2026-09-12
FUCK! Fuck Apple! Fuck all tech bros! Fuck AI!
This is disruptive, this is destroying trust, this is damaging friendships and our societies. It can’t be undone.
I cannot ever be certain again, that the device you are wearing is not spying on me.
I’m a medical doctor, a general practitioner by trade. My day to day work relies on dealing with private information, relies on keeping secrets, relies on being trusted to keeping those secrets brought to my knowledge. Trust is the most valuable asset I have to actually do my job well, and help my patients to find relief, endure their illness, disease, their disabilities to hopefully get better and recover.
For some time already I’ve been wary about people wearing smart watches when coming to my office for check ups, treatment and counseling. Apart from the apparent constant distraction those devices seem to cause, I couldn’t help but wonder if someone or something is eavesdropping. By extension this holds true for people putting their smartphones onto my desk while we’re talking of course.
At one time I had a conversation with a patient and when we were finished after about ten minutes, I noticed that open phone call they had on their phone … I was speachless. Another patient keeps recording summaries to their phone literally while we’re talking. I don’t know who they’re talking to. Some AI presumably. Let’s just hope these are weird and sad cases.
But now constant recording is trumpeted as a feature. Which for me just means this: I cannot ever be certain again that this device you’re wearing is not recording me. (First I felt I’d have to repeat this sentence right here, but then I decided to put it up to the top of this post. Attention span and all …)
What a perpetual fucking nightmare!
A colleague told me how they were stoked about that feature of the phone app they’re using. It does transcripts and summaries of every phone call — unbeknownst to the person at the other end. I asked them who or what is actually listening in on those calls and if they ask the people they’re talking to for consent on every call. My colleague didn’t answer but seemed somewhat embarassed.
It is not my intention at all to call out my colleagues or friends for their naïveté, or to be the smart ass myself. But what’s my choice here, really? I am so deeply sorry about this.
Will you understand when I ask you to leave your smart devices at home when you come to my place? Is it o.k. to ask people to take off their smart watches or they cannot come dancing at the party I’ve invited to? Do you think I’m crazy? Paranoid? Suspicious even? Heck, I guess me not using a smartphone is suspicious already …
The seeds of mistrust have been sown. Please tell me I’m not alone with this.
(Meanwhile I’ll watch Steve Cutts’ Are You Lost In The World Like Me? animation again …)
Please send any comments or questions to lkh@betola.de or @lkh@grenzland.club
Copyright: ~lkh • Sa 12. Sep 10:20:02 CEST 2026 • License: CC BY-NC 4.0 • Hosted by: SDF-EU Public Access UNIX System - https://sdf-eu.org