Google Glass attack heightens legal issues on wearables

A YouTube video showing an attack on a tech expert using Google Glass in a bar has been making the rounds on the Internet, a Washington Post said in a report. According to her Facebook post, San Francisco social media consultant Sarah Slocum claimed that bar patrons snatched the wearable off her face after receiving taunts for wearing the device. Slocum also claimed that someone robbed her when he left her purse in her haste to pursue the alleged attackers. The Post had confirmed the incident with San Francisco Police Department officer Albie Esparza, who said that bar patrons believed that Slocum recorded them without proper consent on February 22.

The Post said that the attack on Slocum highlighted the legal issues surrounding wearables. Aside from privacy concerns, Glass could face a lifetime ban should several states decide to ban the product for fears that it would contribute to more road accidents. Supporters of the proposed legislation claimed that the small screen in the Glass user's peripheral vision could impede driving focus, said the Post.

On the other hand, Google reportedly commissioned lobbyists and ambassadors dubbed "Explorers" to educated people about the use and the benefits of wearable technology, the Post said. As part of their efforts to change the negative perception of people regarding Google Glass, Explorers went so far as showing the product to authoritative figures such as mayors, state legislators and the common folk to show that the product is not what they initially thought to be.

Rockville-based consultant Joseph White, who is also a Google Explorer, said that Slocum's case could have been an isolated one, as reactions he encountered towards Glass was not as extreme as the social media consultant's.

The 60 year-old said, "The closest experience that I have had to [Slocum's] is someone coming up to me at an Organizing for America event...and asking me ‘what are you recording right now. I have never been asked to take them off. And I have been in restaurants, some bars - just out in public at different functions."

Tags

Google Glass, Google Inc, Google Explorers

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