(Broken) Glasses Your computer in a pair of specs??? AIDAN KEENAN Lion’s Eye Staff Writer apk5152@psu.edu Have you heard of Google Glass yet? Yes? No? Doesn’t matter, because I'm goin’ to tell you about it anyway! Google Glass is a fancy new prod- uct brought to you from Google (of course). However, that’s where the normal description ends. Google Glass is really a small computer that you control with your voice and eye movements. This revolutionary technol- ogy gives you all the functions of your preferred brand of smart phone but still allows your hands to be free. Take pictures, record videos, get directions, text your friends, update Facebook, and much, much more. The Glass has effectively taken the first leap towards merg- ing the internet with reality. Pretty awesome, huh? Well keep this initial perspective in mind as we delve deeper. Firstly, the Glass allows the wearer to record anything around him/ her; this means YOU. Do you feel comfortable letting some random stranger take pictures of you (probably inappropriate ones) without your knowledge and con- sent? What about a fellow classmate whom has some disagreement with you and would like nothing more than to disrupt your social life? Don’t get too upset yet because we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. If someone were to hack your Glass or just stalk you online, they could find your location and what routes you take through every day. Google Glass owners would be placed in much greater risk of premeditated crimes. Oh, but don’t worry because law enforcement also has access to these methods. They already use smart phones to target criminals and terrorists so the Glass will only make their jobs easier. However, the world is full of double swords as the police can very easily monitor the internet for any possible evidence against you. One handy little example of this is: If someone in a bar re- cords you leaving to drive home just before you get in an accident, you are now caught up in a world of harsh punishments. Basically put; if justice is blind then Google Glass is justice’s new prescription glasses! Google; the super company which already had access to internet searches, will also gain access to your very eyes. Underneath Google’s pleasant fa- cade, the top secret entity known as Google X churns through tons of our private information by the milli- second. The Glass is a spawn of Google X, born in the bowels of its ever growing mass. So, if Google has already been proven to sift through our personal emails, why should we trust them with our eyes? For all we know they could have all the Glass’ they sell programmed to record our every action done and word spoken, before sending it back to their headquarters. A few people have already foreseen the Glass’s capability for evil and have spoken out against it. One such person is the owner of the 5 point, a dive bar in Seattle Washington. He has banned all use of the device and enforces it with “Ass-kickings” for all violators. In an interview with KIRO-FM, The owner argues, “First you have to understand the culture of the 5 Point, which is a sometimes seedy, maybe notori- ous place. People want to go there and be not known, and definitely don’t want to be secretly filmed or vid- eotaped and immediately put on the Internet.” So as long as more businesses ban these shady devices our chances of running into trouble decline. But don’t just leave it up to others to stop this trend. Every time you see someone wearing the Google Glass, walk up to them and yell “Google image search compound frac- tures, safe search off, fifty results per page!” and enjoy the cries of terror coming from the viral nuisance in front of you. Fight back against this break in our real life privacy agreement and learn to be ever wary of future attempts. PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, BRANDYWINE CAMPUS Advisers from the 0 hi taking their la a WORLDWIDE
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