Stop the Cyborgs: The Google Glass will make privacy impossible.

The newly project Google Glass will revolutionize world of mobile communications but it will affect our privacy and invade other people’s privacy. The advocacy group Stop the Cyborgs warns us that Google’s Glass will make privacy impossible. But first let’s take a look at some cool features of Google Glass.

Google Glass is a wearable computer with a head mounted display that is being developed by Google in the Project Glass research and development project with a mission of producing mass market ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information in a smartphone like format with using hands-free feature and can interact with the internet via natural language voice commands. The explorer edition cannot be used by people, who wear prescription glasses, but Google has confirmed that Glass will eventually work with frames and lenses that match the wearer's prescription; the glasses will be modular and therefore possibly attachable to normal prescription glasses. These glasses are in development by the Google X Lab which has worked on other futuristic technologies such as driverless cars. The project was announced on Google+ under the name Project Glass.

The project has drawn media attention primarily due to its backing by Google as well as the prototype design which is smaller and slimmer than previous designs for head mounted displays .The first Glass demo resembles a pair of normal eyeglasses where the lens is replaced by a head up display. In August 2011 the Glass prototype weighed around 8 pounds. Two years later the prototype is lighter than the average pair of sunglasses.

The product began testing in April 2012.Sergey Brin wore a prototype of the Glass to an April 5, 2012 Foundation Fighting Blindness event in San Francisco. In May 2012, Glass was demonstrated in the first test video shot with the eyewear, demonstrating the 720p HD first-person video recording capabilities of the device. Sergey Brin demonstrated the Glass on The Gavin Newsom Show, and California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom also wore the Glass. On June 27, 2012, he also demonstrated the Glass at Google I/O where skydivers,  and mountain bikers wore the Glass and live streamed their point of view to a Google+ Hangout, which was also shown live at the Google I/O presentation. In February 2013, Google released a demo video showcasing the voice-augmented display of the Glass filming various experiences in first-person.

Google is currently working on models that can be used with prescription lenses. In a Google+ post, Google stated that it will not be ready for the Explorer Edition of Glass, however, consumers can expect it later in 2013.

Aside from awesome features of Google glasses the biggest concern facing the wearable computer is how it will affect privacy. One advocacy group Stop the Cyborgs, warns that Google's Glass will make the privacy impossible. A couple of negative aspects of the wearable computer weren't exactly disregarded, but were definitely flying low under the radar. From my point of view the Google Glasses will make privacy impossible and it will affect other people’s privacy. For example if we take a picture of some drunk guy and put it on the Internet we will invade his privacy. The question is why? To be in the center of attention or to gain instant popularity among our friends? Advocacy group Stop the Cyborgs wars that Google' Glass will make privacy impossible because of the ease with which users can snap photos and record video. However, it's no different than the ease with which we snap photos or record videos with our phones.

In order to snap a secret picture with a phone, you have to hold the phone up and aim it at your target. This is usually noticeable if the target is looking directly at you. With Glass, you just point your head in your target’s direction, which is less noticeable than waving a phone around in the air. However, with Glass (so far, at least), you have to provide an audible command. So, while the cute girl standing on the other side of the train probably won’t hear you tell your glasses to take a picture, everyone else around you will. Most likely, she won’t see you stealthily position your phone in her direction. Even if she does, you’re technically just holding your phone’s screen in front of your face, possibly doing one of a million tasks that require you to raise your phone up in the first place. In an anonymous email to the BBC from a Stop the Cyborgs member, it is disclosed that the group’s goal isn’t to completely ban the Glass, but to set some kind of universally accepted physical boundaries with technology similar to Glass. One West Virginia state legislator recently introduced a bill that would ban not just Google’s Glass, but all head-mounted devices, while driving. So, Stop the Cyborgs isn’t the only group looking to prevent some of the dangers of wearable computing before it becomes widespread. It is, for lack of a better word, weird that Google’s Glass is becoming a such a hot-button topic before even a beta launch of the product, especially when the product basically just puts a tiny smartphone screen on your head. Remember, as far as people outside of Google are aware, the Glass doesn’t introduce any new functionality we’ve never seen before in tech. It simply takes some things we can do with our smartphones, and puts those things over our eyes. However, it’s not a bad thing that the impending launch of Glass is getting society to think about the ways upcoming technology could disrupt everyday life. The world of law is still reeling from the effects of piracy and DRM, and those concepts have been around for quite some time now. Getting the ball rolling now on how society should handle wearable computing when it becomes prevalent is a good way to prepare for unforeseen issues.

Another problem is hackers. Imagine the situation were hacker can access your Google's Glass and see what you see, meet your close friends and family, take pictures, messages, videos and so on. This is not some wild idea this is very real and is threatening your privacy. If hacker can access your computer and steal your data it can also access your Google's Glass and take your data.

The Google's Glass won't make privacy impossible like Stop the Cyborgs suggest. Unless it receives some new features of which we're currently unaware, it won't even change how privacy is currently handled. The Google Glasses will be a smartphone on your face.