Google Glass: privacy fears continue
Google Glass: privacy fears continue
US senator cites example of personal information being
unintentionally captured as Google gathered data for Street View
Jemima Kiss
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 July 2013 09.50 EDT
Google's claim that it will not need to alter its privacy
policy to reflect the impact of its new Glass product has been met with scorn
by US authorities.
Senator Joe Barton, who co-founded the congressional
bi-partisan privacy caucus, sent a detailed letter of concern to Google in May
asking the company to clarify how Glass users' data would be protected, as well
as the privacy of non-users who could be identified through technology
including facial recognition.
In a lengthy reply, Google's vice-president of public
policy and government relations, Susan Molinari, emphasised that Glass is in a
trial phase, that there are no plans for facial recognition to be introduced
and that existing privacy policies will protect users and non-users.
Barton was not impressed, releasing the following
statement on Monday night: "I am disappointed in the responses we received
from Google. There were questions that were not adequately answered and some
not answered at all.
"Google Glass has the potential to change the way
people communicate and interact. When new technology like this is introduced
that could change societal norms, I believe it is important that people's
rights be protected and vital that privacy is built into the device. I look
forward to continuing a working relationship with Google as Google Glass
develops."
Molinari deftly avoided a specific question about the
fallout from the revelation that Google had inadvertently captured personal
information from individuals on unencrypted wireless networks while gathering
data for its Street View project. Barton had asked how Google planned to
prevent Glass unintentionally collecting data without consent.
"Protecting the privacy and security of our users is
one of our top priorities," Molinari wrote, but then deferred on an answer
to the next question about protecting privacy more broadly.
Molinari did make some details public about improvements
to privacy features for Glass, including ways to lock the device if it is
stolen.
Eyes are on Google to set a standard of good practice for
the wearable technology as multiple devices start to come to market. Its
biggest challenge will be to balance the opportunities for the technology and
those keen to explore it, with those who see insurmountable problems with a
more invasive technology that has implications for the people that come into
contact with it as well as the person wearing it.
As the security researcher Marc Rogers told Slashgear
last month, the challenge is around expectation. The first wearable computer
was developed by the maths professor Edward O Thorpin and Claude Shannon in the
1960's to cheat on roulette tables.
"People weren't expecting someone to be able to take
a computer into that environment," said Rogers. "Who's to say what
Glass will allow? Industrial espionage, identifying flaws in buildings, scoping
out security positions. It would be easy to modify Glass to identify every
single security camera, and plot you a path you could walk through a shopping
centre where you're not going to be recorded."
"What Glass has done is draw people's attention to
new concepts. So, if people are talking about the risk of Glass, in reality
that risk has been around much longer. It's just Glass is making you think
about it."
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