The other day I saw a rabbit wearing Google Glass. Actually, I didn't notice the rabbit was wearing a pair of those fantastical eyewear at first. But when I saw a video of me bad mouthing nearly half of the American voters on YouTube the next day, I suddenly remembered the curious bunny wearing a pair of sleek glasses behind the bar.
I should have realized that he was recording me.
Now I am running late and fear I'll never catch up to that other guy.
Last week, a man wearing Google Glass became the first (supposedly) to record a video of a fight that led to an arrest of a man in Wildwood, NJ. Had anyone seen him shooting the video, he would've been beaten up, as well, for sure. But they didn't because people still don't recognize Google Glass.
Sooner or later Google will make Glass available in many styles, emulating Ray Bans and other popular frames. No sooner will GOP presidential campaigns master the art of detecting cellphone videographers, when they will be unable to figure out who is wearing a pair of fancy Google Glass.
You thought the 47 percent video was bad? How about the video of Saddam Hussein's execution? Well, that is just the tip of the iceberg. We've been worried that the decline of the news profession would mean the decline of news content. With Google Glass, we are assured lots of content. Most will be bad, but some will be very good (for me, but not for my political opponents... or vice versa).
Will we finally find ourselves living in a global panopticon?
As I have often repeated, "these days it's all secrecy and noooo privacy." (h/t Thanks Mick). And we all, especially politicians, might just have to kiss our privacy goodbye.
Smile, you're on Candid Google Glass.
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Social Advocacy & Politics is a weekly, exclusive column for Social Media Today by Alan Rosenblatt that explores the intersection of politics and social media. Look for the next installment next Tuesday morning.