Message to Google Glass: Keep out

    Updated: 2013-05-26 06:02

    By David Streitfeld(The New York Times)

      Print Mail Large Medium  Small

     Message to Google Glass: Keep out

    Thad Starner, a technical adviser to the Google Glass team, thinks concerns over the new device's potential for snooping are exaggerated. David Walter Banks for The New York Times

    SAN FRANCISCO - Google's wearable computer, the most anticipated piece of electronic wizardry since the iPad and iPhone, will not go on sale for many months.

    But the resistance is already under way.

    The glasseslike device, which allows users to access the Internet, take photos and shoot videos, has been pre-emptively banned by a bar in Seattle. Large parts of Las Vegas will not welcome wearers. West Virginia legislators tried to make it illegal to use the gadget, known as Google Glass, while driving.

    "This is just the beginning," said Timothy Toohey, a Los Angeles lawyer specializing in privacy issues. "Google Glass is going to cause quite a brawl."

    As personal technology becomes increasingly invisible, Glass is prompting questions of whether it will distract drivers, upend relationships and strip people of privacy.

    A pair of lensless frames with a tiny computer attached to the right earpiece, Glass is promoted by Google as "seamless and empowering." It will have the ability to capture any chance encounter and broadcast it to millions.

    "We are all now going to be both the paparazzi and the paparazzi's target," said Karen L. Stevenson, a lawyer in Los Angeles.

    Google stresses that Glass is a work in progress, with test versions now being released to 2,000 developers. Among the safeguards to make it less intrusive: the wearer has to speak or touch the device to activate it, and must look directly at someone to take a photograph or video of them.

    "We are thinking very carefully about how we design Glass because new technology always raises new issues," said Courtney Hohne, a Google spokeswoman.

    Message to Google Glass: Keep out

    Developers, however, are pushing the limits of Glass. One created a small sensation in tech circles with a program that eliminated the need for gestures or voice commands. To snap a picture, all the user needed to do was wink.

    The 5 Point Cafe, a Seattle bar, may have been the first to explicitly ban Glass. In part it was a publicity stunt, but the bar's owner, Dave Meinert, said there was a serious side. The bar, he said, was "kind of a private place."

    The legislators in West Virginia were not joking. The state banned texting while driving last year, exempting hands-free devices, thus leaving a loophole for Google Glass. The legislation never advanced in the most recent session, but its sponsor said he was likely to try again.

    In Las Vegas, a Caesars Entertainment spokesman said computers and recording devices were prohibited in casinos. "We will not allow people to wear Glass while gambling or attending our shows," he said.

    Glass is arriving just as the courts, politicians, privacy advocates, regulators, law enforcement agents and tech companies are once again arguing over the boundaries of technology.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee voted in April to require law enforcement to have a warrant to access e-mail, not just a subpoena. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's use of devices that mimic cellphone towers to track down criminals is being challenged in an Arizona case. A California district court recently ruled that private messages on social media were protected without a warrant.

    "Google Glass will test the right to privacy versus the First Amendment," said Bradley Shear, a social media expert at George Washington University in Washington, of the United States' constitutional protection of free speech.

    Google has often been at the forefront of privacy issues. In 2004, it began a free e-mail service, making money by generating ads against the content. Two dozen privacy groups protested. Regulators were urged to investigate whether eavesdropping laws were being violated.

    For better or worse, people got used to the idea, and the protests quickly dissipated. Gmail now has over 425 million users. The most recent issue was the company's unauthorized data collection during its Street View mapping project, which prompted government investigations in a dozen countries.

    Glass is potentially an extremely lucrative move. Piper Jaffray, an analyst firm, estimates that wearable technology and another major initiative, self-driving cars, could ultimately be a $500 billion opportunity. In the shorter term, IHS, a forecasting firm, estimates that shipments of smart glasses, led by Google Glass, could be as high as 6.6 million in three years.

    Thad Starner, a technical adviser to the Glass team, said he thinks concerns about disruption are overblown. "Asocial people will be able to find a way to do asocial things with this technology, but on average people like to maintain the social contract."

    Like many Silicon Valley companies, Google takes the attitude that people should have nothing to hide from intrusive technology. Eric Schmidt, then Google's chief executive, said in 2009: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

    The New York Times

    (China Daily 05/26/2013 page11)

    无码午夜成人1000部免费视频| √天堂中文官网8在线| 人妻少妇精品中文字幕av蜜桃| 无码视频一区二区三区在线观看| 亚洲欧美日韩、中文字幕不卡| 国产激情无码视频在线播放性色| 亚洲精品97久久中文字幕无码| 免费a级毛片无码免费视频120软件| 国产成人精品无码一区二区三区 | 亚洲AV无码乱码在线观看| 韩日美无码精品无码| 天堂网在线最新版www中文网| 日韩精选无码| 国产精品午夜无码AV天美传媒| 亚洲欧洲美洲无码精品VA| 在线天堂资源www在线中文| 中文字幕人妻丝袜乱一区三区 | 中文一国产一无码一日韩| 中文字幕精品一区二区日本| 午夜无码一区二区三区在线观看 | 色综合久久久久无码专区| 97无码人妻福利免费公开在线视频| 久久久久久综合一区中文字幕| 亚欧无码精品无码有性视频| 黑人无码精品又粗又大又长| 国产午夜精品无码| 久久国产亚洲精品无码| 日韩AV无码精品人妻系列| 无码性午夜视频在线观看| 亚洲AV无码久久精品色欲| 最新中文字幕av无码专区| 精品久久久无码人妻中文字幕 | 亚洲va无码专区国产乱码| 中文字幕在线无码一区二区三区| 日本中文字幕中出在线| 最近2019年中文字幕6| 婷婷五月六月激情综合色中文字幕| 好看的中文字幕二区高清在线观看| 日韩乱码人妻无码系列中文字幕| 日韩欧群交P片内射中文| 中文无码伦av中文字幕|