[joshaidan]

Have the creators of this project considered the privacy implications of capturing, recording, or analyzing audio from the rainforest? What happens if people are walking near a microphone and a conversation is picked up by the microphones?

I realize that the audio is probably analyzed for the sound of chainsaws, and then thrown away, but there's still the potential that such a system could be misused. So just wondering what people think about the ethical issues related to this technology.

[beisner]

Not really answering your question, but in the interest of protecting a critical ecosystem I think some theoretical privacy loss is an acceptable trade off. Privacy is not the be-all-end-all.

[Improvotter]

I think you've a bit over-analysing it. I doubt the conversations are even audible at the places where these phones are attached. Then there also is the fact that no one will probably even get close to these for most of the time.

[joshaidan]

While reflecting on this--and ethical issues aside--it did occur to me that there's probably a lot more data you could collect from the audio gathered in the rainforest, i.e. what animals are active in what areas of the rainforest and what times, weather data such as intensity of rain or wind, volume of animal activity in a particular area of the rainforest, etc.

[eitally]

Yes, people [at Google] think about this, probably more than in most other organizations.

[vpribish]

worth thinking about, of course - but the great outdoors is not a private place.