Advertising and Internet
search giant Google is set to roll out the much-hyped Google Glass. If you
haven’t heard about Google Glass yet, you will.
The futuristic frames will allow the wearer to, among other
things, record your image and your conversations without your permission. Sure,
anyone can surreptitiously record or videotape you by using their smart phones,
but Google Glass puts this technology literally in your face.
Conspiracy theorists and
alarmists are already comparing Google Glass to the ultra spy technology that
George Orwell foretold in his classic book 1984 (published in 1949).
The Google Glass wearer can videotape you and, in the blink of
an eye, upload the footage to Instagram or Facebook.
Maybe it’s the fear of losing the last remaining vestiges of
privacy we have left that’s spurring intense public opposition to the ‘Glass’.
Some business owners have already posted signs banning the
‘Glass’ from their establishments before the digital frames have even hit
retail stores.
“They argue, rightly, that this is more than just a question of
privacy,” writes Telegraph.UK,
a British newspaper.
“You
can see the marketing already – Glass is all-knowing. The issue is that to be
all-knowing, it needs you to help it be all-seeing. If choice is an illusion
created between those with power and those without, then Google Glass goes to
the heart of what it is to live in a digital world and what it is to exercise
choice about your privacy.”
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