There’s been quite a buzz lately about Google Glass, a “wearable computer” that looks like a pair of eyeglasses but that uses the lenses as transparent screens to display information to the user. (For example, the user might have CNN headlines constantly scrolling on the edge of the screen, or might have the glasses show a list of nearby coffee shops.) One feature of Glass that has received considerable attention is its ability to record still photos and video. Privacy advocates are concerned that it will usher in an era of ubiquitous recording, of constant surveillance. But isn’t that era already upon us? Consider some of the technologies already in use by law enforcement: In-car cameras, currently installed in almost three quarters of state police and highway patrol vehicles, as noted here in The Police Chief Wearable cameras, discussed in this New York Times article (the article refers specifically to camera glasses made by Taser, such as the AXON Flex, shown here) Stationary surveillance cameras, which are present in virtually every major city as discussed here in the Wall Street Journal and here in the Newark Star-Ledger License plate readers, which have been deployed in Raleigh according to this WRAL article Surveillance drones, discussed in this CBS News piece And don’t forget that most officers and civilians alike carry cell phones everywhere they go, and that most cell phones are capable of recording still photos and video. The prevalence of recording devices raises a number of legal questions, from Fourth Amendment [...]
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