily exported to other things.
| Kiboneu wrote:
| Well, there is a giveaway, but one would need to know it and
| have good points in perception.
|
| I generally use the assumption that I'm being recorded (with
| people / groups I don't know well) as a speech filter / clarity
| motivator.
| aaaaaaaaata wrote:
| I thought my friends installing smart speakers I feel compelled
| to unplug was annoying...you're my worst nightmare!
| pc86 wrote:
| You're just unplugging other people's things?
| AlecSchueler wrote:
| Other people are just recording their words?
| pc86 wrote:
| "Smart speaker" sort of presupposes they're already in
| that other person's space, likely a home or apartment,
| maybe an office.
| godmode2019 wrote:
| I don't even enter some peoples houses that have 'smart
| speakers'.
|
| Why on earth do they have them is the question I can't figure
| out.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| Because they assume a different risk factor than you do.
| criddell wrote:
| That battle has been lost. Even if people didn't have a
| smart speaker, they almost certainly have a smart phone and
| it's way, way worse from a surveillance perspective.
| nobody9999 wrote:
| >I've started doing something similar to the Author of the
| article. Whenever I feel I'm entering a conversation I'll need
| later I start recording.
|
| Not sure where you're located, but some places _require_ all
| parties to be aware that they 're being recorded and not
| informing (and receiving consent) other parties can be a
| _illegal_ act[0] in the US.
|
| This link[1] looks at the US and other (a not very
| comprehensive list) countries.
|
| I'm emphatically _not_ saying you shouldn 't record stuff, just
| that there are laws and you should be aware of them.
|
| [0] https://recordinglaw.com/united-states-recording-laws/
|
| [1] https://www.telemessage.com/call-recording-laws-an-
| internati...
| phyzome wrote:
| Where, AFAICT, "consent" means "you have the option to stop
| talking, but I'm allowed to keep recording no matter what now
| that I've notified you".
| mmh0000 wrote:
| This is a good point to bring up, and I am in a single-party-
| consent state.
|
| But, if I'm being honest, I don't care. These recordings are
| for my own use, and beyond the anonymity the internet
| provides. No one knows I do this.
|
| I have found having these recordings which I have
| automatically transcribed, to be easily searchable. To be a
| huge life saver when clients change system requirements mid-
| project, or bosses start attempting to gaslight.
|
| People just think I have an amazing memory.
| nobody9999 wrote:
| >But, if I'm being honest, I don't care. These recordings
| are for my own use, and beyond the anonymity the internet
| provides. No one knows I do this.
|
| I sure hope I don't know you.
|
| And if I do, here's something for you to "transcribe":
|
| Don't fucking record me without my consent, asshole![0]
|
| [0] Just because something is legal, doesn't make it right
| or ethical.
|
| Edit: Clarified my point about not wanting to be recorded
| without consent.
| [deleted]
| googlryas wrote:
| What is unethical about recording a conversation strictly
| for personal, private use(ie, a memory aid)?
|
| Would it be better if it all that was stored was a
| transcript and not a voice recording?
| fossuser wrote:
| Surreptitiously recording someone without their consent
| when they're engaged in a conversation they otherwise
| think is private is at best anti-social, but I'd probably
| go further and argue it's just unethical.
|
| How do I know it'll be strictly for private use? How do I
| know this person has good op-sec around data? Maybe I'm
| saying something more candidly verbally because I trust
| this person that I wouldn't want to be recorded or
| surfaced later out of context? Especially considering how
| this kind of thing has been weaponized recently.
|
| If I found out a friend was doing this to me without my
| consent I'd be pissed and would probably stop interacting
| with them. That they have to hide it suggests they know
| it would be poorly received (I'm not sure why they'd even
| admit to it on this forum).
| WalterBright wrote:
| I discovered years ago that a friend was recording my
| telephone conversations with him. I never spoke to him
| again, on or off the phone.
|
| A big element of having a friend is trust. Trust enough
| that one feels free to say stupid things, one doesn't
| have to watch every word. It's cathartic to say things
| you don't really mean. No trust => not a friend.
| justsomehnguy wrote:
| > I'd probably go further and argue it's just unethical.
|
| Fucking someone up is unethical too, but it is way more
| common to hear how someone was deceived than how someone
| was upheld to their own words.
|
| /rant off
| nobody9999 wrote:
| >What is unethical about recording a conversation
| strictly for personal, private use(ie, a memory aid)?
|
| Nothing, per se. I just don't want to be
| _surreptitiously_ recorded.
|
| If GP were to say, "hey, I'm going to record this
| conversation because [my memory sucks|I want to make sure
| I get this right|most any reasonable purpose]," I'd
| likely say "sure. Go right ahead."
|
| But IMHO, recording _me_ (or anyone else, but I 'm only
| responsible for _me_ ) without my knowledge/consent is
| definitely unethical.
|
| >Would it be better if it all that was stored was a
| transcript and not a voice recording?
|
| No. While I do have a deep, soothing voice, it's being
| _surreptitiously_ (there 's that word again) recorded
| that's a problem for me -- whatever form that recording
| takes.
| adastra22 wrote:
| What do you use for the automatic transcription? I have
| been thinking about a similar setup, albeit for my family
| life where consent is available.
|
| > But, if I'm being honest, I don't care. These recordings
| are for my own use, and beyond the anonymity the internet
| provides. No one knows I do this.
|
| Maybe you should care. If I didn't like you, and I knew
| that you did this, an anonymous tip would be all that would
| be required to get you facing felony charges.
| OkayPhysicist wrote:
| Nonconsentual recording of conversations seems like a
| pretty minor act to be a felony, but sure enough it is in
| 33 US states.
| nsxwolf wrote:
| Well, someone would also have to care enough to
| prosecute, which isn't guaranteed.
|
| But the risk is there and everyone should be aware of it.
| voisin wrote:
| What do you use for auto transcribing?
| willcipriano wrote:
| This is a common refrain on Reddit and other places, but does
| anyone know anyone who ever had a issue with this law?
|
| If you aren't going to offer the recordings to the public in
| any way I can't see how you would even be caught.
|
| I particularly like when people say you shouldn't record
| evidence of someone committing a crime. For someone to press
| charges they would have to admit that they are the person on
| the recording, commiting the crime.
| bombcar wrote:
| If you never use the recording except for yourself you'll
| never run into an issue.
|
| If you are a group that _may_ someday be subpoena 'd for
| something, you may want to consider the laws around it.
|
| Note that if _one side_ says the conversation may be
| recorded or monitored, I believe _both_ can now record.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| The person committing the crime does not always have to
| worry about being charged with a crime. The burden of proof
| is pretty high, and anyone with a half a brain will not
| explicitly state they are committing a crime.
| willcipriano wrote:
| On Reddit I've seen cases where the person was making
| violent threats and someone will always reply with this
| canard.
|
| "Yes your honor, that's me saying 'I'm going to fing kill
| you', but it was recorded without my consent!" probably
| isn't a smart move, legally speaking.
| nobody9999 wrote:
| >If you aren't going to offer the recordings to the public
| in any way I can't see how you would even be caught.
|
| I'd appreciate it if you'd clarify this point. Are you
| implying (not saying you are, but it is a parsimonious
| reading of your assertion) that not getting caught doing
| something makes that activity legal/ethical?
|
| Personally, I'm more concerned with the _ethical_
| implications rather than the legal ones, as many things
| that are legal are highly unethical.
| willcipriano wrote:
| I assume that I will be held to account for anything I
| say in the workplace. The pushback I get for that idea
| makes me wonder what the rest of you are saying behind
| closed doors, probably not things that are very
| ethical/legal.
| nobody9999 wrote:
| >I assume that I will be held to account for anything I
| say in the workplace.
|
| That's a reasonable assumption. Although I'd point out
| that while OP did mention some work-related stuff, they
| implied that they also record not work-related stuff.
|
| My issue isn't with recording. It's with _surreptitious_
| recording -- whether in a workplace or otherwise.
| nobody9999 wrote:
| That's as may be, but it's orthoganal to the question I
| asked: Are you implying (not saying you
| are, but it is a parsimonious reading of your
| assertion) that not getting caught doing
| something makes that activity legal/ethical?
|
| So. do you believe that as long as you don't get caught,
| it's ethical?
| enneff wrote:
| Consider that you end up in a legal dispute with another
| company, and they can legally discover mountains of your
| recorded conversations which they can then trawl through
| to cherry-pick sound bites that support their case, while
| they themselves have been careful to discuss most things
| off the record. In that scenario you would be at a huge
| disadvantage regardless of the ethics and legality of
| your conversations.
| willcipriano wrote:
| I can't think of a single thing that I've ever said at
| work (since leaving the restaurant industry, that was a
| different sort of scene) that even taken in the most
| uncharitable way, could be edited or taken out of context
| in such a manner that would make me legally responsible
| for anything, or even be embarrassing.
|
| I discuss work at work. I have no reports. I don't hire
| anyone. I'm a happily married man so I don't engage in
| flirting or anything that even appears not to be above
| board. I don't drink or go to holiday parties.
|
| I live my life in public like someone is always
| recording, because even if they aren't they can just say
| "Will said...." and likely be believed anyway.
| WalterBright wrote:
| You've probably never had a fatal disease before, either
| :-)
| willcipriano wrote:
| I'm very curious what sort of things people are saying in
| the workplace that they are afraid of coming out.
|
| I've found workplace conversation to be so sterile and
| bland that I can't even really conceive of what that
| would look like beyond the insane examples you see in HR
| videos. That sort of stuff happens in working class jobs,
| but I've never seen it in a office.
| nobody9999 wrote:
| Cardinal Richelieu[0] would like a word (well, a
| paragraph or two) with you.
|
| A more recent treatment (albeit a fictional one) of that
| idea can be found here[1]
|
| [0] https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/cardinal_richelieu
| _183310
|
| [1]
| https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/The_Illusion_of_Truth
| WalterBright wrote:
| That's why when you're arrested the advice is to not talk
| to the police without a lawyer. That's because the police
| can take what you say out of context and hang you with
| it.
| ar_lan wrote:
| Isn't this an incredibly dangerous game Amazon is playing
| with Alexa devices, then? IIRC everything gets recorded.
| spullara wrote:
| Everything doesn't get recorded though so, no.
| googlryas wrote:
| The things you say after "Alexa" get recorded, and that
| is a not-great way to imply consent, considering a number
| of humans are named that.
| geocrasher wrote:
| It's a wonderful thing when a physical device captures the Unix
| philosophy of doing one thing very well.
|
| I would hope, for the author's sake, that there are similar
| devices that can be purchased new for professional use. Because
| for all the features, abilities, and advancements available on
| things like a smart phone, they unavoidably create a single point
| of failure. And then there's the refrain often heard from the
| Commodore 64 and 8 bit computing ilk: Newer isn't _always_
| better.
| raverbashing wrote:
| It's funny how sometimes a casual purchase of an object ends up
| having such a profound impact.
|
| I guess it is the limiting factor of time/space/money. You got
| the one you could have gotten and ran away with it as far as you
| could with it.
|
| The only "gotcha" I'd say is that I'm not sure there were many
| Radio Shacks in Montreal, the author might have been thinking of
| a different store (Future Shop maybe)
| samueldr wrote:
| The author is likely Canadian given their current biography
| snippet.
|
| There were Radio Shacks in Canada, before they ended up being
| renamed The Source in 2004[0]. So in 2009, the year cited in
| the article, they would have gone to "The Source", but likely
| still thought of it as Radio Shack, the old name of the chain.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Source_(retailer)
| raverbashing wrote:
| Ah yes, that's most likely it!
| brudgers wrote:
| _I also love the idea of a single-purpose device_
|
| Hardware in physical reality is a useful abstraction.
| digitallyfree wrote:
| For a professional journalist I would recommend a model with dual
| card slots, especially if you do important interviews. Maybe even
| use two recorders with a split as the devices are quite compact.
| SD cards do fail, and Murphy's law always holds true.
| otikik wrote:
| The title made me think this was about a hand-made wind
| instrument which illustrated all the knowledge accumulated by a
| professional luthier in 13 years.
| NotAnEnemy wrote:
| Funny, I thought it was about a teenage podcaster talking with
| a professional for a very long time.
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