Political Influence and Legal Issues of Google Glass - Research Paper Example

Political Influence and Legal Issues of Google Glass (To include economics and considerations) Introduction Google Glass is a new invention from Google Inc. Google Glass is a technological specs or more precisely a wearable computer that is enabled to display information in a similar way that a smartphone does but in a voice recognition format. The device can follow the normal voice commands to search and display information as well as click photos and videos of 720 pixels. Therefore it is a hands free device following the concept s like driverless cars. Google glass is priced at USD 1500 and is aimed at producing a computer that can be used by the mass market. Research Question There has been increased hype across the invention and launch of Google glass in the technological sector. The pros and cons of the highly innovative design of the wearable computer are being evaluated by critics as well as the consumers. Major political and legal issues are likely to arise out of the launch of this device in the market. Analysts have raised the question of Google Glass becoming a technological device that can be misused to invade the privacy of people as well as create infringements in intellectual properties and patents. This research report aims to study and evaluate the political, legal and economic impacts of this new invention by Google Inc. The major objectives of the report are to answer the following questions: What will be the political and legal influences of Google Glass? What will be the economic factors created by the launch of Google Glass? How the Google Glass and other technologies can evade the privacy of the general people? How privacy issues related to Google Glass can be dealt with? What are the benefits and opportunities created by Google Glass for the society and the mass market? How security can be implemented in the technological devices and processes like Google Glass and in cloud computing? Research Methodology An effective and justified research methodology should be followed to ensure the preparation of a robust research report. Secondary data collection follows a process in which data is collected from different recorded information gathered and monitored by the different companies, academic organizations, business people, academicians and scholars. In this report, secondary research is extensively done because the Google Glass is new product to be launched in the market and a number of people are writing articles about the product. The research methodology in this research report follows the collection of secondary data from different journals, articles and academic and company websites. The research methodology includes a theoretical review of the different works proposed by scholars regarding the connection between privacy issues and technological innovations. Also, emphasis is given on analysing the findings from the secondary research regarding the political, legal and economic impacts of the Google Glass. The potential threats related to the launch of the Google Glass from the privacy and infringement of intellectual property rights are discussed and evaluated. The research is concluded by the presentation of suitable recommendations related to the study. Literature Review Privacy is a critical part of the society. Privacy can be defined as the right of an individual to liver his or her life with being left alone by others. This includes the fact that there should not be any wanted intrusion into the lives of people in a society by others. As cited in the work by Berman and Breuning (2001), it was easy for an individual to live his life without any unnecessary intrusion in the past when there were not so many advancements in technology. But with the increasing level of technological innovations and in the World Wide Web, the lives of different people in the society have started reflecting lesser privacy levels (Berman and Bruening, 2001). As proposed by Winston and Edelbach (2009),the transformation of the privacy and other legal concerns have been done through the evolution of different trends in the field of technology like the globalization of different database and data scrutinises, the storage of a huge amount of information regarding people in the individual information databases and the non-existence of the regulatory control processes aimed at protecting the personal information and privacy levels of the individuals in a society (Winston and Edelbach, 2009). In the United States of America, the Federal Government incorporates several rules and regulations in the domain of privacy issues. According to Bast and Brown (2013), the different technological innovations like the continuous evolving features in the cell phones are known to create much political and legal concerns in the society due to the invasion of privacy of individuals (Bast and Brown, 2013). According to the article published in Forbes magazine (2013), the technical possibilities of the Google Glass are posing as potential threats to the privacy of people in a society (Forbes Magazine, 2013). Since the Google Glass has a built in camera, microchip as well as a video recorder connected to the internet, it is likely to be harmful to the privacy and legal concerns if the users tend to misuse the device. Google Glass is a high end technological device that is likely to bring several benefits to the society. The device is likely to increase the employment opportunities related to the selling and usage of this device. Also, the Google Glass is expected to have several benefits through its use in the medical sectors as a technological concept. According to the work of Glauser (2013), the proper applications of Google Glass in the medical field can lead to enormous benefits in the healthcare of the patients (Glauser, 2013). Google Glass is likely to find several uses in the medical technology because it will increase the collaboration with different providers, and improve the efficiency of the medical practices and thus bring a major positive change in the medical practices in future. Weiss (2013) suggests in his work that the proper usage of this highly innovative and feature stuffed device can help to change the overall living experiences of different people in the society (Weiss, 2013). The use of the device by the disabled people can change the mundane lifestyle of these people. Google Glass can be used as an effective system to support and facilitate the day to day functions of the disabled people as well as improve their living experience to a great extent. Google Glass can be considered as the first step to the introduction of a completely new range of technology that is likely to influence the individuals as well as the society as a whole. The unveiling of Google Glass has stirred a high level of reaction among people. Whereas some indicate that this device would revolutionize many concepts in future, some others point out at the different political and legal concerns like the ease of invasion into the privacy of an individual and the decrease in trade secrecy levels and in the maintenance of private information for individuals and critical documents by organizations. As pointed out by some analysts, the use of Google Glass may have damaging effects in the society leading to many unethical and illegal practices. The device has a number of capabilities which can be mishandled by the users. Though the device can provide multifaceted benefits, it can also lead to unethical practices like recording movies and concerts which follow ‘no videotaping’ policies. Google Glass can also be used by criminals in committing crimes without any loopholes or can be used by employees to leak out trade secrets by taking the image of sensitive documents in the organization. Both the active users and the passive users of the Google glass may face some issues with the use of this device. The active users may face the problem of surveillance from the giant internet companies and the authorities due to the privacy threats assumed by other people from the active users. The passive users may be conscious about the intrusion of their privacy because they would not be aware if they were being pictured or recorded nor would their consent play any role in these activities. The Federal and State Laws of different countries have started implementing regulations to prevent the misuse of Google glass which may lead to political and legal problems. In the United States of America, the Federal authorities have implemented laws to prohibit the use of the device in the Casinos in different cities, especially in Las Vegas where casino is a main business contributing the economy. Also, according to the state laws, the use of Google Glass is prohibited in most famous bars and restaurants in cities like Seattle and Las Vegas. The states of Delaware and West Virginia are drafting legislations to prohibit the use of Google Glass in driving. The potential threat of distracted driving is being considered in many countries as a legal concern for the device. The French Road Code has automatically prohibited the use of the Google Glass in driving due to the established article in it that prohibits the use of a functioning device with screen in the driver’s vision field. Similarly, in United Kingdom, the use of the Google Glass is banned to negate the potential threat of disruption in traffic behavior. In Switzerland, the Swiss Criminal Law can help to prevent the potential threats as according to this law unauthorized recording is considered to be a punishable offense. Also, the Swiss Data Protection Laws consider data collection without consent to be illegal. Real time data and cloud sharing remains the most attractive features of Google Glass but according to a report by Hyman (2013), the privacy issues account for 42% of the factors accounting for the barrier to adoption of this device by the users (Hyman, 2013). Analysis The launch of Google Glass is met with several anticipation regarding the privacy and ethical issues that may arise by the use of this product by different people. Since, the device is a hands free device equipped with camera, video recorder and connectivity with the internet, it has a potential threat of infringing the personal lives of people, especially when it would be difficult for them to be aware of who is clicking their photos and videos. This is because taking photos or videos using Google Glass does not require the use of hands. Therefore, people cannot be instantly aware that their photos or videos are being taken. There may be severe ramifications of personal privacy as well as intellectual property. The movie halls are likely to ban the usage of Google Glass in the movie theatres as this would lead to the increase of pirated videos. Also, the use of Google Glass in companies may lead to the employees taking the image of the private documents. These things may lead to much disruption in the social lives of the people as well as in the industry landscapes. The unveiling of Google Glass has already created much problems related to the legal and political concerns that are likely to come with the use of this device. Google Glass can act as a multi-faceted technology device that can take pictures, record videos, pull information from the internet, send messages by the use of SMS and electronic mail and provide the users with navigation information through the use of a GPS. All these features can be very useful for the users but can also have severe ramifications in case of misuse of these features by the users. Different people have pointed out the severe political and legal issues that can come along with the use of the Google Glass. Though Google Inc. had instantly reacted to the privacy concerns by modifying the features of Google Glass to keep its usage in adherence to the ethical and legal policies, yet it is very easy for professional hackers to hack the device and access its features for various intended purposes (Weiss, 2013). Another use of Google Glass in found in the device providing navigation to support driving. But it is very difficult for a person to look into the images in the glass and simultaneously drive. Therefore, it is not unlikely that soon laws would be incorporated to prevent wearing Google Glass when driving. Google Glass may create more threats than benefits when being used in driving. This may result in the rise of critical legal rules in relation to ten use of Google Glass while driving. Google Glass is likely to find extensive use in the medical industry. The concept has the potential to revolutionize the practices followed in the healthcare sector. The use of Google Glass can support the medical practitioners by giving them easy access to the information related to a particular patient in the fraction of a second. The use of Google Glass during a surgical procedure would enormously equip the surgeons to be more efficient and would completely eliminate the possibility of human errors. The use of this hands free device would ensure clean hands of the medical practitioners which is very essential to prevent the transmission of diseases through harmful bacteria and viruses. Google Glass can also be enormously useful in its practical applications in emergency situations because of the ability to stream and watch live videos through its use. Google Glass can also act as a device that can revolutionize the teaching processes in the healthcare industry. Not only will this device allow for providing huge educational resources but also the live streaming of operations would ensure that the capacity of the healthcare education system is modernized to a great extent. Google Glass has an in-built application called Glassware which can be of immense use to the disabled people. The device being hands free, needs only a normal voice command to operate and can be of significant help to the disabled people who can use the device as a continuous support for performing their various day to day functions. For example, the deaf people can see a running commentary on Google Glass whereas the autistic people can get information on the reaction and behaviour of other people through an advanced facial expression recognition system. Google Glass is also very useful for users with mobility issues by facilitating them to do a lot of activities like the normal people and by completely revolutionizing the way they live their lives. Conclusion Google Glass is an innovative concept of wearable technology. Many other companies are likely to come up with devices equipped with this technology in future. But all the future conditions are dependent on the success of the Google Glass. It is already anticipated that the launch of the Google Glass is likely to affect a number of situations and is expected to revolutionize the functioning processes of different sectors in the society. Like every other technological innovation, Google Glass also comes with both pros and cons. The weightage of the benefits and potential harms will be decided by the way the users use the device. The unveiling of Google Glass has made way for several discussions regarding the potential legal and unethical perspectives related to the device. But Google Glass is capable of making huge positive changes in the society by its many innovative and robust features. The impact of the unveiling of the device on the new legal and social rules will decide the future of this wearable technology. References Bast, C. M. & Brown, C. A. (2013). WHERE HAS ALL OUR PRIVACY GONE? Journal of Legal Studies in Business. Vol. 14(2), pp. 1817-1843. Berman, J., & Bruening, P. (2001). Is Privacy Still Possible in the Twenty-first Century? Social Research. Vol. 68(1), pp. 306-318. Forbes magazine. (2013). Does Google Glass Violate Community Standards? Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/05/07/does-google-glass-violate-community-standards/. Glauser, W. (2013). Doctors among early adopters of Google glass. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal. Vol. 185(16), pp.1385-1385. Hyman, P. (2013). Augmented-Reality Glasses Bring Cloud Security Into Sharp Focus. Communications of the ACM. Vol. 56(6), pp.18-20. Weiss, T. R. (2013). Google Expands Glass Program: This Time to More Developers. Retrieved from http://www.eweek.com/mobile/google-expands-glass-program-this-time-to-more-developers.html. Weiss, T. R. (2013). Google Glass Helping Paralyzed Woman Experience Life. Retrieved from: http://www.eweek.com/mobile/google-glass-helping-paralyzed-woman-experience-life/. Winston, M. & Edelbach, R. (2009). Society, Ethics, and Technology. 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