Google Glass is the world’s next sign of the future. Wearing it on your head grants you an augmented reality-like simulation. The device connects with your mobile device, and has its own apps.
Josh Lowensohn, tech writer from The Verge, wrote about the public release of Google Glass....
Breaking Glass
You are valuable to Google as long as you give them a return on their investment. Their tools and services are in place to earn more profits. Not to empower or protect you.
In his blog, Bret McLeod writes that, "Google Glass empowers" people and the ideas of "power, freedom, and control" and "It allows for the freedom of imagination." (McLeod)
But whose "power, freedom, and control" are we talking about here?
The United States Government has the right to acquire your digital information without the protections and freedoms granted to you in our constitution. And Google has somehow gotten you to "Agree" to that.
Patriot Glass
In early 2001, more than a dozen privacy bills were passed by congress to address privacy concerns on the web. Then, as Rebecca MacKinnon explains in Consent of the Networked, 9/11 brought about the Patriot Act, which "allows the FBI to obtain" digital information "without a court order." (MacKinnon)
The Third Party Doctrine
As John Villasenor points out in his article What You Need to Know About the Third Party Doctrine, "In its 1979 decision in Smith v. Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government, observing that “this Court consistently has held that a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.'"(Villasenor)
This decision makes your information up for grabs if you share it with a third party, such as Google.
How does Google fit into this betrayal of the 4th Amendment?
Remember that "Privacy Policy" you "Agreed" to when you clicked "I Agree", before using Gmail or Google? Somewhere, deep in the fine print (which of course you read, right?), Google covered their ass.
Their policy said that you agreed to Google not only sharing information they acquire about you with third parties, but that you agree that they may share your it with government and law enforcement.
Just as they were taking part in the slow death of your rights, companies like Google lobbied in congress for some protection of their own.
MacKinnon writes that "the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act, gives US companies immunity from being sued by their customers when they comply with the blatantly illegal government surveillance requests" (MacKinnon).
When threatened by the government to divulge your personal information, Google not only has no incentive to refuse, you have no legal recourse against them.
Google asked congress for more rights, while stripping you of yours.
Glass Terms
By agreeing to the terms of Google, you have given up your rights. By using Google Glass, you invite third party companies, i.e. advertisers, and government surveillance, into all aspects of your life. They see what you see. They go where you go.
By agreeing to Google Glass you have, in effect, forgone all expectation of privacy, giving up your "power, freedom, and control."
Works Cited
MacKinnon, Rebecca. Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. New York: Basic Books, 2012. Print.
McLeod, Bret. “Imagination Glass - The Prospective Future Through The Eyes of Google.” Bret McLeod UMD. Tumblr.com. N. p., 14 May 2014.
Villasenor, John. “What You Need to Know About the Third-Party Doctrine.” The Atlantic 30 Dec. 2013.
















