The new wearable computing device from Google, planned to be released at the end of this year, is looking to create a lot of headlines. For one it seems extremely cool, at least to the tech crowd, being able to have a computer and screen visible at all times giving you access to Google, Maps, texts, video and photo, and soon thousands of apps. Outside of that, there will soon be a lot of new headlines being made regarding the legal issues of Glass. One of which looks to be simply where and when it is legal to even wear it. Some situations make sense to ban it, like while driving a car as it can be a major distraction and obstruction of your view, but there are already some businesses (a bar) that has banned Glass before a release date has even been set. Why would they do this? Privacy.
Pictures and Videos
The overwhelming favorite for biggest privacy issue with Glass is hands down the ability to take pictures and videos of anything and anyone without them knowing. Unlike cell phones, Glass will always be in "Picture Ready Mode" meaning you don't have to take it out of your pocket, position it, open the app, and snap a picture. All you need to do is be facing the general area of your target and swipe your finger or whisper a couple words. We may have to get used to a world where we may be recorded at any possible moment by a number of individuals as well as companies. 1984? Probably not that extreme, but I would highly recommend always assuming you may be photographed.
Pictures and videos have been a natural progression of late though. 50 years ago it may have been extremely rare to have more than a handfull of pictures of any person. Nowadays, I was probably tagged in at least 50 pictures over Christmas with the family, many of them I didn't know I was in. This seems much more common, but having the safeguard of being able to identify when somebody pulls out a camera and starts aiming it does help us avoid this if we want. Glass is a natural progression of where photos and videos have been going, it's just a big leap in both technology and privacy issues.
Data You Create
Looking beyond the obvious camera privacy issues that are already covered extensively though, what about the right to the data produced by this. Currently there is no specific Privacy Policy or Terms of Service for the Glass (and I will update this as soon as anything is known), but think about the data collected. Google would have access not only to where you are (like they would with your cell phone regardless), but what you are seeing. If you take a lot of photos or videos, your Glass device may be giving Google's data centers direct access to your everyday life beyond what you normally do through searches and email. Next time you do a google search we may be seeing targeted ads not only based on what we search and read but also where we've been and what we've seen. Many people are okay with targeted advertising, some actually encourage it. For instance if I visit the San Diego Zoo and snap a few photos, the next time I am shown an ad served by Google, maybe it'll be some form of discount for a membership at the Zoo or even a recommendation of a good restaurant nearby.
The data being used by Google will be much like any tradeoff for using a service connected to the internet nowadays. I get a good, they get data to use. Seems fair to a certain degree if Google may use this information, but soon it may not just be Google. With CISPA right around the corner we may be seeing an easy pipeline for all the photos, videos, searches, and texts seen through services by Google (including Glass) as well as other companies like Apple and Microsoft passed right along to the US Federal Government. More on CISPA coming soon, but for now you can assume that any data created isn't just yours.
Final Thoughts
Google Glass is easily one of the coolest gadgets I have seen in quite some time. It also poses many potential personal privacy threats. Is it worth the tradeoff? That's up to you to decide, but it looks as though wearable computing will become adopted by society. Whether you want it to be or not, there will soon be thousands upon thousands of Glass wearers walking down the streets, and many other companies and products similar to Glass will be jumping on board. Glass is by no means trying to threaten privacy, and probably won't truly be a threat on an individual level. At least no more so than using GMail or Google+ is.
UPDATE: Looks like the first documents over the Glass Apps have been released and is very limited for app developers. Developers may not have direct access to pictures and feeds of photos without direct access, which is a great step by Google to start privacy correctly on this platform.