Aussie Privacy Commissioner Got Cranky About Google Glass, Wrote A Letter

Timothy Pilgrim is a man not to be messed with. He and other global Privacy Commissioners for that matter. If the Justice League of personal data; the Avengers of civil rights come after you, you’d better watch out…for the strongly worded letter you’ll get.

Timothy Pilgrim, Australia’s Privacy Commissioner, today joined with nine other privacy tsars from around the world to answer some tough questions about the potential privacy implications of Google Glass.

Specifically, the bloc of privacy guardians want Google to answer these questions:

• How does Google Glass comply with data protection laws?
• What are the privacy safeguards Google and application developers are putting in place?
• What information does Google collect via Glass and what information is shared with third parties, including application developers?
• How does Google intend to use this information?
While we understand that Google has decided not to include facial recognition in Glass, how does Google intend to address the specific issues around facial recognition in the future?
• Is Google doing anything about the broader social and ethical issues raised by such a product, for example, the surreptitious collection of information about other individuals?
• Has Google undertaken any privacy risk assessment the outcomes of which it would be willing to share?
• Would Google be willing to demonstrate the device to our offices and allow any interested data protection authorities to test it?

The letter is addressed personally to Google’s Larry Page. Here’s hoping they get a response.

Check out the full letter to see the other concerns raised. [AFR via Privacy Commissioner]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.