The Canadian privacy commissioner, along with 36 other data protection authorities raised privacy concerns about Google's new wearable technology, the Google Glass in an open letter to CEO Larry Page.
The letter was signed by Canada's privacy commissioner and co-signed by several others including Europe's privacy watchdog the Article 29 Working party as well as the privacy commissioners of New Zealand and Austrailia, along with their counterparts in Mexico, Israel, Switzerland and several others according to PCWrold.com.
"We are writing to you as data protection authorities to raise questions from privacy perspective about the development of Google Glass," the authorities wrote.
The biggest concern raised in the letter, as well as many others who hear about the Google Glass, is the fact people can record videos of others without them knowing it.
"Fears of ubiquitous surveillance of individuals by other individuals, whether through such recordings or through other applications currently being developed, have been raised. Questions about Google's collection of such data and what it means in terms of Google's revamped privacy policy have also started to appear," the letter said.
The exact specifications of how Google will use the data that is collected by Google Glasses or what its privacy policy means in terms of preventing people from being filmed and documented without their consent.
Those responsible for the letter want answers to a few questions, including how Google Glass complies with the data protection laws, what information Google collects from the Glass and, most importantly, what it intends to do with this information and if it plans to share this with third parties.
Authorities speculate that Google is unaware of the bigger picture social and ethical issues that come with the invention of the Google Glass. Overall their main goal was not to point out Google's shortcomings or its lack of policy but rather to bring it to the attention of the company and request that they engage in a dialogue with them about the implications of their revolutionary technology.
