Abstract: This article examines both the optical functioning of Google Glass and the social implications of the widespread use of this device. After a history of optical innovations in HUDs, the technical masterpiece of Google Glass is being examined closely. The rest of the time is spent discussing the possibility of using Google Glass as a surveillance tool. The issue is first examined from the perspective that the government and its spy agencies are the ones carrying out the surveillance, using Google Glass as a tool to monitor the unsuspecting user. Subsequently, the issue is re-examined, examining the power relationship that is created between an individual wearing Google Glass and meeting another man or woman who is not wearing the device. The main theme of these discussions is the invasion of privacy and the role of Google Glass as a trend-changing product. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Have you ever felt like you were being watched? Most people don't do that anymore. The truth is that they are always being watched and have simply gotten used to it. Curiosity kills the cat, but surveillance monitors its actions, documents all findings, and sells the information to the government or private companies. Sales of George Orwell's oft-cited but rarely read novel "1984" skyrocketed after the shocking revelation that the NSA was spying on its own citizens. Suddenly, people realized the enormous level of monitoring they were doing, from online activity to spending habits. In a miraculous coincidence of time, Google's latest technology venture, Google Glass, has entered the final stages of research and development. Google Glass is not simply another fancy electronic gadget, but the first step in a direction that could change our perceived limitations and uses of technology in general, as well as create a whole new branch of technology: wearable technology. While creating unique optical applications, the very existence and widespread availability of Google Glass leads us to reexamine the morality of using wearable technology as well as redefining power relations when it comes to surveillance. Google Glass took inspiration from an electro-optical display called HUD. A HUD (Heads Up Display) is essentially a transparent display that presents data without requiring the viewer to look away from their usual point of view. HUDs were initially developed for military use, as they allowed fighter pilots to view and process information much more quickly, allowing them to make quicker and more informed decisions during a flight. The basic HUDs developed and used in the 1950s were refractive optical systems. In this optical configuration, the CRT image is collimated by a combination of refractive lens elements. These elements were designed to provide highly accurate display over a reasonable field of view. For added convenience, an internal mirror is used to fold the optical system to reduce its physical size. The HUD contains combiner glass, which is a flat, semi-transparent plate designed to reflect about 25% of the collimated light from the CRT and transmit about 70% of the real-world luminance. (Wood and Howells) Once HUDs were widely used in military fighter planes as sights, pilots' shooting became much more accurate. An unexpected result of the incorporation of HUDs, however, was that pilots were becoming better at flying their aircraft in general.Optical designers realized the potential market for commercial aircraft, so in the late 1970s they looked for ways to improve the system. A much-needed refinement was to increase the total view and instantaneous field of view. This led to the development of reflective optical systems. As in the original refractive system, the displayed image is generated on a small CRT, approximately 3 inches in diameter. The new reflective system essentially consists of two separate but distinct optical subsystems. The first is a relay lens assembly designed to image the CRT image source into an intermediate aerial image. This image is one focal length from the collimator element. The second optical subsystem is the combining element that reproduces and collimates the intermediate aerial image so that the pilot can view it. As in refractive systems, the pilot's eyes focus at optical infinity, looking through the combiner to see the virtual image. To prevent the pilot's head from blocking the beams from the relay lens to the combiner, the combiner is tilted off-axis. The off-axis angle of the combiner, although required for image display reasons, significantly increases optical aberrations within the system, which must be compensated for in the relay lens to have an accurate virtual display. (Wood and Howells) Nearly sixty-four years after the first practical application of a HUD system, we had the next major product development: Google Glass. While Glass is still essentially a heads-up display, there have been significant adaptations and advancements over previous generations of HUDs. In 2011, Google unveiled an 8-pound prototype, developed by Google X. Last year, in 2013, when it was offered to consumers, it was lighter than the average pair of sunglasses. Google Glass contains the fundamental components of any computer, including a CPU, sensors such as GPS, speakers, microphone and a battery, plus a tiny projector and a prism that redirects light onto the retina. Each component is perfectly incorporated into the frame. While technically still a HUD device, Google Glass has simplified all the defining features of a HUD and used (and sometimes revolutionized) modern technology by condensing it all. There is a battery in the frame of the glasses that powers the CPU. In the main compartment, where the technical aspects are kept, there are speakers, a microphone, a camera and a projector. The glass cube is located in the upper right corner of the wearer's field of vision so as not to obstruct vision. This slide displays information, just like HUDs of old, and also contains a prism that redirects light towards the wearer's eye. According to Google's official website for Google Glass, looking at the display is equivalent to viewing a 25-inch high-definition screen from eight feet away. In reality, the prism projector has a resolution of 640 x 360 and takes up as much portion of your vision as a quarter held six inches from your eye. (Official Google Glass Website) Now that we've discussed both the history of HUDs in general, and the specific optical components of Google Glass, it seems time to examine its technological capabilities. Hardware-wise, Google Glass comes with 16GB of internal storage and is powered by a TI OMAP 4430 processor and 1GB of RAM. Without installing additional applications, the features are quite limited, but still impressive. While using Glass you can search for information on Google, just like on a web browser, listen to music via Google Play, makephone calls, send and receive text messages, use it as GPS, take photos, record videos, broadcast live videos. to anyone in your contacts, receive news alerts, post comments on Facebook or Twitter and a host of other social media sites, and start a "Hangout" in Google+. Of course, these are just the basic uses. Once developers start writing applications, the potential of Google Glass is limitless. Of course, it is precisely this potential that worries both politicians and the average citizen. Aside from the worrying trend of incorporating technology into every aspect of our daily lives, people are concerned about the surveillance aspects of such a device. Google has tried to maintain its position in valuing the importance of privacy by making it quite evident every time someone tries to take a photo or record a video. The user must first audibly say the words "OK Glass, take a photo" and people around the user will see the display light up. However, even though the product is only in beta development, hackers have already discovered ways to bypass Google's restrictions. Hacker Stephen Balaban is already building an alternative operating system that runs on Glass but is not controlled by Google. Some specific hacks are incredibly invasive to individual privacy. One of these changes adds facial recognition technology to Google Glass. Another allows you to take a photo simply by blinking your right eye. Two California Polytechnic University graduate students created an app called Malnotes and described it as a simple note-taking app for Glass. However, what the app actually did was take a photo every fifteen seconds and upload those images to the Internet without the knowledge of the wearer or anyone around them. Perhaps the scariest thing is that a hacker has developed a QR code that can remotely hack Google Glass. A QR code is simply a black and white image usually used by advertisers to allow people to visit their website when they take a photo of the code, without having to manually search for it. However, this particular QR code developed by the hacker is linked to a malicious virus that installs malware on Google Glass. If a person is tricked into taking a photo of the QR code, their glass will be invaded by spyware without the wearer knowing. Once this malware is installed, the hacker has complete control over the Glass. He/she can access the livestream function at any time, viewing the wearer's private life. The hacker will have the ability to see you type your passwords for various sites, type your passcode for an ATM, see your credit card number, enter door codes, take photos of your keys, and record what you type using a pen and paper. Nothing is safe once the glass has been breached. (Greenberg) While this security breach is alarming in itself, it becomes doubly so when we take into consideration the government's tendency to use “unconventional” methods to gather intelligence. Last year, former CIA employee Edward Snowden informed major international media that the NSA (National Security Agency) was spying on American citizens nationwide. According to the Washington Post and the Guardian, the NSA has direct access to user data from 9 Internet giants: Google, Facebook, Skype, Apple, YouTube, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft and Paltalk. Snowden claims that through the NSA's data collection effort, they had access to both real-time communications and archived data. Even more alarming, an NSA program called DROPOUTJEEP installs spyware on.