To its detractors, Google Glass is a symbol of bourgeois insensitivity, of white-guy dorkiness, but above all, of disregard for privacy. Anyone wearing camera-equipped specs could be recording you without your knowledge at any time, after all.
With a Glass app called Watch Your Privacy, however, you can not only violate the privacy of everyone around you, but protect your own while doing it. Using open data about the placement of security cameras, the app notifies you any time you might be under surveillance without your knowledge. Colored rings appear in your field of vision whenever you’re near potential prying eyes; if you don’t want to be recorded, simply avoid the rings.
But what about nosy fellow Glass-wearers? Watch Your Privacy accounts for them as well, as long as they’re using the app as well. Writes creator Sander Veenhof:
The app makes use of a subset of the Open Street Map data, using the export and mapping structure of OSMcamera. The “Glasshole” data is obtained by instantly registering and updating the latitute/longitude coordinates of each Google Glass user using this app.
As pointed out by Kotaku’s Steve Mariconz, that supposed protection adds yet another layer of irony to the project. By using it, you’re broadcasting your location to every other user.
@cushac Gotta love a privacy app that 'instantly registers and updates latitude and longitude data' of its users.
— Steve Marinconz (@Appleguysnake) April 16, 2014
Google Glass’s biggest problem, solved by Google Glass! Now we just need an app that makes you look like less of an asshole while wearing it.
(GIF: Prosthetic Knowledge)
