The Problem With Google Glass: People Wearing Them Can Record You Without You Knowing
But one of the biggest issues to consider, while the concept of Glass is still relatively new to people, is privacy, James Bareham recently wrote in a forum on The Verge.
By now, we're all used to people taking photos and shooting videos on their mobile devices.
With a mobile phone or tablet, it's obvious if someone is recording because they have to hold up the device. But with Glass, it will be nearly impossible to know whether or not someone is taking photos or capturing video.
"The issue is not whether Glass users WILL be shooting surreptitiously; the issue is that they CAN," Bareham writes. "And that’s potentially a real problem; wearing Google Glass could be banned from many public and government places."
That's why there will be a need for some type of "Glass etiquette," The Verge's Josh Topolsky wrote in his review of Glass.
Otherwise, when someone walks into a restaurant wearing Glass, for example, non-Glass users may feel uncomfortable because they may think they're being recorded.
"In many circumstances, the only way to convince authorities or the general public that you’re NOT recording anything with your Google Glass device will be to take it/them off," Bareham writes. "And then you can’t use it for anything else. You’ll be back to using your phone."
Granted, there is a light that goes on when you're recording with Glass, but as Topolsky notes in his review, he got the feeling that most people didn't know what they were looking at. Obviously, this will change as more people become familiar with Google Glass.