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Google Glass and Surveillance Culture

Posted by timothy on from the looking-sharp dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Tech journalist Milo Yiannopoulos asks the question lurking in everyone's mind about Google Glass. 'It's an audacious product for a company no one trusts to behave responsibly with our data: a pair of glasses that can monitor and record the world around you,' he writes. 'But if Glass becomes as ubiquitous as the iPhone, are we truly to believe that Google will not attempt to abuse that remarkable power?' With each new eyebrow-raising court judgment and federal fine levied against Google, he adds, 'it becomes ever more clear that this is a company hell-bent on innovating first and asking questions later, if ever. And its vision, shared with other California technology companies, is of corporate America redefining societal privacy norms in the service of advertising companies and their clients.' He feels that Google will eventually end up in some sort of court battle over Google Glass and privacy. Do you agree? Does Google Glass deserve extra scrutiny before it hits the market?"

4 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Re:minority report by BlkRb0t · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But you don't have to wear it, unless it is forcefully implanted into your eyes. It's opt in, and you can always chose otherwise. The problem here is the ones who do opt in create to others around them.

  2. It takes an army of one by six025 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The problem with this technology - if indeed it does feature "always on" data capture - is that it takes just one person in a crowd to ruin it for everyone else.

    You are at an event with a large crowd. Some of the behaviour in this crowd may be illegal (concert goers smoking marijuana for example) or at least frowned up by the authorities (dissidents gathering to protest). There is an unwritten rule amongst the participants that no one will film or take photos due to the nature of this group behaviour.

    At this point, it takes just one person wearing Google Glass to break the unwritten rule. Most of the participants will be oblivious to the presence of the glasses. Yes this could happen with a handheld camera or similar, but the camera is outwardly very obvious. Goggle Glass is designed to blend in with the wearer and the surroundings.

    Hyperbole? Perhaps. Do you want to find out? I certainly don't.

    Peace,
    Andy.

  3. How to kill Google Goggles by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Provide a few key apps, and wearing Google Goggles will be made illegal.

    • CopWatch Whenever a uniformed police officer or a police car appears, log badge number, faces, location, time, and date. Upload to tracking web site for map overlay. Process face image for face recognition. Match face against other faces seen on any device subscribing to the service. If matching person is in a vehicle, upload license plate info. Add vehicle to tracking list.
    • BribeWatch Like CopWatch, but for elected officials. Preload system with pictures of elected officials from news media. Also preload with list of all lobbyists registered with Congress (a public record). Record who politicians are seen with. Feed lobbyist location data, contribution data, and vote data into a machine learning algorithm to generate probable cause information for bribery investigations.
  4. law enforcement agencies by jonpublic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How would you feel if I told you every police officer would be wearing these in a couple years coupled with apps that recognize faces and search databases?

    Attend a rally for any cause and every law enforcement agency knows.

    That's what I'm worried about.