Google Explains How Not To Be A Glasshole | Hacker News Reader

Google Explains How Not To Be A Glasshole

techcrunch.com

The article doesn't mention it, but here's the Penny Arcade[1] comic (from back in May) titled "Glasshole", which illustrates why many people are uncomfortable about Google Glass users:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/06/14

I don't think this list (never mind the tech-crunch article, the real list from Google is here[2]) really mitigates this fundamental issue.

> Be patient and explain that Glass has a lot of the same features as a mobile phone (camera, maps, email, etc.)

The problem remains that a person who holds a mobile phone up to their face (potentially recording what's straight ahead) is just called an asshole.

I imagine the majority of people think it is rude to hold up a video camera all of the time while in public/starbucks/supermarket, even if the camera is off (Importantly: It does not matter if the camera is on or cannot possibly be on. As if the median person could tell or know). People are uncomfortable being potentially recorded in their daily interactions. Nobody wants to feel stared down by a camera or recorded.

So I think "don't be rude" (from Google's list) isn't a very helpful tip. Wearing Google Glass in public is rude.

~~~

[1] Gabe from Penny Arcade recounts his experience:

> As I was walking in today I heard the front door open and I quickly slid my Glass down off my head and slung it around my neck. A woman passed me by and I gave her a polite smile. As I got inside the building I moved the Glass back up to my head but I realised the reason I took it off was because I didn’t want to be rude.

> I was not embarrassed or worried she would think I was a dork. I AM a dork! What I was worried about was being rude. I feel like walking around with a camera pointed at people even if it’s not recording is just not polite. It’s a very strange feeling that I’m only just now trying to get my head around. I think the technology is incredibly cool but I wonder if socially we are ready for Glass. I’m starting to think the Google Glass Explorer program might be less about testing hardware, and more about testing people.

from: http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2013/06/12/google-glas...

[2] https://sites.google.com/site/glasscomms/glass-explorers

If video thing is so uncomfortable/confusing, a simple solution could be to add a simple LED indicating if camera is on or off. Apart from that I don't think there is anything else major that would annoy people around you.

I wonder if Google not equipping Glass with an indicator LED to tell whether it's recording was an omission on their part or a deliberate design choice they made for some reason (which then misfired).

Probably on the behalf of the NSA wanting remote access to them.

The problem is culturally people treat a camera lens like an eye, and studies show that merely seeing a picture of an eye or a camera causes people to act like they're being surveilled (signs with eyes on them and a message are obeyed more often).

So you're always going to have a problem pointing a lens at someone, no matter what indicators are there.

I suspect the innovation needed here is mechanical - Google should try adding a mechanically driven shutter to the camera, so when it's off, the lens is covered. I would bet strongly that that would solve 95% of people's problem with Google Glass.

Because glassholes really couldn't tape over that, right?

> Wearing Google Glass in public is rude

I don't think this is universally true. For instance, if someone was a tourist on vacation and they were using Glass to take a POV video of a moment of their trip, I wouldn't find that rude, as long as this was happening in a well-known public area where people are likely already recording videos with smartphones.

Basically, if you're doing something really unique in your life, and you want to capture a video of it for memories and sharing, I couldn't blame people for wearing Glass. Actually, it'd be superior to a smartphone for this purpose, as it inhibits interaction much less than holding a phone up in front of your face.

But in the majority of cases in normal life, yeah, I'd be bothered if I went out with a buddy and he was wearing Glass all night.

I think that Glass will reach an equilibrium where everyone around you assumes that if you're wearing it then you are actively using it for something. If they can deduce what your purpose is (e.g., tourist), then I don't think they'll be bothered. But if it's unclear why you're using Glass, I think it'll make people uncomfortable.

I think that in the Penny Arcade comic, the captions should be switched.

What you're actually doing is wearing Glass and enjoying dinner per the first frame - but what everyone (at least the PA authors) thinks you're doing is what's indicated in the second frame.

It works both ways.

I've been wearing Glass inside and outside regularly since April last year. I've met one single person during that time who asked me to take it off - a CEO at a startup who said they had sensitive meetings going on in the office that couldn't be recorded. I've met one single person who acted like Glass was rude and said not to record him. I've met dozens and dozens of people who were super interested, wanted to know all about it, and wanted to try it on: http://neatocode.tumblr.com/post/50125618850/outside-glass-o...

Many even asked for pictures of themselves wearing it. This thing where you think it is rude and the public hates it? It's all in your head. If you have a friend with one, ask to wear it around a bit. You become a minor celebrity with people stopping you constantly, happily, wanting to know all about it.

Hi. I am the first person you have met that will politely ask you to remove your recording device in my presence.

Nice to meet you!

Do you ask people to take the batteries out of their cellphones?

If not, why not?

Because they don't point them at my face, constantly.

There's a mic, a wide angle lens, and an internet connection.

How do you know they're not constantly recording what you say?

Because they don't point it at my face, constantly.

You don't need to point a microphone at somebody's face to record them, nor do you need to point a camera lens at them to record them.

And they may well be doing that, and that would make them assholes.

What do you not get about this being subjective and based on cultural and behavioural expectations?

Jesus...

If they hold them up in my face (without a good reason such as me saying/doing something where recording/photos are plausible and expected), I'd ask them to put it away, and probably knock it out of their hand or walk away if they didn't within a reasonable timeframe.

I'd do the same for google glasses.

If your response to a camera is violence, the problem lies with you, not the owner of the camera. I dearly hope you actually follow through on your violent threats one day, so that you can spend some time in jail gaining some perspective.

Unfortunately for glassholes, I live somewhere where that would be considered an acceptable response to being filmed without consent.

I don't believe there is any first-world nation where such behavior would not be considered criminal, so I can't see that being "unfortunate" for anyone wealthy enough to have Glass in the first place. Enjoy your shithole, I guess?

Criminal? To knock a camera out of someone's hand if they refuae to stop filming you?

Not likely to get much in the way of a prosecution out of that in most of Europe.

Would that be why there are no paparazzi in Europe? Oh wait...

Papparazzi would most likely sue at that point, not a criminal charge. A random glasshole on the street is unlikely to find a lot of sympathy from the police.

I didn't realize Europe was so much more violent than the US. I'll be sure to steer clear of that barbaric continent.

Cool, one less glasshole.

People aren’t going to ask you to take it off. They’re just going to silently decide that you’re an asshole.

Just like those jerks talking on cellphones in public in the 90s.

I won't ask you to remove it. I'll just avoid you.

I haven't really thought about it until this article but wearing glass while talking to someone might be about as rude as wearing dark tinted sunglasses and talking to someone while swiping around on your phone.

If its sunny out you can generally get away with it, but most the time even outside, unless its a close friend, I'll raise my glasses so I can make eye contact. Having glass in between you might be a thing for good or maybe we'll get past it. Time will tell.

I think we'll eventually get over it, but that is what we're up against for now.

I've probably been up close with thirty glassholes in the last year. Never, not even once, have I indicated to any of them what I thought about their rudeness. The closest I've come was just silently removing myself from the situation. It's very hard to believe that this possibility has not occurred to you.

When someone does not create a confrontation scene, it does not mean that he approves...

Only a very small minority of people will actually come and break your glasses, so yes, you can get away with it being a glasshole, most of the time.

And that arrogance will make people to think bad about you, you are not being polite.

Another comment already made this point, but I'm pretty sure most people found it rude and just didn't want to say anything. This weekend I met/saw at least 5 people with Glass on. I didn't tell them to take it off, I just avoided them. You should consider this as a strong possibility.

>I imagine the majority of people think it is rude to hold up a video camera all of the time while in public/starbucks/supermarket, even if the camera is off (Importantly: It does not matter if the camera is on or cannot possibly be on. As if the median person could tell or know). People are uncomfortable being potentially recorded in their daily interactions. Nobody wants to feel stared down by a camera or recorded.

On a related (and slightly funny) note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym7x7twSoqc

Imagine these reactions when wearing Google Glass and then you'll know why it might not be such a great idea to use one.

"I imagine the majority of people think it is rude to hold up a video camera all of the time while in public/starbucks/supermarket, even if the camera is off"

The problem is that there is no way to know when the camera is on and off, (like a hardware led) so you have to assume that the camera is always on.

From Google's list: "If you’re worried about someone interrupting that romantic dinner at a nice restaurant with a question about Glass, just take it off and put it around the back of your neck or in your bag."

You should probably be more worried about you interrupting your own dinner. Wearing a display on your face that can distract you at inopportune moments is probably not something you want to do if you're having a romantic dinner (just as you wouldn't want to be constantly playing with a phone on the table). Your dinner partner might find it to be rude or annoying.

Too late, it's already a disaster. People already set their iPhones conspicuously on the table _between_ themselves and their conversation partner. And then they check the phone compulsively.

At least it's a quick way to discover you're having dinner with somebody you really don't want to be having dinner with. Used to be it took hours of conversation to suss that out!

Indeed! I had one lady answer a text between the drinks and appetizers. I paid the check and left. An expensive snack but a priceless look on her face ;)

Haha, I wish I could've been a fly on the wall for that.

You should've recorded it with your cell phone. ;)

No one seems to have thought of this, so I'll just put it out there. Someone, sometime in the near future, is going to design a pair of glasses that have all the features of Google Glass, but be undetectable, be indistinguishable from a normal pair of glasses or sunglasses. Call them "Stealth Glasses". Then dozens of vendors will pick up on the idea.

When that happens, this entire conversation will change. People will begin to wonder whether anyone they meet wearing glasses is surreptitiously recording their interaction in HDTV and stereo sound.

At that point, people will long for the good old days when Google Glass was the only technology in this class, and how simple everything was.

At some point in the future, someone is going to design a pair of glasses that detect google glasses etc. and direct a laser into their camera. I'd buy a pair.

There was a guy on HN recently commenting, who had a startup (with a functional product) making very convincing fashion glasses with a recording function.

Unless you knew the brand(I forget what it was), it would be a hard to notice the recording.

The problem Google has is that there a significant overlap between those willing to wear those glasses and those with poor social skills.

For me personally companies like Apple and Pebble are going to be infinitely more successful with smart watches.

Politeness does not help much.

Glass and similar gadgets must be set up that by default so that the data is sent to a private webspace owned or rented by the user so that legally no 3rd party can run their queries against it. Users can then buy the terminator app that tells them what shoe and pant size people have - but the actual data must by default be private, everything else is simply crazy.

However confronting people and asking them to take off their beloved new toy, maybe one that has prescription glasses built in that they need in this situation, is incredibly difficult in most social situations.

Glass-wearing Saruman could laugh at your face, and ask "what do we have to fear?" Only thing Gandalf can do is to throw a blanket over their head and state that the usage of the data is unaccounted for and we don't know who's watching. Awkward imo.

I'm sure they carry a pair of non-spying glasses too. After all, what happens if someone steals their spy ones off their face one day? They'd need a backup to be able to see to get home.

>How not to be a glasshole

Don't wear google glasses.

Seems simple enough to me.

The person in the video is wildly unpresentable. I could not keep watching past one minute or so.

As for Google Glass, I can't expect people to familiarize themselves with and accept the behaviour of a camera being pointed at themselves at all times. I don't think this kind of thing should ever be acceptable. Privacy is compromised as it is, without people wearing cameras on their faces.

I never saw this sort of reaction against CCTV cameras.

Is a video camera on a wall really so much different than a video camera on a person's head?

Probably depends on where you are. Here in Germany, there is lots of resistance against CCTV cameras.

In the UK, on the other hand, I'd be surprised if people cared about Glass in public spaces, since CCTV is ubiquitous there.

I wonder if Google is regretting making the camera a fixed, non-detachable part of Google Glass?

If the friction point of using a product is polite society, then maybe it's time to rethink it. If Glass wasn't as visible on the user, would that make it more ok to use, or less ok?

I recently encountered a few Glassholes in my environment, and let me tell you - the fervor with which these guys defended their right to use their Google Glass device to intrude upon my life is, frankly, terrifying. This generation may not think its rude to intrude - but what will the next generation think is acceptable? When this technology becomes ubiquitous and available to teens, I fear for the world. Too much lawn-guarding for this old codger? Perhaps .. but I have to say that the idea of having people doing Google's work for them all the while having 'convenient' features marketed to them is heinous.

But I realize I'm generalizing without content, so with that off my chest, let me explain what I think is so wrong about the Google Glass religious experience: what is the real issue I have with this?

Its simply this: Google Glass gets in the way of two human beings, for the sake of providing one human being some 'convenience', and a corporation with Yet More Data To Rule The World with .. As soon as you've got that thing on, and you're pointing it at someone, you have put a physical barrier between your eyes, and theirs. Your mind, and theirs, is no longer connected in a human fashion - the Glassholes' mind is connected to Google, first and foremost. So whenever I have the misfortune to be dealing with a Glasshole, I know that I'm not actually talking to the person, themselves, as a unit - but rather someone who has willingly usurped their own individual free will, and is renting it out to Google for the price of 'having cool technology'.

In all honesty, todays Google Glass toter is yesterdays' E-meter "free stress-test" booth dweller. Both classes of individual are proving they'd rather play with toys than deal with people.

Here's a much simpler list:

1) Don't be an asshole.

2) Avoid the kind of assholes who go into paroxysms of judgement over head-mounted phones.

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