Last week, I ran a blog post about Google Goggles, the search giant’s brand new visual search system, that lets you snap a photo of something to find out all about it. Clever stuff indeed, but there’s been a new development in the tale of Google Goggles, today, as it seems that the new search tech’s been postponed until something can be sorted out with it.
Specifically, according to The Independent, it’s until Google have sorted out the privacy implications of the facial recognition technology it includes.
Ah. I don’t remember them mentioning facial recognition in the original press release. Apparently, part of what was on the cards for Google Goggles was giving you the ability to snap a photo of anyone you saw in the street, and then, if the news report’s to be believed, find out everything about them. Name, address, what toys they liked as a kid, which person in their work they have a secret crush on, anything…
So, Google have blocked that bit of the service until they can sort through the privacy implications of it, and have said they’ll be blocking faces, in much the same way as they blur them on Street View.
In the words of Angela Sasse (professor of computer science at University College London), who believe Goggles creates feelings of unease in the public’s perception of privacy, “People manage their relationships by selective disclosure. Only people with certain mental-health conditions disclose everything all the time. These systems [such as Goggles] lose that. You might go somewhere on the assumption that you won’t be recognised. But if people find out who you are they can see where you have been. We have seen this problem on Facebook where people have uploaded pictures from a party forgetting that their bosses can see them too.”
She went on to say, “There does seem to be a certain threshold of accuracy for face recognition that has not yet been reached. At present, you need a full-face shot. The scary thing is that the next generation [of software] will be able to use a large number of images snapped from different angles so this technology is going to get more accurate.”
So, yes, it goes back to my central belief that technology should always be in the service of mankind, rather than mankind being under the thrall of technology. Let’s hope that Google can resolve all the privacy implications, because I rather like the idea of Google Goggles. Imagine a super-powered phone like the Motorola DEXT, with Goggles installed, where you can find out info on anything, just by pointing the phone at it.
Note that in that last sentence I said anything and not anyone, though…
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