Eh, people have choices in their watch wear, and you're welcome to have a fully analog watch. Lots love those. A digital watch can be convenient in multiple ways. Personally I keep my phone silent and so both alarms and notifications usually come over my watch. I also have it watch my sleeping habits, my pulse, and my blood oxygen levels at night.

My watch AFAIK doesn't have this part, but apple watches can warn you or others if your heart rate is out of range, which can sometimes catch certain issues if the person is susceptible. Of course that gives up some privacy but some people accept that trade off.

I understand fully people not wanting or trusting that stuff, but it doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. Just because I don't like pickles I don't believe they shouldn't exist.

[–] FfaerieOxide@kbin.social 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Eh, people have choices in their watch wear

But people—all of them— have less choice when we normalize and allow to exist the sort of spy tech that can tell Apple (and apparently your family) when you are fucking.

it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist

That's absolutely what it means.

[–] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Uber knows when you’re boinking, so I imagine your cell provider does too.

Conversely whatever your Apple Watch figures out should remain on the device or be encrypted in iCloud, as it should be for 95%+ of iCloud users who’ve enabled 2FA. Health records can be shared with providers, but only if they use OAuth. Providers can be hacked whether they record your vitals just in the doctor’s office or you send them your data.

The workout sharing seen in OP is a collective get-your-friends-off-the-couch effort which can be quite motivating. The couple in the example chose with whom to share. Seems a reasonable cost-benefit to me.

Similarly, being able to rideshare even though it exposes cultural, social, sexual habits… and being able to have two-way communication using a smartphone although it exposes the same to the cell towers… reasonable cost-benefits. (Back to the watch, it could detect a heart problem without ever being hacked!)

I always hope for stronger laws governing use of these intimate insights, though.

[–] FfaerieOxide@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago

Uber knows when you’re boinking, so I imagine your cell provider does too.

Guess what other technology I also don't think should have panopticonic capabilities.

I'm also not seeing why two way communication requires measuring heart rates.

We can do all the cool shit tech does without the spying, those who " own " that tech just couldn't monetize it as well.