In the past few weeks we’ve been inundated by an avalanche of articles warning us about Google Glass. “Analysts” have painted doomsday scenarios of everyone walking around with 24/7 video recording in a world with no privacy and where Google gets access to everyone and anyone’s public actions. It’s absurd to see the vilification of a product that hasn’t launched and which no one has even used! It goes to show how paranoid people are. They’re willing to pass judgement on something without giving it a fair trial. Glass is projected to be available at the end of 2013 – a surprisingly early launch. It’ll obviously be accompanied by marketing campaigns crafted by a good content marketing agency that will aim to allay these fears. But a bit of common sense will tell you that these dystopian futures are wildly exaggerated. People like to see threats when there are none.
First, let’s consider the obvious. Google wants people to adopt their newest piece of tech. They can’t do that if it makes consumers look like creepy spy agents giving it a bad name. The glasses have to be classy and all indications point to a clear visual signal when any recording activity is taking place. So if you’re talking to someone wearing a heads up display, you’ll always be aware if and when they’re recording what you say and react accordingly.
Second, the technology is nowhere close to available to allow people to always walk around recording video. The first hit will be battery life. Phones these days can go for little more a day with heavy usage. Google Glass on the other hand will have a much smaller battery unit and will be far more restricted in its power consumption. So much for 24/7 recording. Not just that, the upload limits on wireless data plans are severely constrained. If we’re talking about live streaming, using Glass will be a more expensive proposition then users may bargain for.
But technology restrictions are just one part of the puzzle. Sooner or later those barriers will vanish and wearable tech will become smaller and almost invisible. If we ever reach a stage where we can have contact lenses performing the function of Google Glass, there’s no way we can prevent others from recording everything in public spaces. Nor should we be able to. Public has always been you know…public for a reason. People have an expectation of privacy only in their homes, their own property and in other situations where they specifically take measures to enforce it. Merely walking on the road doesn’t give you any right to control images of yourself. Celebrities and other figures in the public eye have known this for decades. It’s time we all got used to the idea.
Instead, we need to know how to make this amazing technology work for us. It will provide tremendous empowerment to the ordinary citizen when dealing with government officials to prevent corruption and navigate around censorship. To me, that is the biggest benefit and takeaway of Google Glass.