Google Glass Should Be Banned For Privacy Reasons Say One In Five UK Residents, Per New Survey

Google Glass isn’t even a product released for public consumption yet and already people are up in arms about its effect on personal privacy. A new survey of around 4,000 UK residents conducted by Rackspace and Goldsmiths at the University of London has found that 20 percent of respondents believe Google Glass should be banned outright, while 61 percent think Glass and other wearable camera devices should at least be regulated.

The survey mirrors some early knee-jerk reactions to Google Glass, namely the banning of its use in some bars and casinos. Google itself has already forbidden facial recognition apps on the platform, to make it so that you couldn’t use the thing for stalkery or more sinister purposes, and for a whole host of other sensible reasons. Glass seems to strike many as a little too much like an all-seeing eye, and that’s not a good look when you’re already the product of a company people have privacy qualms about. Plus, in a recent interview Rackspace employee and early Glass evangelist Robert Scoble had trouble convincing BBC’s Jeremy Paxman that “thing on [his] head” could provide any possible advantage.