Google Glass privacy policy won't change ahead of launch

Despite prevailing privacy concerns about Google Glass, Google has said it will not alter its privacy policy for the launch of the wearable tech.

The response has left a US congress committee, which demanded clarification over some Google Glass privacy concerns, pretty ticked off.

The response was sent from Google to the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus on June 7, and made it loud and clear that the company wasn't willing to compromise.

"Use of Google Glass will be governed by the terms of the Google Privacy Policy and no changes to the Google Privacy Policy are planned for Glass," the letter reads.

The European view

Jim Killock, executive director of the UK's Open Rights Group, told TechRadar that Europe has just as much, if not even more, reason to be discussing the problems surrounding Google Glass right now.

"They should be careful," he said. "They need to be aware that privacy and data protect in Europe is more stringent."

"The data is not necessarily about one individual, it may relate to other people. Then add to that this data is then being submitted to Google," said Killock, adding that the centralisation of the data is a big concern.

The fact that this is all taking place at the same time as the Prism scandal isn't doing Google any favours either, he said.

"If facial recognition technology is applied to data collected by Google Glass, it suddenly becomes a highly intrusive CCTV that could potentially be accessed by the US government."

As Killock highlighted, the biggest worry is the fact that Prism is targeted at non-US citizens under suspicion. "When it comes to non-US citizens, they could use [Google Glass] to access anything".

You can read the entirety of Google's response here.

Via Slashgear

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.


Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.