Prevent Google Glass from Auto-Uploading Photos

Question

Google Glass automatically uploads every photo I take with it to Google's servers, and puts them in a private Google+ folder. I don't take nude pictures, I'm not a Google competitor and I have no interest in politics, but this is still too creepy for me; I don't want my pictures sent to Google without my approval. After systematically searching all the relevant menus, trying Google's Glass Explorer contact form and their phone support with no luck, I'm looking for a programmatic solution.

I have root access (using the unofficial method provided by Saurik, because the officially published method of unlocking the bootloader doesn't work.) Unfortunately, the relevant parts of Glass's software all seem to be closed-source; there was some noise in the press about it being open, but that turned out to just be the kernel, not the camera app, sync service or anything else. I considered setting up a cronjob to move pictures out of the default storage location soon after they're taken, but that breaks the Timeine. Looking through the list of process names with ps didn't suggest any obvious well-separated target to kill. I haven't configured network-sniffing to identify something to blackhole from /etc/hosts, but I don't consider this very promising because I'm not willing to break the builtin Google Search app.

Rewriting and replacing the entire camera app with one that saves to somewhere Google doesn't know about, seems like it would work; but it's too much work for me. Any other ideas?

EDIT 29Apr2014: With Glass version XE16.2, the auto-backup handling has been rewritten, adding a menu option in Settings to force the image upload to run if you don't want it to wait for it to be triggered by being plugged in with wifi. However, there is still no way to turn the uploader off. Also note that the log-message format has changed; to test whether Glass is uploading images, set up devtools, plug it in, take a picture and run

adb logcat |grep "Upload image/jpeg"

EDIT 6May2014: There is a user report that Glass also uploaded images from a private album on an iPhone that was paired with it. I haven't been able to reproduce this on my Android/Cyanogenmod device, and don't have an iPhone handy to test with; can someone test this for me?

Aitken

@Flexo: This is on-topic because I'm specifically looking for a programmatic solution using the shell and/or GDK. Super User is not the right place to put it because Google Glass is not yet general computing hardware (as evidence of this, there are exactly zero Glass-related questions on Super User that haven't been closed as offtopic.) – Aitken

Update on my investigations with a decompiler: the upload is done from com.google.glass.timeline.AttachmentUploader.insertAttachmentToServer inside the GlassHome process, called from com.google.glass.home.sync.UploadSyncHelper; and the call stack seems to start at com.google.glass.timeline.TimelineItemCreatorJob. Unfortunately, the decompilation process I'm using fails on some functions, so I can't recompile to make a modified GlassHome.apk to fix it. – Aitken

What!?? There's not user choice to stop auto-loading photos? That's really bad and invasive. Honestly, if you don't want your pictures sent to Google without your approval don't use Glass to take pictures. – Court

I'd consider this as an Android Enthuathists topic, as Glass is running Android. But it has bits to do with Stack Overflow, too. – Dronski

You can use inotify to watch for when processes read these files. – Van

Commenting to say that as of now (27Mar2014) this is still unresolved. – Aitken

Commenting to say that in the new version (XE16), this is still unresolved. – Aitken

Commenting to say that in the latest update (XE22), this is still unresolved. – Aitken

Answer 1

I don't use Google+ and only signed up for it to activate my glass, then disabled it. I was concerned about the same auto-upload issue and contacted support. They got back to me with the following: (SEE EDITS BELOW)

Hey Eric,

In regards to your question regarding Glass's auto-backup policy to Google Plus, I have received a definitive answer that your content will not be backed up if you have disabled the Google Plus Glassware on the MyGlass site or on the MyGlass app. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out at 1-800-GLASSXE.

Best,

Bob

Glass Guide

ref:_00Dd0gIrI._500d09YnJT:ref

Edit:

Empirical evidence demonstrates this isn't true though. I was able to click an image in a Hangout and use it to navigate to an album of all images from my Glass.

1. Click on picture in hangout
2. Close slideshow (x in upper right corner)
3. Click "Photos" in navigation bar below the black "Join Google+" banner
4. Click "Highlights" in navigation bar below the black "Join Google+" banner

I also performed a test as outlined by jimrandomh below:

1. Enable debug
2. Enable wifi
3. plug in with a USB cable
4. run "adb logcat |grep AttachmentUploader"
5. take a picture

and the following printed

I/AttachmentUploader( 458): Uploading attachment of 933386 bytes to server, mimeType: image/jpeg, filename: 20131224_094130_897.jpg, source: device:d31658be9793f090

Indicating an image was uploaded to Google on an account that does not have Google Plus, a device that does not have the Google Plus Glassware installed, and the image wasn't shared with anyone.

Inadvertence

This is not correct; I have directly verified that photos are still uploaded when the Google+ Glassware is disabled. It's possible that completely closing the Google+ account would do it, though - I haven't tested that. Could you test it for me? To check if pictures are being uploaded, install the SDK if you haven't, enable debug, enable wifi, plug in with a USB cable, run "adb logcat |grep AttachmentUploader", and take a picture. When it uploads, it'll tell you that it's uploading with the file name and size. – Aitken

Yesterday I realized the response I got wasn't correct as well. I created a thread in the Explorer forum [1] regarding it. I have a fully disabled G+ profile and was still able to get to auto uploaded images by navigating from an image embedded in a hangout. (click image, close slideshow, click "Photos", click "Highlights") [1] glass-community.com/t5/Photos-Video-Auto-Backup/… – Inadvertence

jimrandomh: I did the test you suggest and got this: I/AttachmentUploader( 458): Uploading attachment of 933386 bytes to server, mimeType: image/jpeg, filename: 20131224_094130_897.jpg, source: device:d31658be9793f090 – Inadvertence

Answer 2

[Edit] Summary of workaround for benefit of other visitors:

Photos will upload to Google+ "Auto Backup" only when

• a) the device is plugged in (charging)
  AND
• b) the device is in range of connected WiFi

Therefore, if you do not want any photos uploaded, move them off the device before charging while connected to WiFi.

---

[Original] I understand that you are looking for a programmatic solution. However, you have indicated that you have tried non-programmatic options (menus, contact form, phone support).

So here is a proposal: The Auto-uploading seems to be "connected" to and enabled by Google+. So "dissociating" the Glass device from your Google+ glassware component in the Glass companion website, seems to be disconnecting the auto-uploading. Testing this, even after a few hours of Glass in charging and in range of WiFi, no photo uploading took place. So this is something that you could try.

Darkling

The Google+ glassware component is not enabled. Connected to wifi, if I plug in the charge cable (or charge+debug, it doesn't make a difference) and take a picture, it uploads immediately. If I disconnect the charge cable, it doesn't upload (I didn't wait very long for it); but then if I plug the charge cable back in and take a picture, it uploads all the ones it missed. – Aitken

Could you try taking a picture while plugged in to charge, rather than taking a picture and then plugging it in later, to see if the behavior is different? – Aitken

Officially (as per google), by design, photos will upload only when a) the device is plugged in (charging) AND b) the device is in range of connected WiFi So the behavior you are seeing is consistent by design. I will try leaving it connected for longer and test if the photos are uploading despite the G+ disconnection. As you know from the design, a temporary workaround (if you are in a hurry to use the device for the holidays with family and friends and don't want your photos uploaded): not connecting to WiFi until you transfer your photos off the device. – Darkling

Overall, i appreciate your privacy sentiments and i agree that an option to NOT auto-upload should have been provided (even if it is not turned on by default). Technically, there is no reason why that cannot be provided. User choice is paramount in this particular instance. – Darkling

I can confirm that auto-uploading is indeed taking place (at varying time-intervals) even when the Google+ glassware component is not enabled. Therefore, the only the thing that is working for me: not connecting to WiFi until the photos are moved off the device. – Darkling

Answer 3

Since you are able to code for the glass API, you must be familiar with g+ API and similar things... You can write some code which will back the photos from g+, to your own servers... You then can get from there for any glass activity... (you should also delete from the glass, and g+ otherwise it will be available once you go to g+ - it will fetch as if your photos are their assets.)

This glass I believe, is not concerned of human intentions but they just wish to expand their crawl database as if a micro camera is pinned to a bird which automatically sends all it sees to us. Here, one should understand that we don't love birds, but we only wish to get the information without ourselves exploring all the wild places.

Compaction

Answer 4

Try to find the google servers, and add that servers as entries to the /etc/hosts file pointing to 127.0.0.1, so every time it upload a photo to googleglassgoogleplusuploadserver it connects to localhost and rejects the connection.

Sadly I don't have any glass to try :-(

Fade

Answer 5

I'm not a programmer, but have the same concern. I've decided to disconnect it from my phone and wifi when I want to take private pictures. I can use Windows Explorer to copy them over, then delete them from Glass. Reconnecting it is a pretty quick process. It's a bit of a hassle, but allows the device to be used privately.

Rubadub

I think this idea is already covered by this answer by user1713279: https://mcmap.net/q/511790/-prevent-google-glass-from-auto-uploading-photos – Decarbonize