You remember Google, right? The search engine giant with the unofficial motto of ‘Don’t be evil.’ Well, don’t let Google’s colorful, playful logo fool you into submission. That lighthearted logo is a smokescreen which hides the company’s true intent. To follow you wherever you go.
As if Goolge’s Glass glasses-with-a-built-in camera wasn’t enough to put a rise in your Spidey-sense (after all Glass users became known as ‘Glass-holes‘ for a reason), the company has been awarded a new patent, #9,087,058, that basically aims to track everything you do and store it all in a database.
If your first thought upon hearing that is, ‘Oh, wow! That’s cool!‘ then you are exactly the kind of user that Google wants. If your first thought was, ‘Gah! That’s creepy!‘ then don’t worry because Google doesn’t care about you. After all, your Google-loving friends will be watching you, and the company can collect personal data from you by gathering it from another direction. I call that collateral collection (my phrase, but feel free to use it).
Google’s new patent appears to have applied an updated purpose to upcoming versions of Google Glass that are less Borg-like, and more visually appealing, and esthetically less intrusive. The idea is somewhat generalized, but Google seems to be the one company that could pull it off.
The device would recognize your personal real-world user experiences in real time, then match them up, and capture the data to be stored by Google in the cloud. Think Total Recall glasses with a price tag, video camera, microphone, and internet connectivity. What you get in return for losing any vestige of personal privacy is ‘a searchable history of real-world user experiences.‘ I can remember plenty of conversations which I wish had been recorded on video, but recognize right away that that’s a two-way street.
The details of what a constantly on, constantly recording video and audio capture will always be beyond our own ability to remember such details. That means that huge chunks of our lives, in living color and stereo sound, will be stored in Google’s cloud databases, completely safe and secure from prying eyes.
Uh huh. Right. By the way, I live in Brooklyn. Would you like to buy a bridge? I can make you a good price and you’ll have something that none of your friends, family members, or co-workers have. Think of the possibilities. You could charge a toll for people to use your bridge.
If nothing is save and secure online, then how save and secure will an online video and audio record of your every waking moment be safe? Yes, I see the potential and the benefits of a more accurate record of specific events throughout the day, but what about the negatives?
What happens when someone else begins to view your day-to-day activities (or, even the ones you choose to record) without your knowledge, or to be used against you in legal matters or a court of law? Maybe you have no desire to capture and store moments of your life but how do you feel about others capturing you in theirs? Why does that not freak people out?