Most people don't give a second thought to a guy walking into a bathroom with a smart phone; which was probably Larry Page's point when he said that he wouldn't be bothered by the guy next to him at the urinal wearing Google Glass. But would you be? It sounds like a strange question, but it's a very valid point. If someone walks into the bathroom wearing smart glasses, isn't that something that we should worry about?

Most people have at least heard of Google Glass, the new wearable computer tech from Google. You slip on a pair of glasses, and suddenly you're connected to a whole new world. Your glasses can project information onto what you're seeing, interact with your voice, hook up to the internet, and do a whole host of other things. Wearing Google Glass you'll never be lost, or lost in translation, again. But there are a couple of more disturbing aspects to the device. You can take a picture simply by winking, video record everything that you see, and even stream that video live as it's happening. And maybe that's why you should be worried when the guy standing next to you at the urinal has his Google Glass on...

The point is that if a guy walks into a bathroom with a smart phone, no one blinks an eye. But if that guy starts filming, it rapidly becomes obvious what he's doing. The click of a button, the way his hands and body move to capture a shot, there are few people who wouldn't realise that the smart phone owner was up to no good. With Google Glass, you're not going to know. It's that simple: A whispered command, a wink, and suddenly that guy is filming, or streaming, everything that he's seeing, wherever he is. Should that worry you? If you value your privacy, yes, it should. You will have no way of knowing what's going on behind those glasses, and once you find out, if you even find out, it could be far too late to stop your private activities being broadcast over the internet.

Not everyone who wears Google Glass is going to be perverted. The majority of users are going to have a high tech gadget that will guide, inform and entertain them. And these users will probably be too busy taking advantage of all the features of Google Glass to spare a thought for what exactly it is that you're doing. But for a small fraction of people, Google Glass will provide a unique opportunity: the ability to secretly both film and broadcast what others are doing without their knowledge.

So, should you be worried about the guy at the urinal wearing Google Glass? Yes, in the same way that you'd be worried about a guy standing there with a video camera on his shoulder, whether that camera was on or off; in the same way that you should be worried about the guy wearing Google Glass at the kid's playground. And in the same way that you should always be worried about how new tech is going to affect your privacy. It only takes one person to abuse a privilege, and your bathroom activities could be all over the internet by lunch time...

Google Glass Image Credit - Comingmore.com