Ask HN: Will you work remotely via blurred live video?

Imagine, you are connected with remote teammates via live video that is blurred by default. They can see you but can't see what exactly you are doing.

It takes one click to unblur. Unblur takes a few (from 3 to 9) seconds, for you to prepare. You get a notification that a colleague is about to unblur you.

Video is mutual - your video is seen only by those who have their video turned on.

You can overhear conversations and talk to your remote teammates spontaneously: clarify requirements, solve problems, share ideas, etc. on the fly.

Would it be comfortable for you to work remotely via such a blurred live video connection?

P.S. Specifically, I am talking about a live video connection provided by this software: http://videoworklink.com/

These types of ideas tend to be based on the assumption that collaboration is a good thing, people are social and more connectedness is better than less. In practice, they tend to be used as "Big Brother Is Watching You."

I have first-hand experience with having a corporate job where they installed screen sharing software and chatted up how great it would be for someone to be able to see exactly what you meant without having to come to your desk to answer your questions. I never once saw or heard if it actually being used that way, but my boss absolutely used it to spy on people and crab at them about various things, some of which I felt shouldn't have been an issue.

General rule of thumb: If you don't want people to do X, simply don't make it possible. That's better than making it possible and asking them nicely to pretty please be decent people and not do assholish stuff, thank you kindly.

AKA "Lead them but into temptation." Humans need zero help finding temptation and we really aren't half as nice as we like to imagine we are.

csorrell · 6 years ago

I wouldn't, no. if a teammate wanted to do a video chat or quick phone call with me they can ping me on slack and ask if it's a good time. this sort of feature adds an unspoken expectation to my home office... that I'm supposed to be immediately available whenever someone wants to turn on the video feed. I'm not interested in that.

DoreenMichele · 6 years ago

probinso · 6 years ago

This wouldn't help. I don't care if you trust me, just make it consistent. Either let me work independently, or require me to share my screen. I don't want to be changing my threat-model randomly throughout the day

ryeguy_24 · 6 years ago

Doesn't sound like many people like this idea but I'll take the devil's advocate for fun. Sometimes when I'm coding my side projects, it's nice to know I am working along side my co-founder (different location) who is in a similar mindset as me. I feel like it builds a bit of camaraderie. It's the same way as if you watch a live sporting event with someone else either in person or knowing they are watching the same game (texting back and forth, commenting on the game). It's just more exhilarating. I could see this be interesting to know that someone is there doing there thing but not lose privacy.

meiraleal · 6 years ago

As a cofounder, yes. As an employee, no. I'm not my boss' comrade, and I'm sure he doesn't see me this way too. He wants money and code, and I have a defined límit of how much effort I'll do to give him these.

dyingkneepad · 6 years ago

Absolutely not. This will take away one of the greatest advantages of working remotely, which is being free from distractions and free from having to worry about other people looking at you.

If they want to talk to me they can ping me on IRC (yes we don't use the newer stuff) or schedule a phone meeting. Video calls are only for very specific reasons.

Is the company in any way owning the server or proxying the video or a man in the middle in the communication between you and your peer? My company would absolutely do that, or consider that I can't talk about confidential information through this channel, rendering it useless. And if they do the man-in-the-middle approach, then I would be concerned over privacy of having the monitor me 24h.

borplk · 6 years ago

Helll no. It's childish, intrusive and unprofessional. I would absolutely insta-resign.

codingdave · 6 years ago

Not a chance. I choose whether and to turn my video, end of story. Most of the time, I choose to match the team culture, which happens to be video for dev team calls, no video for just a couple devs chatting or for larger groups. But people frequently make a different choice... maybe they are eating or don't feel well, or simply don't want to be on camera that day.

But taking away that choice changes video.... instead of it being a friendly gesture of openness to the team, it is now a constant threat of interruption.

neuroticfish · 6 years ago

No. No. No. What is the point? Why can't we just video conference when it's necessary? How is 3 seconds enough time to "prepare" to be revealed? The advantage of remote work for me is that I'm not being micromanaged or distracted. FYI if I worked for an employer who introduced this sort of privacy invasion, I would quit immediately.