Now Starring on LinkNYC: Me!
Since the day LinkNYC landed on our streets we have been told, time and again, that the surveillance capabilities of the kiosks’ cameras, in particular the front-facing camera that hovers over the tablet screen, are disabled. With regard to the front-facing camera this assertion is the same today on the Link.NYC website FAQ as it always has been:
There is also a camera built into each Link tablet that could be used for video calls in the future. This camera is user-activated only. This camera will not activate automatically during phone calls, wayfinding, charging or accessing any tablet feature. Footage from the tablet camera is not stored.
The FAQ also states the camera “will not activate automatically … [while] accessing any tablet feature.”
As I unexpectedly discovered this weekend, that is not true.
Simply hitting the “Video Relay Service” tab under the “Accessibility” tile does indeed automatically activate the tablet camera. I blushed (laughed, actually) when my ever-so-beautiful face suddenly appeared before me, in living color, in stunning 480×640 resolution, after the tablet camera activated without my bidding.
Maybe I was starring on the big advertising screens as well? The Smart City is an endless source of amusement.
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