“Third Thumb” Augmentation Changes the Way we Think of Prosthetics
While Glass gets scooped up for specific professions, a mainstream experience is something people still have reservations about. Specifically, the possibility of being filmed or recorded in public makes many nervous. However, who says privacy has to become extinct?
“The fact of the matter is we’ll have to develop some new social etiquette,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt in an interview with BBC. “It’s obviously not appropriate to wear these glasses in situations where recording is not correct, and indeed you have this problem already with phones.”
If we worry about ubiquitous surveillance or being recorded by fellow Glass users, then the ability to give consent should, too, come in a technologic form. And there is already a model for such a measure.
Created by Japan’s National institute of Informatics, these glasses prevent facial recognition by cameras. 11 strategically-placed LEDs are placed along the glasses and ‘light up’ only from an infrared camera’s perspective. Basically, the user is able to shroud himself and remain digitally anonymous.
Though wearing special glasses for privacy’s sake would be tedious for anyone who isn’t a high-profile client, the concept is a promising start. I wager if we are to move forward into a future where hardware like Glass becomes mainstream, then the public will want innovative ways to reclaim privacy and maintain authority over how their digital likeness is used by others.
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
Embeddable technology is gradually weaving itself into the fashion world. Ideally, it would also be a practical solution for a not-too-distant-future that may not have yet mastered the new social etiquette Schmidt says would ease present-day concerns. Imagine clothing such as scarves, hats, hoodies or shirts that include the ability to obscure your likeness if you’re being filmed by someone you don’t know. With the press of a button or toggle of an app, you can reclaim agency in a time of casual, ubiquitous surveillance.
About the author
Cory Healy is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. When he's not writing about tech or music, he can either be found delivering food on bike throughout lower Manhattan, or playing computer games at home.
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