The camera is the least interesting thing about Glass. Stop acting like it's a single-purpose surveillance machine.
The top comment in this thread right now explicitly advocates shunning anyone wearing Glass in any circumstances, regardless of what they're doing with it. That's absurdly paranoid.
Also, you can't actually tell what someone is doing with it, so complete shunning is the only way to be sure you aren't being recorded. Some people don't like being recorded at all, and most people don't like being recorded surreptitiously. These really aren't absurd or paranoid preferences.
Which is actually a great parallel with Glass- there are no shortage of people with totally legitimate privacy concerns, etc., but I think much of the driving force behind anti-Glass sentiment is humanity collectively sighing, rolling their eyes, and saying, "can we all agree that this is not going to become a thing? Please? Please don't let this become something that is considered socially acceptable because we really don't want to live in that world."
I'm sure we all know people who treat their phone like a pacifier and are always screwing around with it at meetings, social occasions, etc. Do it a little, and that's fine, do it too much and it can quickly become one of the most annoying habits a person can have. Glass, as it is being presented at least, seems like something that would allow That Guy to be even more annoying to deal with, and it would be all the time- not just when he whips out his phone. It might lead to there being many, many more That Guys in the world, and it would grant them the ability to be That Guy 24/7/365.25.
I'm not at all interested in Glass, but this issue has caused me to think about how I'll react and interact with a Glass user. I never had to think about that with phones or cameras.
And by the way, this conversation has me thinking about those unfortunate retail workers who have to wear those earbud/microphones, so that they can be re-purposed at a moment's notice. If they wore Glass there would be a backlash.
But it wouldn't be obvious at all if their mics were recording you, and you could easily be simultaneously video recorded by "security" cams in the store. With enough AI and FR, the cameras could automatically focus on whoever the employee was talking to, or even record ambient conversations and connect that to travel so far within the store. "For training purposes."
2. You don't think retail stores are already doing this anyway with their security cameras?
Google search for "Retail store video analytics".
(http://blog.nrf.com/2013/06/13/how-retailers-can-drive-perfo... for example, has some real life examples of what various stores are doing)
They don't make any pretense that it's for training purposes.
I guess i'm here to break it to you that you are already participating without your knowledge, everywhere, glass or not.
The only difference is that glass gives you some inkling it is happening.
Thanks, I'm aware. I have the right to resist.
Because there is a difference between a technology being relatively obscure, because a lot of people find it creepy and socially unacceptable, and the same kind of technology being more widely adopted by the general public because it's piggybacking on something else, apparently without any real privacy safeguards to prevent abuse whatever Google might have liked to happen, and in addition automatically uploading footage to the mothership with or without the knowledge of its owner in approximately real time.
As with much of the modern privacy debate, matters of scale, connectivity and the erosion of anonymity/obscurity make a much bigger difference in practice than traditional distinctions between public and private locations.
Furthermore, because you can't easily frame your shot as you can with a cell phone or conventional camera, the field of vision is significantly wider. It really makes for a crummy spy cam.
I really do understand why people are concerned, but I believe that if there were more Explorers, it would diffuse the perceived problem. I just finished shooting pool in an APA match and I recorded each of my shots. This has been a fantastic way for me to use the camera in Glass. I also demonstrated lots of other features to those that asked, and the camera faded to the background as a nice to have capability, but it isn't what defines Glass for most of the people I talk with.
I think my experience with taking photos with Glass closely follows how frequently I use the camera on my phone. I take photos, but the camera capability isn't why I choose a particular phone. I now take significantly more photos with Glass, but they are usually at the pool hall during my match. If you ignore that outlier, my photo taking frequency is probably about the same, but I enjoy the experience more because Glass is out of the way and secondary to what is going on around me.
I honestly believe that how you use Glass is a reflection on who you are already. If you want to secretly take pictures using your sunglasses, there are plenty of sources online to buy a pair that are cheaper and less obvious. If you are getting Glass only for the camera, the novelty will wear off quickly.